Cryptonomicon
question
Was anyone else really let down by the ending?
Jeremy
May 29, 2020 11:58PM
This book took a long time to read, and was filled with techno-jargon relating to encryption, cryptography, historical fiction, modern (1999) hacking and encryption tech, and the intricacies of corporate lawsuits. The sexism and racism, though jarring at how nonchalant it is presented, can be somewhat waved off as a "period piece". While the fact that Stephenson can't write a female character to save his life can, i guess, be excused as "plot driven".
However, the ending takes the cake. You slough through over 1000 pages of thick reading material, and then one of the major plot points is not even addressed at the end. Apparently the main antagonist (the Dentist) has sent his lawyer (Loeb) to... track our protagonists down in the jungle? On an insane, but inept, murderous rampage.... through a mine field... and that apparently solves the lawsuit?
The whole point of the lawsuit was to expose Epiphyte Corp for fraud in selling inflated shares to the Dentist in order to finance a wild gold chase. The gold, would then be held against the company because it would be the company asset, and therefore partially belong to the Dentist. The Dentist would then file a fraud claim against Epiphyte (which was really just a shell company worth almost nothing at that point), and force the protagonists to sell off company stock to recoup losses, inherently allowing the Dentist to essentially buy out a majority share of Epiphyte and take control of the company. The Gold found would be held against the company, which is why they needed to covertly transfer the found gold into electronic currency to show that the company is truly worth what they were claiming it was, and the Dentists lawsuit would have no grounds. So then, not only do they find the gold, but they find the Primary gold, word gets out, and apparently Randy is on the cover of Newsweek and Times for this discovery. The secrecy is gone, but there are no consequences. Wouldn't this just strengthen the Dentists case? He financed the entire excursion and was defrauded, and therefore ALL of that gold would be leveraged against Epiphyte. Was the wiping of Tombstone just a concession of defeat to the Dentist? Like "If we can't have it, then we'll burn it all down so no one can have it"? Would that even exonerate them of their fraud? Am I missing something here?
It just felt like Stephenson gave up at the end and just wanted to wrap everything up and have a happy feel good ending where "The good guys win"
However, the ending takes the cake. You slough through over 1000 pages of thick reading material, and then one of the major plot points is not even addressed at the end. Apparently the main antagonist (the Dentist) has sent his lawyer (Loeb) to... track our protagonists down in the jungle? On an insane, but inept, murderous rampage.... through a mine field... and that apparently solves the lawsuit?
The whole point of the lawsuit was to expose Epiphyte Corp for fraud in selling inflated shares to the Dentist in order to finance a wild gold chase. The gold, would then be held against the company because it would be the company asset, and therefore partially belong to the Dentist. The Dentist would then file a fraud claim against Epiphyte (which was really just a shell company worth almost nothing at that point), and force the protagonists to sell off company stock to recoup losses, inherently allowing the Dentist to essentially buy out a majority share of Epiphyte and take control of the company. The Gold found would be held against the company, which is why they needed to covertly transfer the found gold into electronic currency to show that the company is truly worth what they were claiming it was, and the Dentists lawsuit would have no grounds. So then, not only do they find the gold, but they find the Primary gold, word gets out, and apparently Randy is on the cover of Newsweek and Times for this discovery. The secrecy is gone, but there are no consequences. Wouldn't this just strengthen the Dentists case? He financed the entire excursion and was defrauded, and therefore ALL of that gold would be leveraged against Epiphyte. Was the wiping of Tombstone just a concession of defeat to the Dentist? Like "If we can't have it, then we'll burn it all down so no one can have it"? Would that even exonerate them of their fraud? Am I missing something here?
It just felt like Stephenson gave up at the end and just wanted to wrap everything up and have a happy feel good ending where "The good guys win"
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Well, there's a few other reviews expressing disappointment with the ending (mine being probably the latest) so you're not alone. I was disappointed but not even for those reasons. Though reading your post I agree with you.
My read was that The Dentist had called the lawsuit off (I'm not sure why, actually) and that Andy Loeb was just completely insane and wanted to kill Randy as revenge for 'ripping him off'. Thinking about it now it really does make very little sense, since we're told that Andy is a wealthy lawyer and through the Dentist he has connections to the Filipino mafia so there is absolutely no reason why he would go alone.
You make a very good point that The Dentist could make the exact same case to claim for the gold in The Primary. That, in fact, would have been a good reason for Andy Loeb to be following them in the jungle.
I was more bothered by the decision to blow up The Primary. I know it's what's done in 90% of adventure stories but... there really didn't seem to be anything more to it than that. Like, Avi wanted the money to fund HEAP. That was the point of a big chunk of the book. Then everyone quietly decides to destroy it. Just to prevent a Chinese guy getting it. Which, really... does that make any sense? Wing bought up stretches of land. He didn't buy mineral rights. If everyone knows, as they apparently do, that the gold is there, then it is either property of the Philippines by virtue of being in the ground, or it is the property of the nations it was originally stolen from. Besides, it's been very well established that the Philippines have a corrupt government and the real problem with getting the gold is getting it out of the jungle - so how could Wing take it even if he had a legal claim?
I honestly wondered if Stephenson ran up against a deadline. Because the book was pretty solid to me until that final chapter.
My read was that The Dentist had called the lawsuit off (I'm not sure why, actually) and that Andy Loeb was just completely insane and wanted to kill Randy as revenge for 'ripping him off'. Thinking about it now it really does make very little sense, since we're told that Andy is a wealthy lawyer and through the Dentist he has connections to the Filipino mafia so there is absolutely no reason why he would go alone.
You make a very good point that The Dentist could make the exact same case to claim for the gold in The Primary. That, in fact, would have been a good reason for Andy Loeb to be following them in the jungle.
I was more bothered by the decision to blow up The Primary. I know it's what's done in 90% of adventure stories but... there really didn't seem to be anything more to it than that. Like, Avi wanted the money to fund HEAP. That was the point of a big chunk of the book. Then everyone quietly decides to destroy it. Just to prevent a Chinese guy getting it. Which, really... does that make any sense? Wing bought up stretches of land. He didn't buy mineral rights. If everyone knows, as they apparently do, that the gold is there, then it is either property of the Philippines by virtue of being in the ground, or it is the property of the nations it was originally stolen from. Besides, it's been very well established that the Philippines have a corrupt government and the real problem with getting the gold is getting it out of the jungle - so how could Wing take it even if he had a legal claim?
I honestly wondered if Stephenson ran up against a deadline. Because the book was pretty solid to me until that final chapter.
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