Well it’s been a week since I posted. Look at me not winning. (Sorry, just had to get that in there somewhere) Honestly, the icky weather we’ve been having lately took a toll on my motivation and I just didn’t have it in me to dress well last week. Sweatshirts it was for me! So to get back on track I think I’ll start the week with a book review. I recently finished this book and although its not particularly long, it did take me a while to get through it. I think that is because the style and genre were different from what I normally read. But I’ll get to that in a bit, lets start from the beginning.
Someone dear to me once said that reading a Neal Stephenson book is like getting a snapshot of time in the futuristic world he creates. There really is no beginning or end, just the middle. From the first page, the reader is thrown into the technologically overrun future Earth, where countries no longer exist, and people live in phyles (or clans). There seems to be an expectation that the reader should know this world and the way it works, which can cause some confusion at the start. However, once the reader settles in, one finds that Stephenson’s world is not as hard to comprehend as one might have thought.
Although the book weaves through many characters, the main character, Nell, is a strong heroine. Nell grows into a smart, tough young woman by reading a primer she acquired at the age of four. Through the primer, the reader and Nell are taken through a story that teaches Nell how to learn, analyze, and develop survival skills that help her in the real world. As the book follows Nell from age four to sixteen, subsequently far too much happens for me to give an adequate summary. However, I’m going to spoil the ending by telling you that Nell becomes Queen of the Mouse Army. Sounds bad ass, right? Yeah, that’s cuz it is. You should read this book to find out what the hell the Mouse Army is, and how Nell ends up their leader.
Coming full circle, let’s discuss the style and genre of the novel. I mentioned before that Stephenson’s style of writing threw me off at the beginning. Stephenson writes in a way that leaves no mercy for the reader; the reader had better keep up or she is going to get left behind. However, once you get into the rhythm of the story, you won’t want to put the book down. The genre is also out of my usual territory of literature. The novel is science fiction, but not in an outer space type of way. Stephenson focuses on nanotechnology and how its advancement has made all other technology obsolete. Food, clothing, furniture, you name it, is made from a single machine. Stephenson’s imaginative use of nanotechnology is impressive, however it wasn’t what pulled me through the story. I was more interested in Nell and her experiences, than the technology that was included along the way.
If you are looking to read something different, I highly recommend this book.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Someone dear to me once said that reading a Neal Stephenson book is like getting a snapshot of time in the futuristic world he creates. There really is no beginning or end, just the middle. From the first page, the reader is thrown into the technologically overrun future Earth, where countries no longer exist, and people live in phyles (or clans). There seems to be an expectation that the reader should know this world and the way it works, which can cause some confusion at the start. However, once the reader settles in, one finds that Stephenson’s world is not as hard to comprehend as one might have thought.
Although the book weaves through many characters, the main character, Nell, is a strong heroine. Nell grows into a smart, tough young woman by reading a primer she acquired at the age of four. Through the primer, the reader and Nell are taken through a story that teaches Nell how to learn, analyze, and develop survival skills that help her in the real world. As the book follows Nell from age four to sixteen, subsequently far too much happens for me to give an adequate summary. However, I’m going to spoil the ending by telling you that Nell becomes Queen of the Mouse Army. Sounds bad ass, right? Yeah, that’s cuz it is. You should read this book to find out what the hell the Mouse Army is, and how Nell ends up their leader.
Coming full circle, let’s discuss the style and genre of the novel. I mentioned before that Stephenson’s style of writing threw me off at the beginning. Stephenson writes in a way that leaves no mercy for the reader; the reader had better keep up or she is going to get left behind. However, once you get into the rhythm of the story, you won’t want to put the book down. The genre is also out of my usual territory of literature. The novel is science fiction, but not in an outer space type of way. Stephenson focuses on nanotechnology and how its advancement has made all other technology obsolete. Food, clothing, furniture, you name it, is made from a single machine. Stephenson’s imaginative use of nanotechnology is impressive, however it wasn’t what pulled me through the story. I was more interested in Nell and her experiences, than the technology that was included along the way.
If you are looking to read something different, I highly recommend this book.
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