1985 Hugo Winner: Neuromancer

William Gibson

Completed 5/10/2013, Reviewed 5/18/2013

2 stars

So this book created a whole new genre of SF: cyberpunk.  Gibson invented many words and concepts that are now part of common internet lingo.  This is a groundbreaking piece of fiction.

So what!  I was bored by it.  Now that I have read several noir Hugo winners, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really like it.  At least I don’t like what I’ve read in this challenge.  I guess I like to watch SF noir more than read it.  I like to watch dark, dingy noir.  I don’t like it described to me.  And I hate having to learn a whole argot for the novel.  At first, it’s challenging, but it becomes tiring. 

This book had many moments which made me perk up and become more involved with the plot and the characters.  Then it would lose me.  I too often got lost in the multiple layers of reality and virtual reality. 

The characters were well defined, but I just didn’t care about them.  It’s often interesting to watch self-destructive people on film.  They’re just not interesting enough to read about. 

Okay, so I hated this book.  I tried so hard to like it.  I tried so hard to keep track of the lingo.  I tried so hard to understand the plot, subplots, and schemes.  But in the end, I was just tired.

I gave the book 2 stars just because so much effort went into creating a culture without precedent, and because it did spawn a new genre of SF.  But that’s it.  I even dreaded writing this review.