The System of the World, Neal Stephenson

The end of this book was a journey, not a destination. Not every trilogy is made up of 3 books with approximately 900 pages each, and not every trilogy spans a hundred years and the entire globe, but this one did, and did so in a way that as I got to the end I wanted to go back to the beginning and check out how it had all started. Probably because I finally understood the beginning of the first book. (Next time I have a free year I will re-read them; otherwise I just don't have the time.)

I won't attempt to explain almost 3,000 pages of plot (more, if you count the prequel/sequel Cryptonomicon). It takes place during the 1700s in England (partly), where natural philosopher Daniel Waterhouse has come back to England to try and mend his long rift with Isaac Newton, who is the head of the English Mint. That's about half the plot. The other half has to do with a vagabond named Jack, who travels the world by accident, and the woman he loves, Eliza, who starts out as a kidnapped harem girl and ends up a French duchess. Or... something. It's complicated. On the one hand, that's a good thing; much like Veronica Mars or the Simpsons, there are all kinds of background characters who show up and are fondly greeted by the reader (my own favorites are Jimmy and Danny, who are never dead, although you always sort of think they will be this time). On the other hand, people show up after years of absence, and all three of our protagonists have separate plots (mostly), so I often had no idea who had just wandered back into the story.

The historical accuracy is astounding, except for the parts Stephenson made up, which blend seamlessly with the real parts. He is either the smartest man alive or very, very scary. I suspect Stephenson's style is polarizing to readers. 3/4 of the way through the last book I finally realized what was so odd about most of the story; it was being told without anything ever happening. He'd set up a scene, and then cut to a character telling another character about how the denoument had played out. The weirdest part is that it's not boring or irritating; I was so hypnotized by Stephenson that it never occured to me that it was a strange way to tell a story. It helps that he is often laugh-out-loud funny, although in a backhanded British sort of way. On the other hand, a lot of the story is devoted to how Eliza helped invent the stock market, which is baffling, or to Newton and Leibniz fighting over who invented the calculus, which ought to be baffling but still manages to be compelling.

It's a you-get-it-or-you-don't thing, is what I'm saying.

Grade: A if you like history and beautiful prose, D if you have a short attention span

originally posted in 2006