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.