Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver

[RangerWickett]

I'm bumping this thread because I've been reading Quicksilver for about a month, and I'm on page 772. They just had the beach-sailing action scene.

I love the book, but I'm sure I'll have to wait another 200 pages before any more action happens. Well, back to long letters about courtly intrigue. It's still quite fascinating.

 

[Jhaelen]

I love the book, but I'm sure I'll have to wait another 200 pages before any more action happens.

Quite likely

I'm a fan of Stephenson and think that 'Cryptonomicon' is one of the greatest novels ever written, but Quicksilver was way too verbose for my taste. After reading the first installment I felt no desire to continue reading. Maybe in a couple of years...

 

[Evilhalfling]

I read the whole thing when it it came out, and really it was a Slog -
sometimes I like slogging. I picked it up again recently and managed Quicksilver and Confusion, but returned System of the World to the library unread. The books really aren't about the characters, or a plot.

Quicksilver is actually about Scientific Advancement in the Age of Newton
Con-Fusion is about economics.

anyway good luck.

 

[Olli]

So, tell me, what is it with this book?

I have read diamond age and snow crash and loved them both. But i have managed to read about 150 pages of Quicksilver, and it bored me to tears...

Does it get better, and pick up Momentum, or will it crawl and slog on and on?

 

[RangerWickett]

It's just incredibly long and dense. I read it the way I would attend an art museum, getting close to the detail work and appreciating how much effort went into its creation, even if usually it's more effective to gloss over a lot of this stuff and make flashy pop art.

 

[EricNoah]

Wow, a blast from the past. I will add that I was only able to complete the series by doing it as audiobooks. Simon Prebble does a masterful job of telling the story, which they broke down into, I think, about 8 audiobooks. I did it over the course of a few months with my Audible.com subscription. Very much worth the effort. As always with Stephenson, I am not 100% sure I understood it all, which may mean in a few years I will be able to enjoy it fresh and maybe pick up a bit more. My second read through The Diamond Age, for example, was very enlightening.