Tuesday March 22, 2005 The Confusion
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I did a review of Quicksilver, the first volume of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy, back in July last year. Just after that, I started in on The Confusion, the second volume. I finished it last week. Now this is not because I'm a really slow reader; it's just that I had trouble getting into it, so I kept putting it aside and reading something else (that was typically much shorter). Once I did get into it (about three weeks ago), I read the last several hundred pages quickly and with enthusiasm. |
My single problem with this book is that there are too many characters and no Dramatis Personae for the printed version, to help you remember who's who. If you find it hard to slot together long continuous periods to read a book like this, then you are going to constantly forget who the players are. Apart from that, the book is very enjoyable, although the pace varies from being a page-turner for the action scenes, to a more mundane crawl for some of the long dialogue sections.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the plot, I suggest reading the "Product Description" section of the editorial review on Amazon. There is a great short synopsis of the series, on the inside of the jacket cover for the third volume from Entertainmeny Weekly:
"When Stephenson completes his ambitious Baroque Cycle ... he might just have created the definitive historical-sci-fi-epic-pirate-comedy-punk love story. No easy feat, that."
My favorite unforgettable quote from this second book:
"Caramba! exclaimed Diego de Fonseca, "a cucaracha has fallen on the tortillas of my wife!"
I'm going to take a break before I attempt the third volume. I want to try to make sure that I can put the time together to read most of it in one go.
There's also an autobiography of The Pythons, I'm itching to start.
( Mar 22 2005, 01:04:40 AM PST ) [Listen] Permalink
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