Idoru

Rating:
Summary: The future of you and me
Review: Now, when I have finally finished the future I will certainly live in, it seems to me as one of the best book I've ever read. (The last of the best books being 'Burning Chrome', which, in it's short-story-esque way, seems to tell the truth better and with stonger emotions than any novel could.) 'Idoru' is deep, virtual/real, and it's firmly intertwined with my own ideas of our near-future.

I remember taking it up about six hours ago and reading the first page, and realizing that I'm back in the Realm of Gibson, in the realm of highly crafted sentences, in the realm of subtle references, in the realm of true feelings hidden between the black&white lines on the paper... I recognized almost instantly the branches that the sprouts of our modern technology had become. Recognized the things I will be able to do in the Net in the future that are currently merely suggested by the last reformations. Recognized the origins of idoru as a healthy motley of holograms, AI, and Ananova.com.

Gibson seems to dissect all aspects of our present-day pop culture in this book. He probes the artificial minds of tomorrow's computers to find evidences of humanity. He burrows deeply into various layers of stardom in search for the hustling power behind it, never underestimating the force of contemporary fan-base. He understands completely the multicultural society we're becoming. And he seems to place all the right details to where they belong, no matter how remote.

After reading 'Idoru' it hit me that I had actually seen and felt it all in the Sony ad-mag I flipped through the other day, in the first big-credit anime 'Ghost in the Shell', in the last Wired issue in my inbox... And I knew that reading the lines on the paper was more visual than 'Matrix' ever would.

P.S. It still amazes me, though, how Gibson managed to overlook the doubel n in Tallinn in his constant drive towards accuracy.

Rating:
Summary: Idoru is not Neuromancer, but it is a wonderful book.
Review: There is a wide difference of opinion among William Gibson fans regarding the merits of Idoru. This book is much less hard-edged than his earlier works.

Idoru wasn't what I was initially expected when I bought it. I bought it on sight when I first saw it in stores, and didn't bother to read the back cover. I initially felt disappointed, but as I read on I found that I couldn't put it down.

As you follow the bibliochronology of his work, from the hard Neuromancer and Count Zero, through the spectacular Mona Lisa Overdrive and quietly past the peculiar Difference Engine to the great Virtual Light and Idoru, you can observe how Gibson's style has changed as he has matured as an author. His characters have more realistic personalities, and his universe although still fiction seems quite solid, not unbelievable at all.

Although no longer the shocking bleeding edge new father of a genre, Gibson remains at the forefront of the field as a creative superstar. He continues to esplore the rich expanses along the borders of Cyberpunk, where hack writers often fear to go.

Rating:
Summary: Idoru = Princess Diana
Review: Gibson published this book in 1996 and Princess Diana died in 1997. In all ways, Princess Diana was the Idoru of our time and culture. And Gibson, amazingly enough, predicts the international emotional outpouring and celebrity *worship* that greeted Diana.

I could not escape the comparison as I was reading the book, and chances are you won't be able to either. It makes the story that much more powerful and scary.

Rating:
Summary: Idoru is no Wintermute
Review: This is only the 3rd Gibson book I've read. The first 2 were Neuromancer and Count Zero. This book is a stark contrast to the cyber cowboys I'm familiar with. I enjoyed the fill of techno concepts and descriptions. When it comes to plot, there really isn't much tension or development.

I kept waiting for some kind of revelation or tension. The whole book is about a rock star marrying an Idoru, a personofied AI. To my chagrin, after enduring plodding situations that do nothing more than describe interesting concepts like living buildings and virtual reality global network navigation (not a new concept) there is no resolution to the big questions. In short, I was left wondering, "What consipracy? What bandwidth?". It rambles and pedants but doesn't have a point, that I could identify. The final chapter feels like one big run-on sentence written by a 14 year old instead of an epilogue.

However, I'm still a Gibson fan.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant, Thought Provoking
Review: I think that of the reviews I scanned I'm fairly odd in that this is my first Gibson. I've read all about Gibson's books, criticism, reviews, fanatic praise-- and I find it interesting that Idoru really stands up against the pressure of the expectations.

A rock star (Rez) who has been just slightly out of step with the modern culture falls in love with an avatar of the modern culture-- the virtual reality idoru star Rei Toei. In the persons of Chia and Colin Laney we see Rez's fans, handlers, and enemies descend on Tokyo-- determined to find out what's going on.

The book is all about virtual realities-- cities in the cracks of the computer systems, virtual stars who are becoming real, Kafka theme bars, and fans who meet in virtual clubhouses with constructed images. I said it was about the realities themselves, but really it seems to be about how the characters struggle and cope with the layers around them.

Very well-written. In places, I found some plot points to be a little distracting. I wished other areas were more fully developed. But Gibson works with a clear, straight-forward elegance and ultimately a kind of wonderful sweetness. Good read.

Rating:
Summary: Much more beneath the surface
Review: Wow! I don't often write reviews, but came here expecting to see many other positive reviews. I am surprised at the negative reviews. Here is my perspective:

Gibson takes us to a place where the Internet may be in the future. The richness that he ascribes to it is far beyond where we are today, and shows us what may be possible using the latest VR technology at the end of the decade. He also gives us glimpses into the complex social issues surrounding the increase in "Reality" media and the unparralled access the media channels have into celebrity and everyday lives. For those reviewers who seem to think he is writing about the Internet as it exists today, I would suggest they re-read the book. I work in Technology, and some of the concepts he describes sent shivers down my spine. Others simply made me sit back and go "WOW!"

I found it refreshing that an author also knows how to tell a story and move on. While this does leave some filling in of the characters to be done by the reader, it makes for a compelling, exciting read.

I could not put the book down!

Rating:
Summary: Cinco estrellas por la novela, una por la traducción
Review: Idoru es una de las mejores novelas de Gibson, junto con Luz Virtual y Todas las fiestas de mañana. Supongo que otros comentarios les aclararán más en este punto.
Lo que quería decir se refiere a esta edición en particular, la traducción al castellano que hizo Manuel Figueroa. Y es que es DE LO PEOR.
Está llena de errores, decisiones equivocadas, distracciones, ripios y otras "delicias" que la hacen muy difícil de leer.
Una pena. Si pueden, leanla en idioma original. Y si no, protesten como yo.

Rating:
Summary: A Book About Nothing
Review: Originating the word "Cyberspace" seems to be what qualifies Gibson as a great writer in most peoples reviews. I tried to keep in mind that this book was first published in 1996 when the internet was still fairly new to most people, but even with that in mind there were not really any new ideas.

First, the idea of a srich, spoiled, pampered and out-of-touch with reality pop star wanting to mary a computer generated woman isn't really unusual given the context. It's no more strange than something Michael Jackson, Prince or any of their ilk have actually done. I also think that there could have been a subtle homoerotic subtext to the whole premise considering the only programmers of the idoru that were mentioned were all men who apparently created their idealized woman from a PC rather than go out in the world and find a real woman. Basically after reading this the original premise now seems uninteresting.

I might have even liked the premise better if the writing had been better. It was confusing, disjointed and nearly impossible to follow what there was of a narrative for most of the book. The characters were completely unbelievable as was most of the action. Much of the seemingly interesting ideas that were brought up such as an earthquake destroyed Tokyo being rebulit by nanotechnology were mere sidebars that went nowhere.

it seems to me that Gibson has great ideas, but then does all the wrong things with them. The only other book of this that I have read is "The Difference Engine" cowritten with Bruce Sterling. This book suffered from the same problem. A great idea that went nowhere and didn't explore the real potential of the original premise.

I'm still going to give Neuromancer a try, but if it is no better than what I have read so far I will never read Willam Gibson again.

Rating:
Summary: THEATER OF THE VIRTUAL ABSURD
Review: Imagine a world in which virtual communities flourish on a system called "the world wide web". Imagine graphic representations of people intearacting with each other in that world. Imagine a future in which celebrities remain young forever through the media, able to touch up their photos. Imagine a world in which everyone seems a cyberpunk. Only a writer like William Gibson could dare to construct such an incredible vision of......

HEY, HOLD ON A SECOND! All he's writing about is the world we already live in! What's so exciting and refreshing about that? I came here looking for some science fiction, some cutting edge work, and here is this practically goofy novel looking me in the eye. I guess Gibson was cutting edge in 1984 but unfortunately the world has caught up to his subject and moreover, passed it by. This book is a dinosaur.

First of all, let's look at the dumbo plot. A Japanese rockstar named Rez has decided to get married an Idoru, a virtual reality star created much like the American Idol winners, except that she does not have corporeal form. She only exists as a hologram in our world. Various elements in Rez's orgainization want to find out who has put him up to this. They call in Colin Laney, a man with a talent for tracking down information in webspace. Doesn't it sound great? It gets better!

Colin's story alternates with another character named Chia McKenzie, a fourteen year old member of Rez's fanclub who tells her mom she's staying with a friend as she sneaks off to Japan to scout out the truth of Rez's forthcoming marriage. Somehow she gets involved with outlaw hackers, the Russian Mafia in Japan, and some low-life smugglers along the way.

I guess there were some good things about this book. It didn't take much effort to read? It had some interesting paragraphs? Raised some interesting questions that were never looked at closely enough like the nature of love between a human and a media construct. But a Heckle and Jeckle book like this wouldn't look into a dark soul thing like that.

The plot of this book is so ludicrous that it would make a good comedy or satire if Gibson didn't seem to write so seriously. Also good for a laugh is the dustjacket that states that he envisioned the internet and virtual reality before it existed. Please! That's almost as ludicrous as Albert Gore taking credit for it. I don't know why I finished reading this book. I guess because it wasn't awful, just dumb. I was disappointed because I had always heard such good things about the author. Maybe so many people read him simply because its the "cool" thing to do. It just seems so dated, the subject matter. I believe there are many realities about "cyberspace" (he invented that too) that are more fascinating than the "supposed" earthshattering visionary outlook of the futures of William Gibson. This pedestrian book would make good bedtime reading for young cats. And I really mean cats, not the slang. Or other small animals.

Rating:
Summary: Gibson in transition
Review: Idoru is typical Gibson with his post-modern strengths and weaknesses. There is probably no contemporary writer who packs so much detail into his prose; one can read him over and over again and endlessly pick out elements that one didn't notice before. On the other hand, his characterization is weak. His characters are kind of like cutouts: they don't as characters rise to the level of his vision of the not too distant future. This in my judgement is true of all of Gibson's work, even his most recent text, the title of which escapes me.

Perhaps, in fairness to Gibson, characterization is beside the point. Characters and personalities are absorbed into the sheer sweep of post-modern life, in which the corporatization of technogical innovation stamps out -- or nearly stamps out -- the cult of the individual.

Although I enjoyed Idoru, I feel that it doesn't measure up to the cyberpunk master's earlier work. The same vigor just isn't here.

Perhaps it is a post-success syndrome. Success for some writers means that the initial motivation and energy just is no longer there. Hopefully, this is just a phase that Gibson is going through.

That being said, even inferior Gibson is just on a different level than most than the work of other writers of speculative fiction. Here is an author who combines a coherent vision of what the near future looks like with a truly grand, pop-literate, post-modernist style.

I will continue to devour Gibson's work and look forward to each new text. I would however recommend that those of you who are new to his work to start with the earlier novels.