September Book Study - Neuromancer

Status
Not open for further replies.

Fenika

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
24,311
Reaction score
5,109
Location
-
Hello, and welcome to the SF/F Book Study.

This thread is for discussion of Neuromancer by William Gibson.

***Spoilers*** will be streaking through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned.

If anyone wants to compare to previous book studies:

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)

Thank you to Broken Fingers for starting the book study!

Cheers

-----------
Here is the list, compiled by Fingers, of possible discussion topics. Feel free to tackle something off the list or come up with your own points.
-----------
First of all: Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not?
What was your impression of it?
And I’ll list some of the possible things we can discuss:
The Beginning:
- How effective was the opening hook?
- How effective was the first sentence? The first paragraph? The first page? The first chapter?
- When were you pulled into the author’s world? By the end of the first chapter?
- If not, when?
- How do you think this was accomplished? Or why do you think it wasn’t accomplished?
- What would you have done to change it/make it better?
- If you were an editor, what would your reaction be to the first chapter?
- Why do you think the average reader liked it so much?
And more…
The Protagonist:
- What did you like/dislike about the protagonist?
- How did the author introduce the protagonist?
- How did the author get you to become invested in the protagonist?
- What was different about the protagonist as opposed to other protagonists? What was the same? Did the author make the protag distinguishable? If so, how?
- What techniques did the author use to show the protagonist throughout the story?
- What were some of the characteristics the author gave the character and how did they work/not work?
The Characters:
- Did the author make the characters come alive for you?
- How did he/she do this?
- How were they described?
- How were they distinctive?
And more…
The Setting:
- Was the author’s world convincing?
- Did he/she make you feel you were there? How?
- What about the setting did you like? Not like?
- What would you have done differently?
And more….
The Plot/Story:
- Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?
- Was it different or similar to other plotlines in the genre? How?
- Was it believable? Predictable?
- Were there any twists, turns or surprises?
- Would you have thought of it? How does it compare to your own plotline of your WIP?
- Did it pull you through or did you have to wade through it?
- How was this done or how do you think it should’ve been done?
- If you were buying stories for a publisher, and this manuscript hit your desk (not knowing what you do now about its sales) would you have bought it or expected it to be successful?
- Why do you think the buying public enjoyed it so much?
- What variations, if any, would you have added to the storyline/plot?
And more…
The Style:
- What did you think of the author’s style of writing? Like it? Hate it?
- How much do you think this had to do with the success of the book, if any?
- What type of POV was used? How effective was it? Would the book have turned out different if the POV were done differently?
- How removed was the author from the story or how intrusive?
And more…
The Structure:
- How did the author unfold the story?
- Were the beginning, middle and end equally strong?
- How effective was the way the author gave you all the information?
Was it straightforward? Suspenseful? Predictable? Surprising?
- Could it have been done another way?
- Was it a linear structure or did the scenes jump around? How did this add/detract from the story or your enjoyment of it?
And more…..
The Theme:
- Was there any? What was it?
- Did you think it had an impact on your enjoyment of the story?
- Was it blatant or subtle?
- Do you think the average reader registered this?
- Do you think it may have affected him/her or contributed in any way to the success of the book?
And more…
Conflict:
- What was the main conflict?
- How was it handled?
- Was it a large part of the story or did the author keep it lying under the surface?
- What other conflicts did the author use in the story and when? (Internal and external.)
- What purpose did they serve?
- Would the story have been as enjoyable with less conflict? More?
- What types of conflict could’ve added to the story? Which conflicts subtracted from the story?
And more…
Dialogue:
- Was it realistic?
- Was it readable?
- How did the author handle ‘tags’?
- Was there a lot of dialogue or a little?
- Were there dialects? Slang? Profanity? Vulgarity?
And more…
The Ending:
- Was it satisfying? Why or why not?
- Did it come as a surprise or did you see it coming from page two?
- Would you have ended it the same?
- Was everything resolved?
- Would you be able to write a sequel?
- Would you buy another book from this author?
And more….
__________________
 

Sai

Book lover/Spy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
2,392
Reaction score
394
Location
Back home
Website
www.kuri-ousity.com
I haven't finished the book yet, but there was a part halfway through that really impressed me. It's the part where Wintermute calls Linda a cunt, which usually would have been powerful enough on it's own but the fact that it was one of the rare uses of modern slang in a sea of futuristic jargon just makes it stand out that much more. This is the first William Gibson book I've read and if I keep liking it as much as I have so far I will definitely check out his other books.
 

eyeblink

Barbara says hi
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
6,358
Reaction score
893
Location
Aldershot, UK
Neuromancer is the big elephant in the room for me. After reading SF pretty much exclusively for about four years up to 1981 or so, I stopped reading the genre altogether and didn't return until the end of the decade - and even now most of my genre reading is short fiction. So Neuromancer and cyberpunk and all that happened while I was away - I was aware of it all from a distance but to this day I haven't read the novel, nor any other William Gibson novel. (I've read short stories by him, which are generally pretty good.)

I'm sure we all have a long list of classic/influential novels we haven't read. I'm no exception. But as I've been reviewing books for years, and a fair share of SF ones too, I do feel a little fraudulent at not having read one of THE most influential novels in the genre of the last thirty years.

I have no excuse now. I've just ordered a copy from the library. It's not a long novel, only about 78k words.

By the way, I was once accused of being "well versed in cyberpunk", by someone reviewing a story I had in Interzone over a decade ago. How I laughed.
 

Sai

Book lover/Spy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
2,392
Reaction score
394
Location
Back home
Website
www.kuri-ousity.com
So, I finished this a week ago and want to revive this thread. I'm curious about what people think of the three figures Case sees at the end. Two of them are pretty obvious (Linda and Rio) but I was a little less sure about the third, the one who looked like Case. Was it Wintermute?

When I said I hadn't read any Gibson novels, I had forgotten that I had read 'Johnny Mnemonic' years ago. It wasn't until Molly outright told Case about her past with Johnny did I clue in that it was the same Molly from that story (I had a vague notion, but I wrote it off as Gibson just writing too very similar characters. My bad). I really enjoyed that part as the ending to 'Johnny Mnemonic' always seemed a little too good too be true. It was interesting to see that it actually was.

At first I shared Case's disappointment about there being no real big changes after everything they went through, but I think it's more like everything did change, just not on a level that Case (or the reader) could really comprehend. I don't know if that makes any sense, but maybe there's someone else who read the book who can state it better.
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
I'm about 30 pages in, but I'm having a hard time with it. Case isn't very likable or interesting. He's a burned out addict, and the only effort to make him likable is to have him be kind to another burned out addict who slept with him and is slightly more burned out and addicted than he is.

The setting is interesting, but the author is a bit long winded with it. It could be part of the same problem I had with 'Foundation', that Gibson so much invented a genre with his books, and people who came later just swiped it so often that at this point gritty-neon-lit-dangerous-cyber-east-asia is a well-established setting. So going back to its early roots seems plodding and dull. Maybe.

I'm pushing on in the hopes that the bad-ass chick who shows up soon makes the book more interesting. But I'm not sure I can get through the whole thing. If it wasn't a well-respected Classic Of The Genre, I would have put it down already I think.
 

Sai

Book lover/Spy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
2,392
Reaction score
394
Location
Back home
Website
www.kuri-ousity.com
The setting is interesting, but the author is a bit long winded with it. It could be part of the same problem I had with 'Foundation', that Gibson so much invented a genre with his books, and people who came later just swiped it so often that at this point gritty-neon-lit-dangerous-cyber-east-asia is a well-established setting. So going back to its early roots seems plodding and dull. Maybe.

Heh, I liked the sci-fi-noir feel to the language, but at the same time the whole time I was reading I kept thinking "This would be such an easy style to parody." That might come from the fact that it is a style that has been swiped so often it's easy to mimic.
 

ELMontague

Kitty,

It may be just that. I finished the book last night. I'm not a big cyber-punk guy and I enjoyed the book. The part that got me most was that William Gibson described a future I can envision based on what's here now, and he did it thirty years ago.

Sai, I think the Case character was representative of Wintermute.

The only real problem I have with the whole cyber-punk genre is that it seems the writers think the world is going to suck as a result of technology instead of improve.
 

ELMontague

Cool art. I like the wasps.

I thought the story did a pretty good job of setting up the world of people half in this one and half in cyberspace.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.