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
Lol, i just read it again two hours ago.
Try again in a couple of months and you’ll get me.
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.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
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.
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 😄
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.
If you don’t like it you don’t like it. Tens of thousands of books out there, don’t feel obligated to read them all.
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
I was basically hooked from the start. Probably just a personal preference thing, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I still haven’t been able to read through any of The Lord of the Rings, and yet see my first sentence, lol.
LOTR I got through the first half of the first book 😄
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
I’m going to stray from the herd here and just say ‘stop’. It’s not a good book. It is foundational to cyber punk and we wouldn’t have movies like the matrix without it, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. I’ll also give it a lot of credit for being a very well imagined future with some great settings. But the main character is unrelatable, and the supporting characters are shallow. I’ll give it a pass for being a product of its time and not call out the racism and misogyny. But it commits the worst sin of a story in that you just don’t give a shit what happens to the characters. If halfway through the story a bomb went off and the story went on with a whole new cast, you’ll be ok with that. With no connection to the characters you have no investment in the victory or concern about their defeat, so the plot just kind of happens and you feel pretty ‘meh’ about it.
If you’re not into a book it is not some great personal failure to stop reading it. People put reading books on too high of a pedestal, it’s just like any other form of entertainment media and if you aren’t jiving with it you can just go do something else.
My advice is to download a Neuromancer glossary from the internet and have it handy for whenever you encounter a strange word.
For me it was “trodes”. Trodes = electrodes, they allow your mind to plug into cyberspace (a futuristic version of the internet). Also, a deck, or cyberdeck, is basically a laptop without screen made to connect to Cyberspace - we have trodes now.
Take it easy, go with the flow, and play some Techno music in the background to adjust the mood 😎
I’d also recommend listening to the BBC radio play instead of trying to read the thing, it’s pretty cool.
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?
