I just started reading Neuromancer, and finished the first two chapters. Can someone encourage me to keep on reading? It’s just so… disorienting. Very quick scene changes, hard to follow dialogues (who is actually talking?), too much jargon (I have read up on some, to get the gist), … I just feel lost, and doubt I will enjoy it at some point.
I like various degrees of scifi, and many people recommended the book (and the ones following it). I also fought through some harder chapters in Trisolaris, Children of Memory, The Expanse books, CS Lewis‘ Space Trilogy, … but Neuromancer is on awholenother level.
Is it just me? Did anyone else have a hard time with it? Does it get better? Is it worth it?
I finished it. I’ll reread it again someday. Not bad for science fiction. Lol imagine reading it in 1984 when it was written.
i read it just a couple of years after it came out, it took me several reads to get into it but has become one of my favorites. That said, some of it, like the opening line, probably doesn’t make sense to younger people… “The sky above the Port was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel” evoked a completely different mental image in the days before digital TVs.
Man how did the concepts of ai differ back then did you have idea or was it just space magic?
The concepts of AI have been around a long time and weren’t really any different back then. Even the fundamental technology that current AI is built on has mostly been around since like the 70s, its just the amount of data that can be used to train them is staggeringly larger, which has lead to the recent breakthroughs in capability.
Come on dude that info wasn’t as mainstream then, how many movies in the 70s were about it? You could say the same shit about the Internet. For crying out loud if people understood cellphones how many shows and books would have been instantly solved?
I dunno what you’re saying here. Public awareness of AI wasn’t as “mainstream” as now, but especially for people that were reading science fiction, it certainly wasn’t “space magic”. Asimov’s I, Robot was published in 1950! People have been contemplating and writing about the potential of AI for a very long time.
How was the Asimov series? I tried reading it when I was 12 and yeah it didn’t go over to well.
100% sci fi magic, but the visuals he describes of cyberspace still are how i imagine it
That is the talent in sci Fi making me visualize and understand the magic.
Yeah its on another level. I think the disorientation is deliberate, to give a sense of immersion in a confusing and complex future world. Another book like that is Clockwork Orange.
If you’re really not enjoying it, maybe come back in a few years and give it another go, or try another of Gibson’s books. They aren’t all as tricky as this one. That said I do like this one and it kind of blew my mind when I first read it back in the 80s. I reread it recently and I think picked up on a lot more of the actual plot this time.
It’s not written like typical sci-fi, it’s more like an art house (for lack of a better term) novel that happens to have a sci-fi setting. William Burroughs was a major influence on his writing and Neuromancer is perhaps the most obvious example of that.
It rewards re-reading immensely, I would advise to just go with the flow and don’t sweat the bits you can’t quite grasp, a lot of it makes more sense over time or clicks when you re-read it. It is incredibly worth it, imo, an absolute masterpiece of literary talent and prescient speculative fiction.
Having said that, if that style isn’t really your thing and you prefer more straight-forward sci-fi, then you will probably not dig it.
edit: After posting this comment I re-loaded my feed and there’s a post about William Burroughs directly above this one. Bill would be pleased.
After listening to the book a half dozen times or so, I came to the thought it’s like poetry in novel form, the prose can be beautiful and horrid in emotions. Case is high as often as he can and he’s the lens we see most things through so everything is a bit surreal. So I’m guessing that’s agreeing with you calling it an art house novel it that’s close to what you meant.
It’s one of my favourite novels of all time, I only wish I read it when it was newer, only got it like 10 years ago and I was prime age to read it in the 90s. Oh well,glad I got around to it.
Not just you, relieved to see someone else express it. I always intended to give Neuromancer another try, but I got distracted. Now y’all have inspired me to shift it back to the top of the reading list.
It can’t be as difficult as Lies, Inc, right?
Maybe you don’t like noir
Never tried it. The closest I came to Noir so far is playing Max Payne and watching Sin City.
If you read any of the Sprawl trilogy, you’ve read some noir (or at least noir adjacent)
If you don’t like it, don’t read it.
I personally liked it from the start, but it’s got a style that’s not easy. Also, a lot of it is very dated, so when you read about things like pocket sized VCRs it won’t make much sense.
As a 90s kid I can still relate to the dated stuff somehow. But some of it is genuinely funny 😄
In “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” the computer has gained self-awareness. It was already running all the computer operations for Luna. The hardest thing it had to do was create CGIs.
There was snail mail sent by starship in ‘Starship Troopers.’
Mike ran on tape memory haha
I forgot that detail. I do remember they talked about him using ‘computer paper.’ We had a machine that used that stuff on my job. I think they finally got rid of it around 2012.
I think a lot of the appeal is that it does just drop you right in at the deep end and doesn’t set out much of the bigger picture stuff right there at the front. It’s not going to be to everyone’s liking.
It’s got a lot in common with hardboiled stories, except that where your classic hardboiled detective is moving through a world we are somewhat familiar with, Case is moving through somewhere rather more exotic. You might get some benefit from reading Burning Chrome and Johnny Mnemonic which are short stories then coming back.
There is probably something to be said for just visualising rather than trying to understand.
As someone with Aphantasia that’s easier said than done 😄
You’re supposed to feel disoriented. Gibson is trying to capture a sense of a future that is accellerating to the point where humans can no longer exist there as we are.
The terminology is supposed to feel bewildering. Don’t sweat it. You’ll piece things together through context.
Stick with it. It’s the kind of book that is capable of completely rewiring your brain. An absolute masterpiece.
With all that being said, maybe try reading the short story Johnny Mnemonic first? That functions as an introduction to the setting and might be a more approachable way to ease yourself into his style. Fewer characters, a smaller, more compact scenario.
Does it have Keanu Reeves and a dolphin in it?
Yes to the dolphin, and God knows why you would want anyone else to play Johhny.
Johny mnemonic is an amazing short story. I basically re-read it every time someone mentions it.
Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny Mnemonic. Johnny Mnemonic.
You got some reading to do =D
Lol, i just read it again two hours ago.
Try again in a couple of months and you’ll get me.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
I read the book once a decade ago and again last week. It’s supposed to be jarring and to drop you into an alien seeming world. But it does all come together in the end.
If you’re having trouble imagining the world, I recommend playing Cyberpunk 2077. It’s fuuuuull of references to the Sprawl Trilogy and honestly some things are close enough to almost be copyright violations
After recently reading Children Of Time and Children Of Ruin, I just don’t have the heart to read Children Of Memory. So kudos to you for that accomplishment. The writing was so rambling, verbose, and often confusing. If this book is beyond that, then I’d say… perhaps it is better reused as a doorstop? 😁
Children of memory was pretty hard to understand until just very close to the end, where the puzzle pieces finally fit together — but it was indeed very hard to go through.
First of all: you don’t have to like it.
I agree with you that the first chapters are confusing and overwhelming, but as others have already said this is deliberate. The storylines converge later on which makes it easier to follow what’s happening. In my experience the book handles it very well to balance its sci-fi themes with a compelling story you want to follow.
It’s my favorite cyberpunk/sci-fi book, but I like a book that demands I take my time with it.
I should re-read it, actually. I don’t remember it being as hard to get into as people say, but that’s not an uncommon opinion so you’re not alone.
You are not alone and I did read it for the first time this year.
I also started reading count Zero and it’s much easier to follow.
Like others said it’s somewhat supposed to be disorienting in terms of world but also the phrase structure is confusing at times. I remember that in many dialogues it was hard to keep track of who said what.
It’s a pretty good book tho. At some point in the beginning I googled and got a reddit post with people in the comments summarizing the first few chapters (that I had already read) and it was good to consolidate. You can also google some of the terms at some point. By the end it’s definitely much easier to follow
A chapter by chapter summary sounds good — I don’t want to get spoiled, so I refrained from reading any summaries so far. I’ll try to find a good one, thanks.
Go up until the first major heist and if you still aren’t a fan then I’d say don’t continue, as there’s some scenes even more confusing to come. The second time you read it it’ll be more enjoyable
It doesn’t get any clearer. Just read it. Just experience it. It’ll come together at some point after you finish. Stop trying to understand everything and just read!
