OT: Anathem

Adam Thornton · 16 Sep 2008, 04:27 · from 2008-September.txt.gz

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From: adam at io.com (Adam Thornton)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:27:20 -0700
Subject: (urth) OT: Anathem
In-Reply-To: <39ed084f0809151140h9e0652fjff92ad0cdc6331ff at mail.gmail.com>
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	<39ed084f0809151140h9e0652fjff92ad0cdc6331ff at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4A323C0E-1113-4375-AFDB-19952603B3C5 at io.com>

On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:40 AM, Matthew Groves wrote:

> But once I forgave Stephenson for not transcending popular fiction  
> with a new Book of the New Sun, I started to enjoy Anathem.  I have  
> more to say about the book, but I'm curious about others' reactions  
> to Anathem.

One question.

Does the ending suck?

Stephenson can't write endings.

That's a lot of why I liked the Baroque Cycle.  3000 pages of fun, so  
the 30-page crap ending wasn't too bad (and, to be fair, it was a  
better ending than, oh, _The Diamond Age_).

But I always feel like there's been the following conversation:

Editor: How's it going, Neal?
Stephenson: Great!  I've written 1200 pages now!
Editor: Dude, I sold them a 400-page novel.
Stephenson: ....
Editor: Wrap it up.  NOW.
Stephenson: Um, OK.

STEPHENSON DOES.

Adam
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