The Big U
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Our view
“The Big U” is Neal Stephenson’s first novel, an anarchic satire of life at a vast university. Some readers find it too over-the-top to work as satire, and several miss the detail and polish of his later books and advise against starting with it. Others still enjoy its comedy on a reread, even if the closing stretch drags a little for them.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Big U (1984) is a novel by American writer Neal Stephenson. His first published novel, it is a satire of campus life.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 5.9 across 53 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 27% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 5.3 | 8 | 15% |
| Hardcover | 6.0 | 45 | 85% |
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 7.2 and 7.3, closest to this book.
