Cryptonomicon

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to Detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. It is a game, a cryptographic chess match between Waterhouse and his German counterpart, translated into action by the gung-ho Shaftoe and his forces.

Fast-forward to the present, where Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia - a place where encrypted data can be stored and exchanged free of repression and scrutiny. As governments and multinationals attack the endeavor, Randy joins forces with Shaftoe's tough-as-nails granddaughter, Amy, to secretly salvage a sunken Nazi submarine that holds the key to keeping the dream of a data haven afloat.

But soon their scheme brings to light a massive conspiracy, with its roots in Detachment 2702, linked to an unbreakable Nazi code called Arethusa. And it will represent the path to unimaginable riches and a future of personal and digital liberty...or to universal totalitarianism reborn.

A breathtaking tour de force, and Neal Stephenson's most accomplished and affecting work to date, Cryptonomicon is profound and prophetic, hypnotic and hyper-driven, as it leaps forward and back between World War II and the World Wide Web, hinting all the while at a dark day-after-tomorrow. It is a work of great art, thought, and creative daring.

©1999 Neil Stephenson (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Importance of good narration

The narrator almost entirely ruins listening to this book, which was a tremendously good read. Glaringly he mispronounces the frequent Philippine words and place names. He narrates sentence by sentence rather than appreciating the developing line of the story being expressed. I would not have used up two credits for this if I had payed enough attention to sample the quality of narration beforehand. My bad.........

Too long and formulaic

After reading reviews about Stephenson's novels I wanted to give them a try. I read Ream-de first and was thoroughly impressed. Based on internet reviews I downloaded Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon and listened in that order. I think once you know the formula it becomes a process. Witty prose, multiple stories/threads that intertwine and somehow come together in a conclusion.

Snow Crash had a really interesting take on the near future society and the cross over between real world and gaming but seemed to run out of energy - as though the author realised the ending was underwhelming and he just wanted to get it over.

Cryptonomicon was worse. It felt so formulaic - multiple stories intertwined in an overly long book. Too much is taken up with describing repetitive functions/programing steps - one iteration would be enough - and then the conclusion/climax is rushed and unbelievable. Its as though he starts with a target of 35 hours (or 1000 pages) and then tries to figure out how to fill it and then realises he is nearly at 35 hours so has to finish in a rush

I will give it a break and might try one more.

Excellent book, terrible narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The book itself is a masterpiece, but the narrator is singularly awful. Even when reading my old paperback copy I found myself hearing Dufris' ridiculous voice-acting - it came very close to ruining one of my favorite novels for me.

Definitely not Mr Stephenson's best outing imo

I've read and listened to a number of Neal Stephenson books (diamond age, anathem, seveneves, snow crash, zodiac) prior to this one, and generally count myself as a fan of his. Each of those books sticks to his formula, but is generally well plotted, witty, and surprisingly forward thinking speculative fiction. This...isn't that. There's an overarching plot hiding in there somewhere, but I'm about halfway through and it hasn't made itself apparent yet. I'm sorry to say that this book feels almost masturbatory to me; it goes on long tangents down blind alleys that lead nowhere and distract from the story. There are riveting parts, but they are few and far between and ultimately fizzle in the progression of the story. This reads more as a personal diary of rhetorical thought than a novel.

And William Dufris is not at his best in this reading. I generally like him as a narrator, but there are numerous mispronunciations, obvious transcription errors, and he struggles with the accents. Enoch Root in particular is all over the place, drifting from German, to Australian, to who knows what and back again. It's almost as if he's bored of reading the book and can't be bothered to do multiple takes.

I've made it halfway, as I said earlier, but it's been a slog. I'm probably going to finish it just so I can say I did, and to catch the few diamonds in the rough. Maybe it will surprise me by the end (in which case I'll adjust this review accordingly), but I'm not very hopeful. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone but the most diehard Stephenson fan.

Guys- This book is really REALLY long

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

It's culturally relevant, and I learned a lot of interesting things, but this book is a test of endurance time wise. The author goes on a lot of long digressions, many of them about math or technical things, which would be easier to digest in traditional printed format. Generally good story, and worth reading, but it would be better in print (and faster too).

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

By the time I was 20 hours in... I decided I might as well finish it.

Let Down

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Cut out a lot of the fluff, and fill in more of the story.

What was most disappointing about Neal Stephenson’s story?

It felt incomplete for being so long.

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Durfris narration took a little getting used to, due to accents and such. But within the first 30 minutes I felt Mr. Durfris and I had a meeting of the minds and we settled in on the story. He did an awesome job. I just wish he would do more books that I had some interest in.

Do you think Cryptonomicon needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. The book pretty much covered the bases so some extent.

Any additional comments?

I'm disappointed. This was the audiobook that brought me to Audible. And I felt let down. I felt that a lot of fluff was added to the store to make for a long read/listen, and when the story reached what seemed like important story points or plots that there wasn't enough given to those. Maybe I just missed the point.

It was pretty evident that some editors had some influence in the manuscript. There was a bit of character development that took place for one character. And when that character showed up, there was some good build up, and then pfft gone. I mean why have him show up if your going to not invest time in him?

There was some really good intrigue, plot mixing, all kinds of good stuff that kept me wanting more more more. But there was to much fluff, to little focus on some characters, questions about why even trot out a character.

Oh well. At least it cost 1 credit this time instead of 2 when I first started drooling over the audiobook.

I think I'm done with Neal Stephenson for a while.

AWESOME!

Long, highly descriptive, very informative (especially if you want some great and accurate WWII knowledge), tech savy, adventurous, and just kick ass story! Loved it, and the narration was incredible. Cannot wait to dive into another Neal Stephenson masterpiece.

War, spies and crypto +cryptocurrency!

A great blend of history and tech. The tech is a bit dated know, but the contrast still works.

A Well Thought Out Book

Where does Cryptonomicon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A very engaging and interesting storyline makes this book a favorite. Aside from a few long winded, but humorous, passages describing in painful detail the inner thoughts and cereal eating habits of one of the characters, this books moves at an exciting pace. The characters are interesting and involving, and the story is top notch.

What about William Dufris’s performance did you like?

Well narrated.

Any additional comments?

A perfect blend of sci fi and history.

Better than Gravity's Rainbow

As this story slowly, eloquently unwound, I became more and more reminded of Thomas Pynchon's masterpiece, Gravity's Rainbow. By the time Stephenson brought it to a golden end, he'd surpassed Pynchon. Dufris' magnificent narration of this story, saturated with characters of many nationalities, kept pace with the challenge.