Query

Should I hunker down and read Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle? Given my interests, it sounds like the sort of thing I probably ought to read--but that's not quite the same thing as saying that it's the sort of thing I probably want to read.  As longterm visitors to this blog know, length is no object; prose style, however, certainly is, and reports on same from around the blogosphere strike me as...dissuasive.  But I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.  I suppose it can hardly be worse than C. M. Katherine Phipps' The Sword of De Bardwell: "'My father's brother!' cried the agitated girl; 'is it possible? My uncle Henry, whose kindness to me as a child I so well remember; is it possible? Oh, Master Bardwell, you would not surely trifle with me upon such a subject.  But my uncle, and--a heretic!'" (71)

Comments

[anonymouse]

Little Professor, I want you to read _Solomon Gursky Was Here_ by Mordecai Richler, because I just read it and I think it's brilliant, but I need a second opinion.

[Frieda]

I've tried reading a couple of Stephenson's books. I lost interest before half-way through each of them. Too much purple, lazy prose for my tastes.

[Jonathan Goodwin]

Did you read Cryptonomicon? If so, you'd have a pretty good idea what to expect, I imagine.

[Miriam]

I haven't tried Cryptonomicon. So far, the closest I've approached to reading Stephenson is looking at The Diamond Age in my local bookstore.

[Jonathan Goodwin]

I personally don't much favor Stephenson, but I think even his biggest fans would agree that you should start small. Snow Crash was probably the most enjoyable book of his I've read. I enjoy the unix-nerd stuff in Cryptonomicon, but the academic parody was so off-key that it was hard to take seriously. And the idea of that level of historical narrative (not the academic parody, but his secret history of the Pacific Theater and Turing, etc.) being applied to a far more removed time period has thus far scared me away from the Baroque Cycle.

[Keith]

Both Snow Crash and The Diamond Age are well worth reading. I started Quicksilver and really enjoy what I've read but it's simply too dense and long for me right now, what with grad school and all. So I intend to read the Baroque Cycle and would recommend it with the caveat that it is one whirligig of a ride. I liken it to the Geek Ulysses.

[PZ Myers]

I've read them all, and I like them, but the writing is...erratic. Sometimes it soars, sometimes it scrabbles at minutiae. I think Stephenson is a guy with immense talent and little patience in his writing; anyone who reads it as a purely literary work is going to be really pissed off with it. If you're willing to put up with an occasional long stretch of clunky glop with the understanding that it's only because he's in such a lathered hurry to get to the next weird idea, then you can enjoy it.

[Dan]

I'd say to take the plunge. Sure, it's about 2400 pages of text split between three books, but it's good text. I found all the books to be quick reads, and the stories interesting. He's still pushing the same Big Story that he started in Snow Crash, but with a different focus. One interesting bit of trivia: while the world of the Baroque Cycle looks like our world, there is good reason to think that actually takes place in the world of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, in a different time period.

[Tom Holmberg]

I read all three volumes over the summer and early fall and thoroughly enjoyed them (more than "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell"). I waited until the the last volume was due out to begin reading them. I think reading them fairly close together is useful to keep the myriad characters and plot elements fresh in one's mind.

If you have no interest in the history of science and economics you might find it hard going.

Also some might find the writing eccentric as Stephenson combines "baroque" spelling with modern idioms. This quirk didn't really bother me. I took it as a bit of pretension on the author's part.

There's a "smart-ass" quality to the books which might turn some off, but which I found appealing.

[Mel]

I think you might find Diamond Age especially interesting (it is, after all, about a book) -- and it's a good introduction to Stephenson's style. Like Snow Crash, which is another good one, it's a bit weak in the last quarter, but interesting overall. I haven't had the time to dig into the Cycle yet.

[joe]

I would say it's worth the investment--although the series is very uneven. The second book, The Confusion, is fantastic. I had a blast. The first is a bit disappointing, and the third is great in patches, and not in others. I think PZ Myers is right about Stephenson. Erratic is the word. When he's on, he's really sharp, and very, very, fun. But he's certainly *not* always on.