Book review

[riontel]

Finished reading Neal Stephenson's debut book "The Big U". It first came out in 1984 and, since Stephenson is much inclined to reference all sorts of computer and technology related issues, is a bit dated. The idea of the book is definitely entertaining, I mean, how can a civil war on a college campus not be fun? The "thoughtful" parts: a bit of philosophy he threw in; the ideas on how environment affects behavior, or vise versa; individual responsibility, etc. He also must have had a hell of a college experience at BU! But the characters are a bit raw and some of the plot just sort of hangs in there begging the question "huh?" The giant radioactive rats in the sublevels reminded me of Matt Ruff's sharks in "Sewer, Gas & Electric" (The Big U did come out way before Ruff's work, of course, I just read them in the wrong order). Overall I enjoyed the book way more than expected. Made me want to go back to college. I especially liked the fact that the book is unmistakably Stephenson, with his unique style and voice, even though you can detect certain other influences (that would be almost mandatory for a book coming out in 1984!) Oh, and it's only 300-pages long, you can tell he was young and impatient then.