Stephenson Neal 06

Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

Author Title Reviewed

Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon (1999) July 2000

Published by Price Pages

Arrow £7.99 918

I have always been interested in Cryptanalysis, and combined with Neal Stephenson as the author, I couldn’t resist this latest epic. There are a couple of points to make before you, as SF & F readers get too excited. Firstly, whatever the back cover says, in my opinion, this is NOT SF or Cyberpunk or anything loosely related to the science fiction genre - it is more a blend of World War 2 and modern-day thriller. Secondly, whilst his characterisations are sometimes lacking in his SF novels such as Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, on this occasion they are much more rounded. In fact it could be argued that they were written by different authors. The plot at times could have been more complex, but it is well fleshed out.

Cryptonomicon has two story-lines running alternately throughout the book. The first is the story of a ‘fictitious’ espionage unit – Dept 2702 during WW2. The style has a similar feel to Catch 22. It is humorous in places, but also very black. They break / have broken all the codes that the Germans / Japanese have thrown at them i.e Enigma etc, but don’t want the enemy to realise that their messages are being read and acted upon. They protect themselves by reading the location of a battleship, sending a spotter plane to be spotted by the enemy and it’s presence reported back to Germany / Japan (remember 2702 can read the signals), closely followed up by the means of sinking the battleship. They also have to go on some bizarre missions to acquire code books and place false evidence.

The second, modern day, thread is about the communications industry and the attempts of a small company to make a living in the Pacific basin. Apart from some characters from WW2 surviving into the modern day, the two threads are tied together by the modern day parts involving descendants of the survivors from the WW2 parts. The closest thing to SF was the technical jargon associated with the computer communications. But I suspect that this is science fact rather than fiction, or soon will be.

I put fictitious in quotes in a previous paragraph when referring to Dept 2702, because I have a problem with historical fiction. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy series such as George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman and the sequels. They are very cleverly written. In fact sufficiently subtle that when the ‘Flashman Diaries’ were first published, American experts thought that they were genuine i.e Flashy is neatly inserted into a historical context without distorting it.

My problem is that History is inaccurate at the best of times (after the victor has re-written it), let alone when respected authors and film directors have tinkered around to make a better plot-line. I am afraid I don’t entirely trust Stephenson. Certainly Alan Turing lived, but did he do everything the book portrays? Did the Germans Rudolph von Hacklheber (Rudy) and Gunter Bischoff the captain of U-691 ever exist? Was Bletchley Park used to the extent that the book describes? How many of the other characters really lived? How about the "Electrical Till Corporation", and Outer and Inner Qwghlm? Lawrence Waterhouse? The list is fairly lengthy.

Did the Germans and the Japanese get up to all the tricks that are detailed? Certainly I have heard tales that Churchill knew about the attack on Pearl Harbour two days before it happened but didn’t warn the Americans because it would have compromised the British code-breaking efforts, and also it conveniently brought them into the war. Co-incidently, the fictionalising of the story of Enigma and it’s relatives is very topical at the moment with the release of the American film U-571, which appears to distort the historical accuracy (the British involvement) concerning Enigma.

That said, if you can get over these minor frustrations concerning the basic question about what of this actually happened, I found this to be a gripping read. And will probably re-read it when the sequels come out . . . oh yeah : HEALTH WARNING! This is not the first in a trilogy, BUT Stephenson has said that he hopes to write a couple more books which are loosely related to this one i.e the books will be readable in any order.

Author	Title	Reviewed
Neal Stephenson	Cryptonomicon (1999)	July 2000
Published by	Price	Pages
Arrow	£7.99	918
I have always been interested in Cryptanalysis, and combined with Neal Stephenson as the author, I couldn’t resist this latest epic. There are a couple of points to make before you, as SF & F readers get too excited. Firstly, whatever the back cover says, in my opinion, this is NOT SF or Cyberpunk or anything loosely related to the science fiction genre - it is more a blend of World War 2 and modern-day thriller. Secondly, whilst his characterisations are sometimes lacking in his SF novels such as Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, on this occasion they are much more rounded. In fact it could be argued that they were written by different authors. The plot at times could have been more complex, but it is well fleshed out. Cryptonomicon has two story-lines running alternately throughout the book. The first is the story of a ‘fictitious’ espionage unit – Dept 2702 during WW2. The style has a similar feel to Catch 22. It is humorous in places, but also very black. They break / have broken all the codes that the Germans / Japanese have thrown at them i.e Enigma etc, but don’t want the enemy to realise that their messages are being read and acted upon. They protect themselves by reading the location of a battleship, sending a spotter plane to be spotted by the enemy and it’s presence reported back to Germany / Japan (remember 2702 can read the signals), closely followed up by the means of sinking the battleship. They also have to go on some bizarre missions to acquire code books and place false evidence. The second, modern day, thread is about the communications industry and the attempts of a small company to make a living in the Pacific basin. Apart from some characters from WW2 surviving into the modern day, the two threads are tied together by the modern day parts involving descendants of the survivors from the WW2 parts. The closest thing to SF was the technical jargon associated with the computer communications. But I suspect that this is science fact rather than fiction, or soon will be. I put fictitious in quotes in a previous paragraph when referring to Dept 2702, because I have a problem with historical fiction. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy series such as George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman and the sequels. They are very cleverly written. In fact sufficiently subtle that when the ‘Flashman Diaries’ were first published, American experts thought that they were genuine i.e Flashy is neatly inserted into a historical context without distorting it. My problem is that History is inaccurate at the best of times (after the victor has re-written it), let alone when respected authors and film directors have tinkered around to make a better plot-line. I am afraid I don’t entirely trust Stephenson. Certainly Alan Turing lived, but did he do everything the book portrays? Did the Germans Rudolph von Hacklheber (Rudy) and Gunter Bischoff the captain of U-691 ever exist? Was Bletchley Park used to the extent that the book describes? How many of the other characters really lived? How about the "Electrical Till Corporation", and Outer and Inner Qwghlm? Lawrence Waterhouse? The list is fairly lengthy. Did the Germans and the Japanese get up to all the tricks that are detailed? Certainly I have heard tales that Churchill knew about the attack on Pearl Harbour two days before it happened but didn’t warn the Americans because it would have compromised the British code-breaking efforts, and also it conveniently brought them into the war. Co-incidently, the fictionalising of the story of Enigma and it’s relatives is very topical at the moment with the release of the American film U-571, which appears to distort the historical accuracy (the British involvement) concerning Enigma. That said, if you can get over these minor frustrations concerning the basic question about what of this actually happened, I found this to be a gripping read. And will probably re-read it when the sequels come out . . . oh yeah : HEALTH WARNING! This is not the first in a trilogy, BUT Stephenson has said that he hopes to write a couple more books which are loosely related to this one i.e the books will be readable in any order.