strange seeing parts of your life in fiction

The guys below me have pretty accurate reviews. Although, I am saying it’s “worth consuming” aren’t I? Well, it’s probably just because it’s the first Willaim Gibson book that I’ve fully read (I read the first 60 pgs of Neuromancer and got bored), and there is something interesting about his style. His writing is very poetic, but not in a way that inspires, as much as, it stimulates the mind in a way that is truly pure zeitgeist. Kind of a technological F. Scott Fitzgerald, if you will.

I’m trying to be neutral about describing this book, because I think it’s the type of thing some will enjoy, and some won’t. But it’s fairly straight forward, so everyone should at least “get it”.

I did enjoy this book in a way, but after writing this lackluster review, I’ve convinced myself to change to a “wishy washy”. As a side note, the technological elements to this book are one of the highlights, but don’t really go much further than the average Dan Brown novel. And the story does feel like a glorified prime time network TV episode, but with a clever 3 parallel stories narrative.

Aside from a few snickers I found the highly-anticipated Spook Country barely worth a snore and a half. The book sort of follows up where PatRec left off, if only because of Bigend …but even if it didn’t – and WG’s not doing a trilogy, Spook Country still falls flat like most middle books (in a trilogy). Suggest you avoid this and wait for the movie. At least they’ll be able to amuse you with special effects, CGI and whatever passes for awesome these days.

Not as good as Pattern Recognition, but not at all bad.

As usual, atmosphere is all—we follow several different players through what seem like radically different worlds until they suddenly come together for a brief moment and everything makes sense. Then it’s back to their own lives again.

I also enjoyed looking up various bits of trivia along the way, discovering a couple of cool websites, a few interesting facts, some insane cars. I always wonder where Gibson comes up with some of these things, but I appreciate his sharing them with me.

Alas, it all went by very quickly. Having just seen The Bourne Ultimatum, I felt this book had a strong kinship, only at a much lower intensity level. No one dies. Nothing too dramatic (or traumatic) happens. I was hoping for a bit more, but that hope will have to carry me through to the next book. Meanwhile, I can think about the cool stuff, wish I lived in some of the worlds we saw, be glad I don’t live in some of the others.

Finally, Gibson’s descriptions of the various cities—Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver—seem spot on from my time living in them (Vancouver), living near them (L.A.), and visiting them (N.Y.C.). I really miss Vancouver.