Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) in On Paths Unknown

Jun 14, 2007 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-wave, scifi-60s-70s-80s

the following is a Reverse Exquisite Corpse Review, brought to you by the good folks at Sci Fi Aficionados.
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I first read Neuromancer about 20 years ago. Writing with strokes instead of details is an interesting way to describe Gibson's writing. That's how I feel about some of the performance art I saw in my art school days. The strokes were far too numerous. I found it impossible to tell what was detail, what was colour, what was clue. I get bored with things being laid out t ...more

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Nov 08, 2016 Terry rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, mirrorshade-y, canadian

3.5 stars

_Neuromancer_: a name to conjure with. Arguably (actually? I’m not 100% sure) the first cyberpunk novel and therefore great-grand-daddy of a genre that revolutionized science fiction (and is also therefore indirectly responsible for every single sub-genre in the speculative fiction field apparently needing to be called “something-punk”, WTF is that about anyway?!) Despite being a card-carrying nerd and genre fan at the time it was published I managed to miss this one the first time arou 3.5 stars

_Neuromancer_: a name to conjure with. Arguably (actually? I’m not 100% sure) the first cyberpunk novel and therefore great-grand-daddy of a genre that revolutionized science fiction (and is also therefore indirectly responsible for every single sub-genre in the speculative fiction field apparently needing to be called “something-punk”, WTF is that about anyway?!) Despite being a card-carrying nerd and genre fan at the time it was published I managed to miss this one the first time around and am obviously rather late coming to the party. Not that I’ve been unaware of what cyberpunk is, or been a complete stranger to many manifestations of its influence, but I must admit that this particular flavour of sci-fi was not a favourite of mine when it first hit the streets and so many of the ‘approved texts’ of the genre never made their way onto my reading list (especially, it must be admitted, after I bounced hard off of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and had a fairly ‘meh’ reaction to Gibson’s short story “Johnny Mnemonic” set in the same universe as _Neuromancer_).

This novel has everything that would soon come to define the cyberpunk genre: the ‘consensual hallucination’ or alternate reality that is cyberspace (with the corollary that people have the ability to fully interface with computers and truly inhabit this strange new world), the merging of the human and the technological even in the ‘meat’ world of physical reality, the Japanization of culture and economics tied to an apprehension bordering on paranoia when viewing authoritarian political and economic structures, and a basic fear that as things speed up more and more we are moving closer and closer to ultimate anarchy and chaos even as big brother tries to tighten his grip and enforce order.

The story revolves around Case, a ‘Cowboy’ or computer hacker who is adept at ‘jacking-in’ to the matrix and getting data for those that are willing to pay for it. As we open Case, now an ex-cowboy ever since his brain was chemically damaged due to attempting to double-cross the wrong clients, is visited by an unlikely guardian angel: a man going only by the name of Armitage. This mysterious and humourless stranger has the whiff of the military about him, but he wants Case to do a job for him and manages to do the impossible: he gives Case back his abilities by undoing the damage done to his nervous system, but holds over him the damoclean threat of having this gift revoked at the least sign of non-compliance. The team is rounded out by Molly, a ‘Razor-girl’ whose attitude and body modifications make her the perfect lethal enforcer, and Riviera a psychotic drug addict and con-man able to manifest life-like holographic images. Welcome to the hard-boiled world of cyberpunk. Of course none of the team trusts their ostensible boss Armitage (or each other really) and this is only exacerbated by the fact that none of them truly know what their end goal is. Armitage strings along his team with tidbits of ‘need-to-know’ and the promise of a payout worth any effort (but is he really pulling the strings or is he merely a puppet to a higher force?) The plot allows us to follow this rag-tag group of miscreants on a tour of the post-cyber world and we are introduced to several of the major players in the game of politics and intrigue, as well as seeing some of the more interesting ways in which humanity has modified itself to suit this brave new world of technology and decay.

Given the time when it was written it isn’t surprising that I found myself getting a decidedly 70’s and 80’s vibe from this book. The tech itself is often depicted by Gibson in what might now be considered ‘retro’ ways: clunky hardware, landline phones, old school modems with scratchy handshake signals, and wires and cables to ‘jack-in’ to computers definitely all contributed to this. Even the descriptions of the matrix itself, that vast cyber world made up of code and data, are given in terms that brought to mind (to me at least) the bright primary colours and geometric shapes of an old vector graphics game. One could even argue that the iconic first line of the novel, “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel”, while still striking and apposite, is ultimately a dated allusion, calling to mind something that most youngsters these days will have little to no frame of reference for given the advent of digital TV. Aside from the apparent technological anachronisms there were also a few specific cultural references that definitely brought the 80s back to mind for me (oh the heady days of youth!)

Of course this is perhaps following the wrong scent. There is no doubt that the concerns and ideas of the 70’s and 80’s are bone-deep in the text, not only in the realm of technology, but politics as well. The book is ultimately concerned with working through the problems raised by the technological and political issues of its day: what do we do when the line between humanity and technology becomes less and less distinguishable; when we see technological implements not just as tools, but as indispensable extensions of ourselves? What happens when globe-spanning multinational corporations start to dictate public policy to the nations under whose protection they ostensibly operate? What is the meaning of ‘culture’ in a world becoming more and more a global village? Of course these concerns are not specific to the 80's and are certainly just as relevant today and in the end I think that Gibson’s fluid way with prose, the quick pace of the story, and the immersive world he depicts all do a great job at uniting the era-specific elements of his story with those that are more universal in their depiction. In many ways the use of what might be seen today as ‘outmoded’ technology combined with a society whose use of these scientific tools far outstrips our own (to the point of having both an extra-planetary society and nascent AIs) actually adds to the flavour of the novel. You really get a feel for the grimy, cobbled together, anything-that-works attitude of this bootstrap world. Add to this the menace of international corporate conglomerations that have more or less subsumed nation states as humanity’s default political structures with anarchy peeling at the edges of a society that is both rising with a wave of high technology and falling into chaos as it seems to be coming apart at the seams and you have a recipe for some great sci-fi.
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Mar 25, 2008 Brad rated it it was amazing

Shelves: faves, lost-reviews, sci-fi, to-read-again

This review was written in the late nineties (for my eyes only), and it was buried in amongst my things until recently when I uncovered the journal in which it was written. I have transcribed it verbatim from all those years ago (although square brackets may indicate some additional information for the sake of readability or some sort of commentary from now). This is one of my lost reviews.

Let's begin as Gibson does: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." ...more

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Oct 25, 2017 Nate D rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cyberspaces, read-in-2017, favorites, sci-fi, 80s

Dense, dizzying, and intelligent through its grimy sheen of pulp frenzy. Gibson has a fantastic ability to paint in a vivid sense of place and atmosphere with great economy (and stylistic control), and his plotting is unrelentingly gripping in an elaborate post-noir mode. This novel encompasses so much (and so much Gibson had to invent to write it) as to leave a pretty impossible act to follow for anything coming after, from Gibson himself, or from his countless imitators.

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Dec 03, 2016 Damon rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

A little bit dry and slow paced.

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Oct 07, 2010 [Name Redacted] rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, futurity, sci-fi, mystery, noir, cyberpunk

Paper-thin characters and a disjointed style, but otherwise fun.

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May 23, 2007 Jlawrence rated it really liked it

Shelves: re-reads, sword-and-laser

I think I appreciated the ground-breaking nature of this book the first time I read it, but with this re-read, I enjoyed it much more. Since I didn't have to spend as much energy orienting myself to future depicted in the book, I was able to enjoy the complex details of that future and Gibson's often vivid and precise imagery.

The main characters struck me more this time as well - there's not a lot of character development, but the important moments when backstory is revealed had impact -- and a ...more

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Oct 27, 2023 Karl-O rated it it was ok

Shelves: dystopian, american-literature, sci-fi

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson, often lauded as a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre, commences with an evocative image: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel". However, the allure of this statement, which is probably the most known phrase in the book, soon disintegrates as the narrative slowly spirals down into a cacophony of futuristic jargon and a frustratingly simple, elongated plotline.

Diving into Gibson's cyberworld, the reader is led through a maze "Neuromancer" by William Gibson, often lauded as a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre, commences with an evocative image: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel". However, the allure of this statement, which is probably the most known phrase in the book, soon disintegrates as the narrative slowly spirals down into a cacophony of futuristic jargon and a frustratingly simple, elongated plotline.

Diving into Gibson's cyberworld, the reader is led through a maze-like plot that, once stripped of its aggressive techno-babble, is disappointingly linear. The protagonist, a hacker, is hired for a job. What could have been a compelling narrative quickly becomes a laborious journey through a litany of invented lingo such as 'ICE', 'Braun', and 'jacking-in'. Gibson may deserve due credit for shaping the future of virtual reality terminology, but when this verbosity hinders rather than enhances comprehension, one must question its worth.

Characters are mere sketches in this landscape. Case, Molly, Armitage, Wintermute - all shallowly outfitted players in Gibson's high-tech saga. Their development is superficial at best, their personalities an array of missed opportunities. The reader is left yearning for personal growth and connection that sadly never materialise.

Prominent themes of artificial intelligence, digital consciousness, and technology dependence lurk in the background. Their relevance in our world today holds a sliver of potential that ultimately never materializes through a compelling story.

One might ask then, why even bother? Gibson's relentless insistence on stylistic obscurity could be perceived as a unique selling point for some, but not to this reader.

In short, "Neuromancer" is an exercise in creative frustration - with futuristic conceptions of the digital world scattered amidst an otherwise failed narrative. Gibson's influence on the cyberpunk genre, his coinage of 'cyberspace', and his vision of 'the matrix', do deserve recognition- but can hardy save this novel from its evident shortcomings. The experience of reading its pages was far from enjoyable, and was in every sentence undermined by its aloofness and needless complexity. ...more

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