I agree as far as the novel/ridiculously-long-essay dichotomy goes. That said Snow Crash is usually called a satire of (post)cyberpunk and as a satire it needs to adhere to the formula more than just another entry in the genre.
That explains a lot about my impressions of Snow Crash specifically. I felt that Stephenson wasn't being serious with his writing (contrast to, say, William Gibson's original treatment of cyberpunk). A bit toward the Terry Pratchett side of the writing spectrum.
I found it to be a slight turn-off, but if what you say is true, I'm more inclined to give Stephenson's other work more attention.
I wonder how that lines up with people who hate the first chapter and think it’s a nonsequitur versus people who enjoy it for its absurdity, versus people who think it is perfectly in keeping with the rest of the book.
Is it Gene Wilder doing a front flip in his first scene in Willie Wonka so you never quite trust him again?
You are one of today’s 10,000. Go read up on Gene Wilder and all the feedback he gave for WW. That scene was his idea. He got into that role like Daniel Day Lewis or Viggo Mortensen.
I don't know. I first read it in like '98/'99 ish? and by the time I was reading reviews for it people were calling it satire or at least definitely winking at the audience (as a sibling points out: hiro protagonist) I don't know what the conversation was contemporaneously with release.
Oh yeah. I read it when it came out and it was definitely satire. The genre's tropes were very well set up by then, actually now that I think about it, it was probably the gravestone for the genre.
I think the point of the prologue in Diamond Age is to act as gravestone.
Bud (Nell's father) is the prototypical cyberpunk character. And he's literally killed off by the events of that chapter. He plays no role in Nell's life, he's never brought up again, it's Stephenson saying this novel is literally post-cyberpunk.
What is the relationship of the Young Lady's Primer to Colin, the souped-up, hand-held travel guide used by the Yakuza boss's little girl in Mona Lisa Overdrive? Satire or just hyperbolic derivative?
