I and many others have rightfully hailed William Gibson for his clairvoyance with regard to what the future holds for humanity technologically and societally. Mr. Stephenson is deserving of precisely the same praise because this 1992 novel has, with remarkable accuracy, hit upon a phenomenon developing even now. Snow Crash may be bizarre and overly self-indulgent, but the way in which it predicts the development of Second Life and its universe of avatars gives it a cultural resonance which will see it relevant for years to come.
In the early 21st century, the United States has economically collapsed, dissolving into various sovereign neighborhoods and communities which, collectively, make up a tattered, societal tapestry. In the real world, this society is dominated by those corporate powers which have come through the collapse with cash in their pockets: fast food chains, church organizations, security firms, defense contractors, and organized crime to detail a few. In the virtual world of the Metaverse, a next-generation Internet which is shockingly similar to Second Life, there is a greater sense of personal power and societal structure. Users present virtually with the use of avatars which they can tailor to suit their interests and their whims. Everyone from the rich to the poor participate in the Metaverse, but status here is controlled less by personal wealth than by the quality of ones connection to the Metaverse. Public terminals, for instance, have low bandwidth, causing users to show up like pale shadows of what they ought to be. But high bandwidth users present strongly and can add all sorts of detail to their avatars lesser users cannot.
In the midst of this jumbled world, a virus has begun to spread, first in the Metaverse and then in the real world. Part computer virus, part human condition, it is infectious and devastating, besetting its victims with an increased susceptibility to mental persuasion and group-think, vulnerabilities which powerful forces within this shattered world are ready to exploit. Hiro, a young computer hacker who recently lost his job as a pizza delivery boy, and YT, a teenaged courier, team up in the wake of the Snow Crash virus to collect and sell information to various interested parties. But as they uncover the importance of the virus and the identities of those disseminating it in order to exploit its effects, their motives will have to evolve from pure self-interest towards something more benevolent if they are to prevent the world falling into servitude.
Mr. Stephenson has put together a clever and dynamic novel. Snow Crash is more than a piece of predictive fiction; it is a re-imagining of the role of linguistics and mythology in a world of moral bankruptcy and economic decay. Mr. Stephenson plays with a lot of themes here, even a few strains of humor, but I could not shake the cartoonish silliness of its protagonists and its overly baroque environment. Mr. Stephenson was no doubt trying to access the mind and culture of a common citizen in his future dominated by pop culture and fast food chains, but to this 21st century reader it comes off as silly and juvenile. If the world is going to end, I need my protagonists to have more gravitas. Snow Crash gives me a sword-wielding pizza boy with mad hacking skills. Maybe that is the hero of this future, but I couldn't buy in. In spite of this, the novel's inventiveness is enough to carry it over the line. (3/5 Stars)
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