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kilroyPrint date: 2007 (20s: 1, 50s: 1, 60s: 2, 70s: 6, 80s: 5, 90s: 3, 00s: 9)
One of the reasons why Gibson got as much attention as he did when he hit with Neuromancer was his calligraphic writing style; he always prefers a single evocative detail to a lush and complex description. He has this weird trick where he writes very minimally but he doesn't feel like he's writing minimally.
This book is the downside of that style. It feels like reading a series of haiku rather than a novel. Every chapter is just a few pages long, ends on a careful beat, and doesn't really give the reader anything other than a beautiful image. Any characterization or motivation the reader finds there, she put there herself.
The plot's the same way. In other hands the story would be a thriller, and would follow the basic thriller convention: even if we don't know what's going on globally we at least know what's going on in this scene. In Gibson's the plot is like wandering through fog hearing occasional snatches of music. There's little clarity and absolutely no traction. You can't understand the background, you don't have a basis for liking any character but one, and the narrative is split into three parallel strands anyway. There is technically a resolution, but I emphasize the adverb.
Really this just makes me want to go dig up my copy of Pattern Recognition. Or Idoru. I love the guy, but this one is definitely not recommended.
Verdict: Recycle. (16.5/49 keepers)
Page count: 371 (9789 total)
Completed: 27 (13 female authors, 14 male authors)
Rejected: 22 (12 male authors, 10 female authors)
Next book due: 9/9
One of the reasons why Gibson got as much attention as he did when he hit with Neuromancer was his calligraphic writing style; he always prefers a single evocative detail to a lush and complex description. He has this weird trick where he writes very minimally but he doesn't feel like he's writing minimally.
This book is the downside of that style. It feels like reading a series of haiku rather than a novel. Every chapter is just a few pages long, ends on a careful beat, and doesn't really give the reader anything other than a beautiful image. Any characterization or motivation the reader finds there, she put there herself.
The plot's the same way. In other hands the story would be a thriller, and would follow the basic thriller convention: even if we don't know what's going on globally we at least know what's going on in this scene. In Gibson's the plot is like wandering through fog hearing occasional snatches of music. There's little clarity and absolutely no traction. You can't understand the background, you don't have a basis for liking any character but one, and the narrative is split into three parallel strands anyway. There is technically a resolution, but I emphasize the adverb.
Really this just makes me want to go dig up my copy of Pattern Recognition. Or Idoru. I love the guy, but this one is definitely not recommended.
Verdict: Recycle. (16.5/49 keepers)
Page count: 371 (9789 total)
Completed: 27 (13 female authors, 14 male authors)
Rejected: 22 (12 male authors, 10 female authors)
Next book due: 9/9