The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer in The Alternative Worlds

Feb 19, 2013 Carla Patterson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

I love this book enormously and have gotten more from it each time I've read it (I think the past couple of days is the 6th time I've read it through). Where do I start?

First of all, I love it because it feeds and comforts a part of me which is very hard to interface with consciously and that is my 4 year old self. I am an abuse survivor and it started then when my mom was in hospital after a miscarriage and I was home alone with my father. No need to get into the details but I hope it goes with I love this book enormously and have gotten more from it each time I've read it (I think the past couple of days is the 6th time I've read it through). Where do I start?

First of all, I love it because it feeds and comforts a part of me which is very hard to interface with consciously and that is my 4 year old self. I am an abuse survivor and it started then when my mom was in hospital after a miscarriage and I was home alone with my father. No need to get into the details but I hope it goes without saying that things which adults do and say to their children at the age of 4 become the bedrock of their growing personalities and are very hard to reason with as an adult. Nonetheless, they affect every aspect of the adult's personality, even with lots of therapy. At 4, there aren't enough reference points to counterbalance the effects of parental assertions concerning what is true, what is right, what is okay. There aren't many authors who speak to that reality like Stephenson does in this book. Most treat it like it's something you can't recover from or, worse, that children that age don't remember anything and, therefore, it's best to just sweep it under the rug.

Instead, Stephenson narrates part of the multi-centric story (there are several main characters in this book) from this child's point of view as she experiences life and as she grows up. Most importantly, he creates a way for her to be parented well in spite of her situation - a very creative and wonderful way which I never cease to be amazed by. It makes me smile just thinking about it. ;) But, he doesn't stop there... this little girl's story is just part of a story which is global and touches on many aspects of modern life for the rich and the poor, many different ethnicities, at both the macro and the micro level. It's brilliant. And, although it takes place in a future which hasn't appeared, it remains an allegory for both the present as it exists and a future we could try to steer towards without having to wait for the technologies and fictions of the book to come into being.

It is a humanist book with amazing flights of technical and societal fancy which is also satisfying at the level of each of the major protagonists' lives. They don't all live happily ever after and I appreciate the way people's actions play out over time and don't always have the results they hoped for. There are costs for every action and someone has to pay them. This book doesn't suggest otherwise. But, there are some costs which are worth paying and there are some things which don't turn out well and every individual has to find ways to live with that in real life so why not in a novel as well? It makes the magic all the more meaningful and satisfying if one knows it's not just a way to hide from reality and/or put a bandage on a wound.

When I read it the first time, many years ago now, I got the most out of Nell's story, I have to admit but, each time I've read it since, I've gotten more out of one of the other character's stories. This time around it's Miranda. I also feel a bit more compassion for a character I didn't care for too much the first time I read it.

I have been trying to get my best friend to read this for years but she doesn't like science fiction... to me, though, that's like saying one won't read Moby Dick because one doesn't like going to sea. There are just some books which transcend their genre and this, for me, is one of them. ...more

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