Neuromancer

Rating:
Summary: cyberpunk........i think.
Review: Perhaps the only thing worse than reading a bad book is reading a book that has the blaring potential to be great, but somehow falls short.

"Neuromancer" is filled with thoughts, images, and scenes which are nothing short of brilliant and ground-breaking. Written in 1984, Gibson's ability to imagine the future of technology amazes me. He doesn't craft "Star Trek" worlds--idealized, raceless, places where everybody gets along (although we all love Star Trek, one must admit that its character interaction is a little less than realistic). Neither does Gibson let his technology get out of hand--people can't travel faster than light, nobody mates with aliens, or has an epiphany about the nature of the universe. It's Earth, plain and simple (although it's obvious he wrote it in the middle of the Decade of Excess--mirrored surgical optical insets? ick.). The man who coined the term "Cyberspace" creates a complex future which is ultimately believable.

Unfortunately--and this is where the rating part comes in-- as I was reading, I found myself stopping every page or two, scratching my temple, and going "HUH?" Listen, guys, before you tell me I'm just slamming the novel because it's popular, let's put it into perspective. I'm an experienced reader. I've been able to read Kerouac, Murakami, Vonnegut, and other notoriously confusing writers' works without a hitch. For a few identifiable and probably a few more unidentifiable reasons, "Neuromancer" gave me problems.

I realize it's a matter of style more than anything; Gibson wants to set an atmosphere by using particular words, sentence structures, and chronology techniques. However, the effect is something like that of a dress produced for a fashion show--what looks great on the runway is not necessarily practical or feasible for everyday life. For short bursts, Gibson's prose is lucid, vivid, and startling. However, taken in chunks much longer than a page, the gaps in action frustrate even a patient reader. There were times when I absolutely, positively could not follow what was going on, even after stopping and rereading several times. The experience was similar to trying to solve a puzzle with a hundred pieces missing. The prose, or lack thereof, probably cut my enjoyment of the novel in half.

"Neuromancer", however, is still a ground-breaking book, with so much insight and so many redeeming qualities that I'd still reccomend any SF fan read it. I just wish that Gibson had had a better understanding of prose and literary technique to make his ideas and images _really_ shine.

Rating:
Summary: I don't get it
Review: I read a lot...always have...but I just didn't get this book. When it was announced a special 25th anniversary edition, I had to read it.

Read the whole thing, but have no idea what the heck was going on. Could not follow the story or the characters.

I am not a (complete)idiot--professional degree and a lifetime of reading.

Maybe its a generational thing, I don't know.

Zero stars.

Rating:
Summary: A gritty and vivid debut that created a genre.
Review: Neuromancer is William Gibson's seminal work that made mainstream the ideas of cyberspace, sprawl, cyberpunk, ICE and a host of other concepts and predictions that are close to becoming reality today. These terms encompass a future heavily influenced by technology where the gaps between the haves and have nots have only increased. The other potent aspect of Neuromancer is the mingling of man with machine. This combination is more intertwined than anything we have ever encountered in reality, but at this point not so far off as to be unimaginable.

Neuromancer is the story of Case, a cyperspace cowboy who once rode the electronic plains of the matrix. Case though is damaged goods and is unable to jack into the matrix because of permanent nerve damage done to him as payback for a deal gone sour. His access to cyberspace having been revoked he lives like a junky forever unable to get his fix. Then he is given a second chance.

Neuromancer's plot is futuristic noir as no one else had thought to do it at the time. Case the cyberspace hacker and Molly the cyborg street samurai are archetypes that are used again and again in science fiction today. The overlaying anti-hero archetype is what ties them to their predecessors, but the access to new technology is what divorces them from the past.

Is it wrong to break into and steal from the mega corporations that run the world of Neuromancer? The distinction isn't clear. The world is layered in shades of gray. The megacorps do good, but they also do great evil. There aren't any easy answers and usually the characters are doing a gut check to figure out what they should be doing. This makes the world of Neuromancer a darker and dystopian view of the future, but one that is closer to being possible than most people would believe.

There is also no grand conclusion at the end where these contradictions are wrapped up in a neat little package. Anything like that would have been untrue to the subject.

I would highly recommend this to just about any adult reader. It has subject matter that might not be appropriate for younger readers, though I know many of my high school friends read it during adolescence. I attempted to read it at that time, but found the grim tone and hard edged style not to my liking. I read it recently at the age of thirty and I found it to be much more interesting with the perspective I have gained with age.

It's important to understand that when this book was published in 1984 there was no Internet as we all know it. The Internet was something that university researchers used for information exchange in a bare minimum sense. It contained limited data stored on mainframes across the country and was useful only to a minute subset of the population. To imagine the world that exists in Neuromancer was a great leap at the time and a prophetic vision of the world we inhabit today.

Rating:
Summary: This book is awesome, and by awesome I mean totally sweet.
Review: I got this in a Airport bookstore for something to read on the flight home... little did I know that it would hold me down and ravage my brain with its awesomeness. A friend had recommended it a few years ago but I never got around to reading it. After finishing it 4 hours after buying it in one sitting I was left speechless. Just everything is so fluid and fast paced you cant help but be carried away in the dystopic future Gibson creates... that is unless you have a mental defect. It is beyond me why anyone would not like this book, its just so damn good. It also reminded me of Ghost in the Shell, which i also loved. Anyways, stop reading my review and get this book!

Rating:
Summary: SF NOIR...POETIC DREAMSCAPES OF A DISTOPIC FUTURE...
Review: I have read this masterpiece during my university years, about a decade ago, and have re-read it countless times since then. Even reading only some pages brings up powerfull imagery, unforgetable prose...
I realy loved this book!!! (and all three of the Sprawl series: Count Zero and MonaLisa Overdrive). Own them all!!!

Rating:
Summary: Gibson left me wanting more...
Review: Wanting more quality. This book is sub-par at best. It's style may have had an important lasting effect on the scifi genre. On the other hand, maybe not. To me it seemed like I was reading something by Phil Dick AFTER he fried his brain, which is to say poorly put together with lots of weird stuff wedged into the story just because.

I didn't have any trouble following the story. It seemed relatively clear what has happening and to whom it was happening, at least after a page or two. However, I did have alot of trouble believing any of it. That these teenage punks they 'recruited' could be of any use at all is questionable. I think this book gets such rave reviews because of page after page of self congradulatory image-masturbation these neuromancer-wannabe-punks derive from it.

This book might be a fun read if you are about 14, not too bright, and see yourself as a 'noncomformist'. Others who would enjoy this book are the manga crowd (that is to say 19, not too bright, sees self as nonconformist, japan fetish), goths (style self as nonconformist, not too bright, very ugly/fat, exibitionist), anyone who 'LARP's. The key seems to be wearing black jeans, coincidently mentioned about 20 times in the book as the only thing the main character wears.

Rating:
Summary: They say you want to start a revolution!
Review: The birth of Cyberpunk. Gibson's visionary look at the future is the inspiration to a whole new generation of writers. Without Neuromancer, there would be no Matrix movie. Maybe the Watchowski brothers needed to read it again before they made Matrix 2 and 3. Gibson is a true visionary in that he saw where the internet was going before it got there. He saw the underground hacker community evolving into elite information agents. Gibson's futer is not pretty or nice but can be both. Human enhancement by computer seems gross, but can produce a seductive character such as Molly. The Characters are all very well written and you can see where they are coming from. Case is not a hero, but rather a selfish survivalist. Case, in other words, is a real person. The plot, once it starts, is paced well enough that you rip through the second half of the book very quickly. The story is not suprising in its conclusion, but the character relationships is the real driving force behind this novel. This is a must read for any Cyberpunk fan and most Science Fiction fans. Recommended High school and up. There are some sexual references but nothing you can't get off of daytime TV.

Rating:
Summary: The Book that Started the Cyberpunk Revolution
Review: In 'Mona Lisa Overdrive,' Gibson writes about a documentary called 'Antarctica Starts Here.' 'Neuromancer' could easily be titled 'Cyberpunk Starts Here.' Tag along with Case, Molly, and Dixie Flatline as they careen through a distopian future, where real life is an approximation of cyberspace, and the only signposts are written in Gibson's trademark prose. This book has been copied and rehashed so many times that it will probably seem familiar, even if you've never read it. But `Neuromancer' is the source. Every major idea in the cyberpunk/technogoth genre started with this book. To call `Neuromancer' brilliant would be six kinds of understatement. It's crazy, riveting, amazing, enlightening, and a lot of fun. If you've never read it, prepare for a weird but delicious treat. I've read it about six times, and I'm still not tired of it.

Jeff Edwards, Author of 'Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

Rating:
Summary: Written for a specific audience; not general fiction/scifi
Review: Many people have complained that this book is confusing, poorly assembled, badly written, shallow, dull, etc. Other people have written that this is the best scifi book of all time.

It's neither.

Neuromancer is not scifi, nor is it poorly written.

From the minute you read the first line of this book, you have essentially been locked into the world of someone else. You aren't given instructions or a glossary or anything to make the new world user friendly. But that's the point.

This book delves into noirish psychological questions, and the nature of personality. The jargon is part of what the characters call "home." It's information dense, detail-oriented, and an anti-adventure.

What Neuromancer does with brilliance is plunge you deep into a futuristic view of society from a programmer's or hacker's mind, which is not, per se, linear.

If none of these ideas appeal to you, this book is not for you. You will most likely be confused, unhappy, etc. with this book. If these concepts sound intensely fascinating, you will probably like Neuromancer.

Rating:
Summary: Neuromancer - a glimpse into what could be...
Review: I've read Neuromancer four times. I admit that it is a rough read with all of it's jargon, but all in all if you give it a chance and settle into it, it is a good read. Why have I read it so many times? Perspective. It's like mining. There is so much to the world the Gibson has created. I'm into compter engineering and information systems by profession. Gibson's speculative fiction put a social face to what typically starts as science, then is engineered, then is released to the masses as product. What he has done is essentially rendered one posible image or view of where our technology will ultimately take us. It's hard, it's gritty, it's brilliant, but it is fiction, for the moment. It is a beacon, a sign, and a warning all at the same time. I completely understand why it has won so many awards. If you are a geek, it is a must read. If you are casually into computers, again it is a must read. Gibson has spun quite the twisted, sound bite based story, but it is an incredible work. His concepts on AI alone are worth the read. As the saying goes. 'truth is stranger than fiction'.