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?
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.
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.
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
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.
Too lazy to dig up the source, but I remember that Gibson said something to the effect of emulating the experience of him hanging around a group of hackers irl just listening in, not having background/context, but just allowing meaning to slowly come together as an outsider.
The worlds he built do not spoon feed anything to the observer. Even the characters often have to figure out what just happened after the fact; that’s how quickly technologies and people move there.
Second read through was even more rewarding than the first, if you have the time it will not disappoint.
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.
