The Cobweb

I enjoyed this novel. Like with most of Stephenson's works, it's about the journey more than the destination. He includes so many interesting facts and situations in his novels, and this one is no exception. And unlike some of his recent works, this one doesn't get bogged down for a few hundred pages in the middle.The title refers to how you can render someone powerless without actually harming them, as if they were completely restrained by cobwebs.The story is set in the lead-up to the Gulf War in the early '90s, and centers around the "actual" weapons of mass destruction. But what sets this novel apart is all the interesting stuff you get along the way. It was a fun read. I give it 5/5 stars. Recommended.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I'm a huge Neal Stephenson fan. His writing is wonderful. His characters are fascinating. This book, co-written with his uncle under the pen name Stephen Bury is, in my opinion, highly underrated.First and foremost, if you've read Stephenson's recent work (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle) then you'll probably find The Cobweb to be somewhat light reading. On the other hand, if you like thrillers, this is a very easy and palatable read.What I enjoyed most about The Cobweb were the indictments of Washington bureaucrats, and of the way the U.S. Government works (or doesn't, as is more likely). The book's characters are people are I can relate to, whether we're talking about simple speaking but intelligent deputy sheriff Clyde Banks or the cynical career CIA agent Hennessy. The family of wrestlers named Dhont and the (fictional) migratory Vakhan Turks added a lot to the tale.Since I have spent five years on active duty in both the Marine Corps and the Army, I particularly enjoyed the critiques of bloated bureaucracy and the central theme of the book "being cobwebbed" by bureaucrats. The detailed descriptions of government bloat and inefficiency are spot on.The Cobweb manages to mock politics, politicians, bureaucrats and bureaucray and I found that aspect of the novel highly refreshing. The only scene I found unrealistic or unbelievable in the entire novel was the shootout in downtown D.C. in which one of the characters survives a pistol battle only to ask, "What was that all about?" People who survive gun battles that take place inside a vehicle with the windows rolled up aren't going to be able to hear, but I can forgive the authors since they've probably never heard a gun fired inside a car with the windows rolled up. I'm pretty sure a lot of the botulism stuff was unrealistic too, but I'm not a scientist, and so my suspension of disbelief remained intact in regards to the Iraqi terrorist plot to use botulism against Israel and thereby break the coalition. I suspect that in the real world, though, such a scenario wouldn't work, because the truth of the matter is that every country but Britain could have pulled out of the first Gulf War and the result would still have been identical. Nevertheless, it's an interesting plot the kept my rapt attention throughout.My favorite portion of The Cobweb is a long speech in which the jaded Hennessy explains that government does not solve problems it merely manages them. Bureaucrats don't actually fix anything, they find ways to drag out and prolong the problems, making them their own and passing them on to the next crop of bureaucrats, who continue the process of managing the problems.The Cobweb is a wonderful yarn that highlights the best and worst in people and institutions and it's a wonderful romp through a fictional part of Iowa that I highly recommend. Guest starring two real historical characters - Tariq Aziz and George Herbert Walker Bush.

Fans of Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Big U will probably like this for the simple reason that the same sense of gross exaggeration and pinpoint satire is quite prevalent. Quite simply, Stephenson has some fun with this, from his character's names (Desiree Dhont) to 400 pound wrestling freaks.But amongst all the fun there is a more serious bulwark that Stephenson attempts to pierce with this satire cum thriller, that of just how the American intelligence agencies really work (or don't). Starting in 1990, the book covers the national and international events leading up to and through the beginning of the serious start of Gulf War I, with the major lynchpin of the plot revolving around just why there are so many Iraqi students working for their graduate degree at a small mid-west college.For a satire to be effective, there needs to be at least a small kernel of truth buried under all the barbs - and the portrait painted here of just how the CIA, FBI, NSA, and the rest of the alphabet soup really work is frightening because events that have occurred since this book was written (long before 9/11 and WMD intelligence made headlines) show that this portrait, rather than being a gross exaggeration generated by one (or two, in this case) fevered author's mind, is painfully accurate. It is a sad commentary on our government agencies that shows that initiative and proper application of discerning, probing minds to the mass of raw data these agencies receive, rather than being appropriately acted upon and the initiator properly rewarded, is instead bound around by `study' groups, stonewallers, credit grabbers, disavowed by everyone who stands to lose a smidgen of status because they were not the originators, denigrated, have their careers short-circuited, and in short are `cobwebbed'. There is also some sharp commentary on just how foreign policy is formed and implemented, and should be a wakeup reminder to people that the US supported Saddam's regime for a long time merely to have a counterweight to Iran.As a story, this is a pretty good thriller, with a basic story line that is quite believable (as long as you can recognize when Stephenson is having another flight of grand exaggeration). The characterization of the deputy sheriff and the poor low-level GS-11 Washington analyst is good, and the situations they fall into actually proceed quite logically from one point to the next. Most of the rest of the characters are pretty thinly drawn, and in a few cases are mere stereotypes, but they perform their job of moving the plot along pretty well.Not as good as Snow Crash, but it comes close.---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Dass Neal Stephenson erzählen kann, hat er bereits in vielen seiner Schriften bewiesen. Seine extravagantesten Romane zeichneten sich durch einen Parforceritt durch die Epochen aus. Nichts ist dem Zufall überlassen und alles ist Zufall. Geschichte wird dabei zu einem Phänomen, das durch die Zeiten gewebt wird und dennoch absurde Sprünge zulässt. In dem Roman Cobweb, so scheint es, ist alles anders. Dort geht es nicht um die Wiege der Aufklärung oder die Geburtsstunde des Kolonialismus, sondern um aktuelle amerikanische Zeitgeschichte, die Stephenson bewegt zu haben scheint.Es geht um die Zeit, als der der erste von den beiden Bush-Präsidenten im Amt war und ein irakischer Herrscher namens Saddam Hussein die Chuzpe besaß, in Kuwait einzumarschieren. Bush war gewillt, den Krieg gegen den irak auszurufen, folgte jedoch noch früh genug klugen Beratern, die ihn davon abhielten. Doch der Schock saß tief in der amerikanischen Gesellschaft und die Enttäuschung über das Wendemanöver eines amerikanischen Verbündeten war groß.Stephenson entwickelt in dem Roman mehrere Perspektiven, aus denen er dann auch die Geschichte erzählt. Da ist ein Provinzsheriff in Iowa, letztendlich der Held der Geschichte, der über einige Absonderlichkeiten an der dortigen Universität stolpert und irgendwie den Verdacht nicht los wird, dass Auslandsstudenten mit jordanischen Pässen da an etwas arbeiten, was nicht ganz geheuer ist. Da ist eine junge Frau in der CIA, der auffällt, dass Agrarsubventionen für den Irak nicht als solche verwendet werden, sondern etwas andres damit geschieht. Da ist selbstverständlich einer der großen Player der CIA, der exzellente Beziehungen zur irakischen Counter Intelligence unterhält und da ist noch ein Gegenspieler, dessen Karriere hinter ihm zu liegen scheint und der aber letztendlich in der Lage ist, den politischen Fehler wettzumachen.Das alles ist mit der Stephenson eigenen Dynamik erzählt. Interessant für diejenigen, die nichts von Geschichtsbüchern halten. Es geht um die Situation 1990/91, als es zum ersten Mal hieß, der Irak besitze chemische Waffen und er sei bereit, diese auch einzusetzen. Mehr als 10 Jahre später erwies sich diese Behauptung als Fake News, führte aber dann doch zum. Durch den 2. Bush ausgerufenen Krieg. Was Stephenson ohne erhobenen Zeigefinger gelingt, ist die Plausibilität einer höllischen Form der Diplomatie auf amerikanischem Boden darzulegen. Ausgehend von einer politischen Fehleinschätzung wird nämlich geduldet, dass irakische Studenten auf amerikanischem Boden an chemischen Substanzen arbeiten, die zu kriegerischen Zwecken eingesetzt werden können. Im Plot wird eine Katastrophe verhindert, im realen Leben ist das noch Gefährlichere als die reale Existenz bestimmter Waffen das Spiel mit den Möglichkeiten und die teils irren Einschätzungen über mögliche Bündnispartner.Dabei handelt es sich um eine Frage, die nicht nur die USA, sondern den ganzen so genannten Westen beschäftigen sollte. Welche Partner sind geeignet, um die Interessen durchzusetzen? Was Stephenson gelingt, ist die Darstellung, dass es Sandkastenspiele sind, die zu dem Unfug führen. Denken wir an die Geschichte: Taliban, Al Qaida und der IS sollten noch folgen.

On the English Amazon sites I read some reviews declaiming this book as Stephenson-light, but I did not find this at all. The whole is much more compact that his epic rambling novels and I think this in fact benefits here. His storytelling is quite up to his best and I can warmly recommend this read to any Stephenson or techno-thriller fan.

un candidat sheriff catcheur, au centre des grandes plaines agricoles américaines, fait face à l'incompétence interne des services secrets américains pour sauver la politique étrangère du pays . Depuis George Bush en hors bord jusqu'au combat de catch en altitude, Stephenson nous emmène dans un récit attachant depuis l'Amérique profonde aux frontières de l'Irak .Ce récit pré- 11 septembre pourrait s'inscrire dans la lignée des écrits anti-Saddam qui a permis aux faucons de lancer la troisième guerre du Golf en 2003; en fait on s'aperçoit que l'auteur connait trés bien le contexte du conflit mais n'y fait que des allusions trés brèves, perceptibles pour qui les cherche ; c'est plus subtil .Un livre agréable à lire avec pas mal d'action; ce n'est pas mon préféré pour cet auteur ( que j'adore ), mais il est certainement plus facile à lire que d'autres .

Fun read. Stephenson is a smart guy.