Reply To: Redshirt Book Club – Snow Crash
I’m trying to look at the book objectively. When I agreed to do this, I had just started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and had a lot of time that first week where I did all of the reading and got sucked into The Name of the Wind and read the whole book. I have since started A Wise Man’s Fear, which is the follow-up, but I have a lot less time. I feel like I am back in school where I have an assignment to read a book, but I have stuff I’d rather be reading (its not really that bad). I know this is voluntary, I like the idea, I wish there was more involvement, and I like the book, but since I love the Rothfuss stuff so much I feel like I am more critical of the book than I would otherwise be. Its like if you had to write about a good local vacation spot after coming back from JCCC. This has nothing to do with the book, but to let you know why I feel like I am struggling a little with it.
I agree with a lot of what you say. I fear the Rat Things won’t really play a big part. I get the impression there are a lot of tangents to just try to give you a better idea of what the world is like, but a lot of this seems like a waste as far as the story. I wish more time was spent on the characters, so I could better understand how Hiro goes from one of the best hackers to pizza boy to managing a concert to working for the CIC to chasing a guy with a nuke, etc., not to mention the librarian pieces that you’ve already touched on. He is just all over the place and it seems hard to believe someone so impressive at so many things and his famous musician roommate would be sharing a small storage unit. I still think things will likely come together and sometimes stories are hard to look at when you are in the middle. Despite my complaints, I really am liking though because I do actually wish there was some more back story going on.