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Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a shocking tale with an all-too plausible premise. There's no way William A. Cozzano can lose the upcoming presidential election. He's a likable midwestern governor with one insidious advantage--an advantage provided by a shadowy group of backers. A biochip implanted in his head hardwires him to a computerized polling system. The mood of the electorate is channeled directly into his brain. Forget issues. Forget policy. Cozzano is more than the perfect candidate. He's a special effect. "Complex, entertaining, frequently funny."--Publishers Weekly "Qualifies as the sleeper of the year, the rare kind of science-fiction thriller that evokes genuine laughter while simultaneously keeping the level of suspense cranked to the max."-- San Diego Union-Tribune"A Manchurian Candidate for the computer age." --Seattle Weekly From the Trade Paperback edition..… (more)
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Interface is set in very near future of contemporary America of the time it was written ('94). The problem is that it apparently took quite a long time to write, so a lot of the little contemporary touches ring very false. Cell phones are non-existent at the start of the novel, but a few months later at the end, they are casually being used by the assistants of great people, but not by the great people. There are references to Presidents Clinton and Bush. Presumably Bush the First, but that the ambiguity combined with a second Bush make the mix of contemporary and 10 years ago technology even more jarring.
Stephenson and George obviously worked to get a lot of details right, down to making fun of the name of the public transportation system in Denver, and then completely blow it by inventing a shopping mall where none ever existed because they couldn't be bothered to figure out how to get their character 10 blocks further in to downtown.
The story frequently plods. It brings in numerous characters, building up more or less significant back story around them, just so they can provide a relatively minor bit of the plot and then be quickly discarded. Even the science is mix-n-matched to provide an easy out later in the plot. All of these things serve to make what could have been an enjoyable political thriller into a lumbering disappointment.
The technology dates the story in curious ways (there seems to be an awful lot of VCR recorders in use), but does not
Ultimately, disappointing and a bit dumb.
The incumbent president tries to forgive the national debt, standing at ten trillion dollars.
There’s a shadowy cabal and the forces that oppose them. I think my biggest problem with books like this is how far removed they are from reality. If there were shadowy cabals that could round up people as incredibly brilliant and competent as those shown here, then frankly, the country would be better run than the messy democracy we’ve really got.
A lot of the plot is silly and improbable, and many of the characters are cardboard cutouts, but even most of the bad guys are likable (a few genuine evil annoying people wander through, but don’t last long) and it’s shamefully fun to see how high the improbabilities can stack up, and what sort of conclusion it will all come to. Actually, the conclusion isn’t even that great. It seemed a little gratuitous, a little rushed. But it is satisfying, in its way. This book isn’t for the serious reader of literature. But for people who enjoy political thrillers, it should be fun.
However, I got halfway through and realized I'd already read it. I have no idea when.
This is a story of politics, polling, popluraity mixed with high tech bio-engineering. I was more impressed first time around as it was pretty new to me ~10 years ago. Still a good story but the passage
William A. Cozzano is a hardworking, no-nonsense Republican governor who suffers a stroke just as the president of the US announces his radical and foolish plan to simply set aside the national debt and consider it absolved. This incurs the wrath of one of the world's primary movers and shakers: the Network. And what the Network (a loose shadowy conglomerate of indivuals, companies and funds) wants, the network gets. In order to restore balance to the world, they initiate a plan to gain control of the US, by maneuvering a puppet into the pilot seat. That puppet is to be William A. Cozzano and a biochip implanted directly in his brain - ostensibly to facilitate his recovery from the stroke - is to be the key to the Network's power grab. But as schemes for world-domination are wont to do, a wrench is stuck squarely where it shouldn't and as those around Cozzano attempt to undo their hold on him, all the Network's power is channeled into maintaining it. As you may have guessed, it ends in chaos.
There was a similar story written on the sixties that primed a candidate with selective data from each electoral district as he campaigned there. I don't recall three end of that book.
Interface was published at the dawn of the she of public Access to the internet. Smartphones were barely imagined.
Stephenson wrote the book with his uncle. They created a thought provoking book. The didn't imagined the 2020 invasion of the capital.