My Month of Science Fiction: Neuromancer by William Gibson

Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson

Sooooooo, yeah. Not sure what just happened there.

I mean, I'm reading this "cyberpunk" novel and there's something about the "matrix" and "flipping" and "jacking in" somehow to a network where there are these two AIs and it's bad if they get together but one of them wants to get together with the other one. And then there's Case, the dude who used to be this big-time hacker but stole from his employers, who messed. him. up. and now he can get un-messed-up if he does this little job for some dude named Armitage but that's not his real name of course and he's really just a shell anyway after that thing that happened...

*deep breath*


I haven't even scratched the surface with that description, so if you've read Neuromancer already, I would love to hear your summary. Me, I'm still ...er...processing, if you will.

I can say with confidence, though, that Gibson's writing is hectic and energized in a wonderful way, at some points even waxing quite lyrical. Case's interactions with Linda, for example, act as a counterbalance to the jumpy, fast-paced action of flashing into and out of the matrix.

Half the time, I didn't even know where the action was, and I guess that's part of the point- after all, cyberspace is certainly not the same as the physical spaces that we inhabit. This constant sense of imbalance makes the reader become part of the story, especially as it twists and turns with frightening speed.


I guess what I'm trying to say is...it's a good thing when a book takes your brain and stretches it in new directions, even if your brain then hurts for a few days. I am glad that people recommended Neuromancer to me and it was a wild and fun way to start off the month.