Wednesday, May 12, 2021

April 2021 Book Club: Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson

29889257 

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Cyberpunk
Content: Lots of strong language, Pretty descriptive sex, Drug use


The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus-hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace...

Henry Dorsett Case was the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

 

This book won awards and was considered ground breaking when it was published, and maybe if I had read it then I would feel differently about it, but I doubt it. I can see how this book inspired many other books and movies that came after it. Namely the whole cyberpunk genre, and the movie The Matrix seemed very inspired by this as well. 

Confusing is the word that comes to mind most when I try to describe this book. There were times when it wasn't clear whether things were taking place in the real world or in the Matrix. I don't know, maybe that was part of the point? I'm not sure, but I do know that I didn't like a single character and that usually kills a book for me. I've got to have someone to like or at least sympathize with. The amount of drug use, which is I think is pretty standard for the cyberpunk genre bothered me too. In general I don't think the cyberpunk genre is for me and I'm going to avoid it at all costs from now on. 

On another note- I really dislike the way women were written in the 80s. It's like they were trying to write strong women but they went about it completely wrong.

 

 

 

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