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Publisher:
William Morrow & Company / HarperCollins |
Release
Date: April 13, 2004 |
ISBN:
0060523867 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Fiction – Historical – Action and Adventure |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Kristin Johnson |
Reviewer
Notes: Reviewer Kristin Johnson is the author of CHRISTMAS
COOKIES ARE FOR GIVING, co-written with Mimi Cummins and ORDINARY
MIRACLES: My Incredible Spiritual, Artistic and Scientific Journey,
co-written with Sir Rupert A.L. Perrin, M.D. |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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The Confusion
The Baroque
Cycle, Vol. II
By Neal Stephenson
Is Peter
Jackson bold enough to make a movie trilogy of Neal Stephenson’s
Baroque Cycle? If so, are there any people in New Zealand left to
thank in an Oscar speech?
With the twistings
of history (Was Isaac Newton involved in a homosexual affair with
von Leibniz?) that Stephenson executes in The Confusion,
the second volume, perhaps Oliver Stone might be persuaded to helm
the project. Or you could save the development hell and utter butchering
of the book, because studio execs are bound to think audiences won’t
go for a wry, sometimes serious, sweeping adventure story in which
much of the action resembles a cross between The Treasure of
the Sierra Madre and Wall Street, with a bit of Master
and Commander and The Three Musketeers thrown in.
True, there are pages and pages of scientific discussions, as well
as hints of building a computer, plus more financial dealings than
Donald Trump could keep track of. There’s also a tender and
globetrotting love story that reminds one of a tragicomic Cold
Mountain, as well as more gutsy, educated, daring women than
can be found in either Tolkien or Jordan. There’s Eliza, the
female protagonist who makes Martha Stewart look like a homemaking
hobbyist, the Satanist Duchess of Oyonnax, the brilliant precocious
Princess Caroline, the pirate queen Kottakka and let’s not
leave out Jack Shaftoe and his gutsy band of slaves turned entrepreneurs.
To try
to describe the plot in this review does the book an injustice.
The battle scenes supply grit, blood and guts galore, the political
and financial intrigues make our dot-com fueled stock market look
tame and Bush and Kerry’s economic plans straightforward.
There are failed and successful invasions, battles over lost love,
worries over budgets and currencies, battles on the high seas, and
women and men seducing each other for king and country, and sometimes
for love. There’s even a custody battle. As the French say,
plus ça change, plus ça reste la même chose.
Although I
had not read the first volume, I found The Confusion not
confusing, but a delightful linguistic and suspenseful alchemy by
a master.
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