Zodiac
by Scott Meek
Jan 12, 11:42 AM
After almost buying it at the bookstore a zillion times, I finally picked up Neal Stephenson’s Zodiac last weekend and I finish it this morning. Its a fun read and though it doesn’t quite have the full ridiculous power of his prose that one finds in his later works, Stephenson’s unique style is still present, if not quite perfected. The main character is twenty-something, nitrous abusing chemist/enviromental activist, self described “asshole” who lives in Boston. Yeah, its a pretty sweet book, and you should read it.
Of course, if you haven’t yet made it through the ~3000 pages of the Baroque Cycle you need to sack up and get moving.
Jan 12, 05:32 PM
I really enjoyed Zodiac. I agree with you that it’s not his best writing, but it has a kind of quirky pace and balance that I find compelling for some reason. S.T. is an asshole, but he’s an asshole you can be on the same side with. I can’t say I particularly relate to S.T., but he’s a cool character.
My biggest complaint about Stephenson’s writing in general is that he has no concept whatsoever of how to write a good ending. I do not claim I could do better, mind you. But until the Baroque Cycle, I always felt he really just dropped the ball at the end, rather than ending. Maybe that’s realistic, but it’s not satisfying.
(And frankly, even The System of the World does peter out a bit, but it was an improvement).