Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) by Neal Stephenson
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Book Reviews of Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
Book Review: Stephenson rediscovers ambition - with mixed results
Summary: 5 Stars
It's interesting to see how Stephenson continues to parallel Thomas Pynchon's career, at least on the surface. His first major novel "Snow Crash" was hailed as the cyberpunk equivilent to Pynchon's "Vineland" while "Cryptonomicon" was a giant novel set in WWII, not unlike "Gravity's Rainbow". And now here we are with a historical type drama crammed into three giant books. And what was Pynchon's last novel? Why, "Mason & Dixon" of course. I'm not saying that Stephenson is consciously trying to ape Pynchon and I think the similarities are mostly coincidence, hyped up by publishers who know that Pynchon's name carries literary weight and used by Stephenson's detractors to show the man as an inferior copy. Both of those are largely inaccurate and it's best to look at Stephenson's work on its own, without dragging other works and authors into it. That said, I'll give the man credit for ambition. "Cryptonomicon", for all its numerous faults, was a big, smart novel written at a time when people barely read, let alone read gigantic complex novels. Now the author is using this novel to kick off a three book series set in pre-Revolutionary War times that I have a feeling will somehow function as a thematic prequel to "Cryptonomicon". It's a slight departure for Stephenson in that the SF/cyberpunk elements are almost totally absent, the closest the novel comes to SF is that one of the characters appears to be more than he actually is (his appearance in this novel explains a lot in "Crytonomicon", it always annoyed me how he apparently died and then showed up again without any kind of explanation, it's good to see that there's some kind of plan at work) but even that isn't highlighted too much. So we basically have a pure historical drama, once again featuring a huge cast of characters running around in any multitude of meandering plots. Most of the characters are precursors of characters we've recently seen . . . the names Waterhouse and Shaftoe pop up quite often. The plot of the book is rather hard to describe because it's not clear that there is one at this point, the main thrust of the novel seems to be how the characters affect current events and vice versa, and how everyone keeps tries to adjust and/or take advantage of the rapidly changing political climate. To that end, the author bounces us all over the world, to the exploits of Daniel Waterhouse and his brilliant collegues (including the rather eccentric Isaac Newton) and to Jack Shaftoe and his more visceral adventures, including those with ex-slave Eliza. Even though the novel is structured as three parts, the first featuring Waterhouse, the second Jack and Eliza, and the third just about everyone, he does manage to keep things moving by constantly shifting scenes and characters. Also, his "kitchen sink" approach to writing, throwing in letters, diagrams, and whatever else he can think of does a lot toward bringing us into the past, and while it's not a slavish reproduction of olden times, it's researched enough that it feels authentic. Yet meander the plot does, for all the jumping around it never feels like it's going anywhere important and often dovetails into digressions that never quite feel like they're ever going to connect to whatever main plot exists. It's a little too talky at times as well, with arch and too-clever dialogue substituting for momentum and often acting as exposition. And the half a million characters all bumping around, the important ones tend to get lost in the shuffle and we don't really get to feel like we know them (and there's really no scene or moment that made me go "wow!"), the most memorable is Jack (who is also the star of the novel's best and all too rare action scenes) and he vanishes for the last third of the novel anyway. Stephenson does get bonus points for Eliza, however, probably the best female character he's ever created and someone who makes up for his lousy track record thus far on that account. His prose has lost some of its "hipper than thou" cadences, finally, but he does tend to err on the side of being too wordy and it tends to not reflect any personality at all, just existing to move the story along. So with all that said, it's really too difficult to fully judge this novel yet, since it's only one small part (technically one third) of a major supra-novel and as readers we should probably hold off final judgement until it's finished and we can see the full scope of Stephenson's intentions. That doesn't mean you have to rush out and read it right now, wait until it's finished and then read it all the way through. It's not a gripping, life-changing work, but it's entertaining enough in small doses and future novels may make it all worthwhile. We just have to wait and see.Book Review: The 17th century in Cinerama
Summary: 5 Stars
Neal Stephenson is not your mother's bestselling author. He hasn't got so much as half an eye on the market. The "Baroque Cycle", begun in Quicksilver, is not sci fi, not technothriller, not like anything he's done before (unless it's the brilliant local temporal color of the Macarthur scenes at the start of Cryptonomicon.) If you open it expecting a repeat, you will, like many of these reviewers, be disappointed. Neal's made his pile; now he writes to please and to challenge himself, and we're welcome along for the ride if we like.I like.
Quicksilver falls roughly into thirds. It begins in England with the life of Daniel Waterhouse, a delightfully morose if wavering Puritan, groupie of natural philosophers (since "scientists" hadn't been invented yet)and sometime roommate of Isaac Newton. Among much else, he is to the late 17th century what the nerd is to the late 20th. As he moves between the worlds of the Royal Society and the Stuart court, more camera than participant, his lens gives us a penetrating view of the roots of modern science and commerce, the way they looked to a world that still interpreted them in archaic terms.
The second part, patterned on Tom Jones, is as replete with swordplay and ribaldry as the first part is with intellectual rewards. Across all of Europe, it follows the adventures of Jack Shaftoe, a London urchin turned mercenary, and the dazzling Eliza, exile from the fogbound isle of Qwghlm and initiate into the highest arts of the Ottoman harem. The final section begins knitting the two worlds together, Britain and continent, science and derring-do.
Historical novels typically engage us by putting characters like our ourselves into the exotic settings of another time. This does something far more interesting and difficult: it portrays the time through minds like theirs, not like ours. People who take seriously issues like alchemy, apocalypse, gunpowder markets and the divine right of kings. I found the change of mental weather wonderfully refreshing. Best of all was the dialogue, almost all of which consists of adroit fencing matches, in which diplomacy, intrigue, and sexual one-upmanship are carried on between the lines.
On pp. 265-266, Leibniz pays his first visit to London, and explains to Daniel, as the latter escorts him to meet Hooke and the rest, the pleasure he's taken in studying numerous paintings of London prior to his arrival:
"Each painter can view the city from only one standpoint at a time, so he will move about the place, and paint it from a hilltop on one side, then a tower on the other, then from a grand intersection in the middle -- all on the same canvas. When we look at the canvas, then, we glimpse in a small way how God understands the universe -- for he sees it from every point of view at once. By populating the world with so many different minds, each with its own point of view, God gives us a suggestion of what it means to be omniscient." (The reader familiar with Leibniz's metaphysics will understand how neatly this expresses the place of the deity in his monadology. But you don't have to know all that for the conversation to make sense. The book is jammed with such erudition, much of it just as unobtrusive.)
This book, similarly, is more a grand landscape of its century than a story. Rather than a plot, it contains many little scenes drawn from several different points of view. The Leibniz we see in the first part, the brilliant philosophe, inventor of calculus and visionary of the universal binary language to come, seems like a completely different character from the Leibniz of part two, the foppish "doctor" addicted to cheap novels and unworkable mining schemes. But what differs is the characters viewing them: the neurotonic Daniel Waterhouse, his mind deep in the birth of modern science at the Royal Society; and the mesotonic Jack Shaftoe, a man of headstrong action and no book learning whatsoever.
I was riveted from beginning to end.
Book Review: The major characters are introduced and the adventure begins
Summary: 5 Stars
The book being reviewed here is one of three books which are from the Baroque Cycle Trilogy by Neal Stephenson. Since there does not yet appear to be one title under which I can post my review, I have triplicated this review and placed the same review under all three titles. The sequence is Quicksilver, The Confusion, and the System of the World.
I read voraciously of both fiction, non-fiction and that in-between category of historic fiction in which one can learn considerably about the age but still enjoy the plot of an ideal narrative, or, in the case of the Baroque Cycle, an intertwining of several narratives. In the last say, three years, I have read literally hundreds of books and I can unequivocally name the three most influential works (apart from "Postcards of Nursing," the one I wrote myself, of course,) during that period. They are the 20 Aubrey/Maturin historic novels of Patrick O'Brian, "Shantaram," by Gregory David Roberts, and the three books in the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
I find it hard to critique Stephenson's work. His writing and research genius is so far beyond my poor abilities that if I come across an aspect of his writing which gives me pause, I have to look to my own deficiencies rather than his. But nowhere did I find the book to be condescending. And the subtle (and not so subtle) humor was superb.
And the characters: Ah the characters. When I had finished the books, I felt I *knew* Isaac Newton, Leibniz, Hooke, and Wren. Half-Cocked Jack and Dappa were real to me. Eliza lived and breathed.
Also, I began to discover that I was beginning to understand the international monetary system and the trappings of power surrounding it. I began to appreciate the conventions of letter-writing, the mind set when years might go by between a correspondence and its reply. I felt I understood something of the tangled tapestries of royal affairs in the 18th century. I was transported. Utterly. Words fail me.
Each book in the trilogy was better written than its predecessor, and the first one was superb. When I was reading O'Brian's novels, and was on say, novel #5 in the series, I was in heaven, knowing that I had 15 and a half (so to speak) more novels to go. When I was finally finished with 20, I started grasping at straws. I went to see the movie which, to my delight, showed me something of the ship HMS Surprise, but to my extreme disappointment, miscast Maturin so badly that it robbed the film of its portrayal of one of the most complex characters in literature. I read the unfinished #21. Not enough. It was only when I came across Quicksilver that I began to let go of the O'Brian characters and came to "invest" in Stephenson's.
And yet, by the time I was halfway through the "System of the World," the final of the three books, I began anticipatory grieving. I knew I might not see these folks again in such a personal light. They had become my friends. The fact that I had already read Cryptonomicon, a work by Stephenson based in part on one of the descendants of Dr. Waterhouse, was not a consolation. I miss those folks. I will probably read the books again in a year or two, but until then, since O'Brian is dead, and since probably Roberts will not top his first novel, I will have to wait for another of Stephenson's books. By the way, and this is not a spoiler, the resolution of the Baroque Cycle is thoroughly complete and intensely satisfying. It's just too bad it's over.
Book Review: This Book Will Obsess You
Summary: 5 Stars
Officials across the United States are expressing serious concern about a new "designer" drug which has hit the streets across the nation. Unfortunately, this new drug, known as "QuickSilver" or "Baroque" is neither regulated nor even recognized by the FDA.Reluctant addicts describe the drug as "a mission begging for my commitment" or "it's not too big for me, I can take it." Symptoms of addiction include long periods of somnolent silence and contemplation, interrupted only by serious lifestyle needs such as sleeping, working, or eating. Usage of the drug in the lavatory is common, and sometimes it's major venue.
During a typical "session" (typically begun just before going to bed, or, in bed), the addict quickly finds their world transformed into a medieval world of stultifying detail. The user valiantly continues on, sure that there is something of interest, somewhere. Instead, the session quickly resembles a computer game where "you are in a maze of self-indulgent passages, all alike". Shortly afterwards, the addict gives up, and puts the drug aside.
For that session. In roughly 24 hours, it begins again.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the drug is the drive of it's users to finish it, as if "running out", or "finishing all of it" was a goal. Officials suspect this is an insidious experimental additive to encourage future sales, but it seems self defeating since the user would only have to buy more QuickSilver for at least the next 5 years, something officials admit only the stupidest addict would resort too.
FDA scientists have analyzed the molecular structure of the drug, and determined that it's actually part of a family of drugs which have been evolving since the '90s. The first version, Snowcrash, actually had no detrimental affects, but led it's users to a significant expansion of their thought processes. Indeed, some readers went on to found companies after taking the drug. Repeated use had no detrimental affect, and new users are still appearing.
Later evolutions included Diamond, and Cryptonomicon. Each was similar to Snowcrash, but the latter was already showing the detrimental effects of QuickSilver. Indeed, in a thinly veiled ploy to work through stockpiled product, induces repeated visions of Cryptonomicon, encouraging the user to supplant their addiction with the older drug.
Our own sleuthing has traced these drugs back to a single lab, known in the underground parlance as "Stephenson", "Neal", or even just "Steph's". This shadowy character is apparently a native of Maryland, and our investigators have captured photos here, and here.
Officials are at loss as to what to do. Addicts really want to believe QuickSilver will be as good as Snowcrash or Diamond, but have yet to find it's substance. The biggest fear is that many of them will die of old age before finding out the truth, or just toss their dose out, and live forever not ever knowing if they should have finished it.
As a Public Service, we warn you. You will find this new drug being pushed at bookstores across the nation, and even on the web. We'd like to tell you more, but we're too addicted ourselves to take the time to do so.
Don't buy this drug. But, if you do, please tell us what happens.
Published at American Digest
Alert First Published at Michael's Web
Book Review: A Baroqe Masterpiece not to Everyone's Taste
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has languished on my "to read" shelf for a couple of years and now I am angry with myself for not having started it sooner. It is a baroque masterpiece.
It is baroque in that it is set in that period of European history when the arts and sciences were flourishing like never before. It is baroque in that it is complex, highly convoluted and ornamented with a myriad of frills. Not all of them add to the story line but they all add to the flavor and that flavor is exquisite.
This purports to be the story of Daniel Waterhouse, a Puritan Englishman drawn to the study of natural philosophy, what we would call rational science today. He is a bright fellow but suffers from being active at the same time as such luminaries as Isaac Newton, Christian Huygens, Robert Hooke, Leibniz and others. He is also a Puritan in an England suffering under the Crypto-Catholic reign of Charles II and the open Catholic, James II. William of Orange is defending the Lowlands against the aggressions of Louis XIV, the Sun King. All of these figures and more are woven together with great artistry to tell a story.
What is the Story? Well...that is the difficult part. The book opens in the early 18th century. A member of the Royal Society has been dispatched to Boston to bring Waterhouse back in an attempt to patch things up between Newton and Leibniz. Waterhouse agrees to do so and sets sail. The first third of the book alternates between the beginnings of his journey and memories of his younger years in the heydays of the 17th century.
The middle third of the book drops Waterhouse altogether. It tells the story of an English Vagabond who manages to rescue a well educated female slave from the Turks at the siege of Vienna. He is able to do little about his beautiful booty because of the pox and the loss of his member. Still, the two form a relationship as they head west to the Netherlands. He is her aide and protector and she is the brains with the financial acumen. She rises in court society and gets involved with the intrigues of the French and Dutch courts.
The final third brings together Waterhouse and the lovely Eliza, the rescued concubine. England is on the Eve of its "Glorious Revolution" in which the Dutch house of Orange takes over. Daniel is glad to see this and has helped to bring it about but is tired of the whole affair. He has notions of moving to Boston but does not expect to live long enough to do so since he has a bladder stone which is slowly killing him. As the book ends, he is being subjected to the surgery that might remove the stone and give him another chance at life.
Never once in the second or third sections of the book do we ever learn anything about Daniel's trip back to England late in life. We are even fuzzier on the reasoning. We get the sense that the entire book has been written to set us up for what is to come. I, for one, cannot wait.
This book will definitely not appeal to everyone. I suspect that the more knowledgeable one is about the history of that era, both political and scientific, the more the book will make sense. It is full of trivial facts, archaic spellings and words usages but these are not overdone. They add to the scenery, not detract from it. It is a magnificent read for those with the fortitude to attempt it.