Salon.com interview with Neal Stephenson
I'm a huge fan of Neal Stephenson. His current project, a multi-volume story called the "Baroque Cycle" began with "Quicksilver" and continues in the just-released "Confusion". These are big books, in page count and scope and there are riddles, obscure facts, and Stephenson's trademark weaving of multiple story lines on every page. These are not easy books, but ultimately they are tremendously satisfying.
Salon.com has a terrific interview with Stephenson online.
Salon.com Books | Pirates! Calculus! Banking! Alchemy!
Pirates! Calculus! Banking! Alchemy!
"The Confusion," Vol. 2 of Neal Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle," is an enchanting, utterly excessive romp through the weird and wonderful corners of the late 17th century.
The arrival of "The Confusion," the second installment in Neal Stephenson's mammoth "Baroque Cycle" saga, presents some problems for a reviewer. No one is going to tackle this 800-page volume who hasn't already read, and enjoyed, the first, "Quicksilver."
But if you didn't like the first installment, oppressed by its seeming plotlessness, its profusion of minutiae about life during the late 17th century, and its endless disquisitions on Puritan religious life and the genealogical interconnections of European royalty, then no matter what the reviewer says about the second, you're still unlikely to give it a go. One is tempted, then, to merely repeat the quick and dirty summary offered by a reviewer at the geek news Web site Slashdot: "if you liked 'Quicksilver,' this one is better; if you didn't, don't bother." 'Nuff said.
But maybe there is a third category -- readers who were frightened by the lukewarm reviews of "Quicksilver" and have been waiting, nervously, to hear reports on "The Confusion" before diving in.
(The entire interview requires a subscription but you can get a free Day Pass on the home page).