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savaging's review against another edition
2.0
I don't mean to shock everyone, but I didn't fall in love with Gibson's hypermasculine cyberpunk classic.
I didn't swoon when Case experienced a personal emotional tragedy, and responded invariably with an astute observation, such as: "Shit." Nor did I salivate with the reliable two- or three-word sentence that ended each section ("He flipped." "Case jacked out.")
I didn't nod along elatedly when basically every female character (each of them sssssmmmokin of course -- who's gonna read about ugly girls?) wants to fall in love with and help along our main character -- a character who has the emotional vocabulary of a bran flake and a physical description little beyond 'generic.' Also the people of color want to help, but that's probably the doing of their mystical dub-step Rasta-god.
My poor little heart did not pitter-pat when I learned that the motivations of every character appear to center on more money and a wobbly drive to self-destruction (even though that's oh so tough-gritty!).
And if Gibson invented cyberspace it only makes my head ache a little bit, to think that someone could see his fictional account of a vacuous, meaningless, ugly world, and try to make a part of it real. This book was especially stark when read alongside [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1451446835s/20170404.jpg|28098716]: while dudely-dude Gibson creates a future dystopia where the main features are affordable plastic surgery and the extinction of most other species, Emily St. John Mandel has created a postapocalypse that centers on a Shakespearean troupe / symphony traveling through forests. Call me a girl, but when reading Gibson I found myself longing for beauty and humor and a world beyond tedious, drug-hyped corporate intrigue.
So yes, he's smart, he's creative, he's got some interesting technology questions, he can craft a (terse, athletic, stoic, manly) sentence -- but I'm done with Gibson. I'm sure I was never the sort he was writing for anyway.
I didn't swoon when Case experienced a personal emotional tragedy, and responded invariably with an astute observation, such as: "Shit." Nor did I salivate with the reliable two- or three-word sentence that ended each section ("He flipped." "Case jacked out.")
I didn't nod along elatedly when basically every female character (each of them sssssmmmokin of course -- who's gonna read about ugly girls?) wants to fall in love with and help along our main character -- a character who has the emotional vocabulary of a bran flake and a physical description little beyond 'generic.' Also the people of color want to help, but that's probably the doing of their mystical dub-step Rasta-god.
My poor little heart did not pitter-pat when I learned that the motivations of every character appear to center on more money and a wobbly drive to self-destruction (even though that's oh so tough-gritty!).
And if Gibson invented cyberspace it only makes my head ache a little bit, to think that someone could see his fictional account of a vacuous, meaningless, ugly world, and try to make a part of it real. This book was especially stark when read alongside [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1451446835s/20170404.jpg|28098716]: while dudely-dude Gibson creates a future dystopia where the main features are affordable plastic surgery and the extinction of most other species, Emily St. John Mandel has created a postapocalypse that centers on a Shakespearean troupe / symphony traveling through forests. Call me a girl, but when reading Gibson I found myself longing for beauty and humor and a world beyond tedious, drug-hyped corporate intrigue.
So yes, he's smart, he's creative, he's got some interesting technology questions, he can craft a (terse, athletic, stoic, manly) sentence -- but I'm done with Gibson. I'm sure I was never the sort he was writing for anyway.
mrsmobarak's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
jadelaporte's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Sometimes when you have a seminal work of fiction that is this influential and monumental, it can struggle to live up to its own gargantuan reputation. Not Neuromancer -- this book is absolutely incredible, start to finish, and it's insane that it was Gibson's debut novel. Even more insane that it helped spawn an entire sub-genre of science fiction and influenced so many of the most iconic movies/books/games of the last 30 years.
This was my second reading of Neuromancer and I feel like I appreciate it so much more the second time around. Gibson's prose can be frustratingly opaque at times, but it feels disingenuous to dock points off for such a thing when the prose is also so damn good. There are precious few books that I've read whose prose immediately sucks me in and envelopes me in moody atmosphere, and Neuromancer is one of them. It honestly feels like jacking into the matrix.
This was my second reading of Neuromancer and I feel like I appreciate it so much more the second time around. Gibson's prose can be frustratingly opaque at times, but it feels disingenuous to dock points off for such a thing when the prose is also so damn good. There are precious few books that I've read whose prose immediately sucks me in and envelopes me in moody atmosphere, and Neuromancer is one of them. It honestly feels like jacking into the matrix.
neartaking's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
matthewthe38th's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
pdandersson's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
hector_viruega's review against another edition
5.0
A veces la prosa es confusa, pero la cantidad de ideas que se exploran con ella valen toda la pena.
codergrl's review against another edition
2.0
I really tried. This is my third attempt at reading this book and I just can't. DNF :(
azureyoshi's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. Nobody in my book club enjoyed this book, so we quit reading it. Unless you enjoy analogies comparing a woman's body to a war plane and absurd amounts of technobabble, I do not recommend this.