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Description
With this extraordinary first volume in what promises to be an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century. In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse... read more
Cast of Characters/Important People
- Robert "Bobby" Shaftoe: A gung-ho, haiku-writing United States Marine Raider.
- Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse: An American cryptographer/mathematician serving as an officer in the United States Navy.
- Günter Bischoff: A Kapitänlieutnant in the Kriegsmarine, who commands a U-Boat for much of the story, and later takes command of a new, advanced submarine fueled with hydrogen peroxide.
- Rudolf "Rudy" von Hacklheber: A non-Nazi German mathematician and cryptographer, who spent time attending Princeton University, where he befriended Waterhouse and Turing.
- Earl Comstock: A former Electronic Till Corp. executive and US Army officer, who eventually founds the NSA and becomes a key policy maker for US involvement in the Second Indochina War.
- Julieta Kivistik: A Finnish woman who assists some of the World War II characters when they find themselves stranded in Sweden, and who later gives birth to a baby boy (Günter Enoch Bobby Kivistik) whose father is uncertain.
- “Uncle” Otto Kivistik: Julieta's Finnish uncle, who runs a successful smuggling ring between neutral Sweden, Finland, and the USSR during World War II.
- Mary cCmndhd (pronounced "Smith"): A member of a Qwghlmian immigrant community living in Australia, who catches the attention of Lawrence Waterhouse while he is stationed in Brisbane.
- Glory Altamira: A nursing student and Bobby Shaftoe's Filipina lover. She becomes a member of the Philippine resistance movement during the Japanese occupation. Mother of Douglas MacArthur Shaftoe.
- Randall "Randy" Lawrence Waterhouse: Eldest grandson of Lawrence and Mary Waterhouse (née cCmndhd) and an expert systems and network administrator with the Epiphyte(2) corporation.
- Avi Halaby: Randy's business partner in Epiphyte(2), of which he is the CEO.
- America "Amy" Shaftoe: Doug Shaftoe's daughter who has moved from the U.S. to live with Doug in the Philippines, who becomes Randy's love interest.
- Dr. Hubert Kepler, aka "The Dentist": Predatory billionaire investment fund manager, Randy and Avi's business rival.
- Eberhard Föhr: A member of Epiphyte(2) and an expert in biometrics.
- John Cantrell: A member of Epiphyte(2), a libertarian who is an expert in cryptography and who wrote the fictional cryptography program Ordo.
- Tom Howard: A member of Epiphyte(2), a libertarian and firearms enthusiast who is an expert in large computer installations.
- Beryl Hagen: Chief Financial Officer of Epiphyte(2) and veteran of a dozen startups.
- Charlene: A liberal arts academic and Randy's girlfriend at the beginning of the novel, who later moves to New Haven, Connecticut, to live and work with Dr. G.E.B. (Günter Enoch Bobby) Kivistik.
- Andrew Loeb: A former friend and now enemy of Randy's, a survivalist and neo-Luddite whose lawsuits destroyed Randy and Avi's first start-up, and who at the time of the novel works as a lawyer for Hubert Kepler.
- Goto Dengo: A soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army, subsequently an engineer in the Japanese Army and involved in a Japanese wartime project to bury looted gold in the Philippines. Later (in the modern-day storyline) a successful businessman in the Japanese construction sector who becomes an ally of Epiphyte(2).
- Enoch Root: A mysterious, seemingly ageless priest serving as a chaplain with the ANZACs during World War II, and an important figure in the Societas Eruditorum. Also present in Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle.
- Wing: A wartime Chinese slave of the Japanese in the Philippines and later a general in the present-day Chinese army. Wing is the only other survivor besides Goto Dengo of the Japanese gold burial project, and he competes with Goto and Epiphyte(2) to recover the buried treasure.
- Douglas MacArthur Shaftoe (named after General Douglas MacArthur): Robert Shaftoe's and Glory Altamira's half-Filipino, half-American son. He is introduced near the end of the World War II storyline where his father briefly meets him as a toddler. In the modern-day storyline he is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, who lives in the Philippines and operates an underwater survey business with his daughter Amy, conducting treasure hunts on the side.
- Dr. Günter Enoch Bobby "G.E.B." Kivistik: He is introduced in the modern storyline as a smug, Oxford-educated liberal-arts professor from Yale who recruits, and later seduces, Randy Waterhouse's girlfriend, Charlene. In the World War II storyline he is the unborn son of Julieta Kivistik and one of three possible fathers (hence his unusual name). His is a minor character in Cryptonomicon, but both his <impending> birth and his participation in Charlene's "War as Text" conference catalyze major plot developments.
First Sentence
IS THE BEST THAT CORPORAL BOBBY SHAFTOE CAN do on short notice-he's standing on the running board, gripping his Springfield with one hand and the rearview mirror with the other, so counting the syllables on his fingers is out of the question.
Table of Contents
Authors & Contributors
- Neal Stephenson (Author)
Awards
- Locus Award (2000: Best Science Fiction Novel)
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