"It's war, baby." also reminds me of the saying, "That's showbiz, kid." The inconsistency of "showbiz," where one day something has that special "it" factor, and the next day, everyone has already forgotten about it and moved on, is present on page 79: Avi and Randy "were frequently mentioned as among Silicon Valley's rising stars...A year after that, the entire enterprise had crashed and burned." I thought the next line was really funny. "This was an epic tale not worth telling." The author likes to use oxymoronic terms (or concepts) next to each other. (i.e. "sophisticated urbanite" that I mentioned in my previous blog entry)
I laughed out loud when I read "It's war, baby". And promptly stopped reading for like, two days. WHAT CHEESE. I guess I'm the only one who finds this book insufferable after reading such great ones like Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest- the writing just isn't up to the quality of the previous books, IMO.
I agree-- I think the writing isn't quite as impressive as that in the other three novels. But I do think that Stephenson has a firm grip on humorous writing, more so than the previous three authors. So far, in my mind, the novels have progressed in order from least amusing (Gravity's Rainbow) to most (Cryptonomicon, although Infinite Jest is a very close second). I can understand why Stephenson's writing might not quite match up with the other three authors-- writing funny stuff is hard. I do feel like, as the novel has progressed, the writing has gotten a little bit better. Yes? No? Ideas?
I think that some of the writing in the earlier books was a result of egotistical authors who like to hear themselves wax on poetically. I like Stephenson's writing. I think you can write intelligently without sounding like a complete academic and losing your audience. I feel like Stephenson is aware that he wants his book to be a bestseller and therefore he does have to make it available to mainstream America. So in a nutshell, I think it is easier to read, but just as developed. I don't think this book is lacking at all.