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Title: Idoru by William Gibson ISBN: 0-425-15864-0 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.48 (125 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: On the other hand...
Comment: As I scanned the other reviews of this book, I found that I couldn't agree less with many of them... but did agree with parts. Don't know what that says about different peoples' perceptions of this book.
I'll start by saying I liked all of Gibson's previous work and I liked Idoru, too. I was a little stunned to read some people who seemed to find it went on too long, as the hardback edition I read is under 300 pages (large print, breaks between chapters.) The plot is admittedly simple: rock star plans to marry a virtual reality character. When do computers become alive? --- recurring theme for Gibson.
Rather than tell it from the POV of these two lovebirds, he alternates chapters between the book's two main characters. One, Chia, is a teen fan. One, Laney, has the the strange talent of... to put it in contemporary terms, he can separate the signal from the noise when websurfing. (That >would< be a useful skill!)
Things I liked? While the plot is straightforward, I preferred it to more overarching books that start out well and have things crumble by the end. There have been plenty of those. Second, I found the charactrers all well defined and appealing, especially Laney, a sort of everyman who ends up in the middle of a lot of weird stuff.
And of course, there's Gibson's writing, powerful and at times even hypnotic. Each chapter reads like a story unto itself, but they do all move towards a clear resolution. Even the title seemed like a subtle commentary on the story. ("Idoru" = "I adore you", perhaps?)
I give it a big thumbs-up.
Rating: 4
Summary: Least favorite of his, so far.
Comment: I didn't find Idoru awful, or bad, in fact for the most part its typical Gibson. The ending in this one is what disappointed me. I hate to write that as I know others may be just like me---reading along just fine, enjoying things, and then you start to notice that there aren't that many pages left, how is he going to wrap all this up?
Well, he really doesn't sorry to say. And I love the Gibson I have read so far, unlike some of the reviewers I have seen post negative reviews in every Gibson book on this site (easy to spot due to the fact they say the same things). I have not read Burning Chrome yet, nor The Difference Engine, but I thoroughly enjoyed Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light.
And I even really enjoyed this one...until the end.
Rating: 4
Summary: Idoru = Princess Diana
Comment: Gibson published this book in 1996 and Princess Diana died in 1997. In all ways, Princess Diana was the Idoru of our time and culture. And Gibson, amazingly enough, predicts the international emotional outpouring and celebrity *worship* that greeted Diana.
I could not escape the comparison as I was reading the book, and chances are you won't be able to either. It makes the story that much more powerful and scary.
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Title: Virtual Light by WILLIAM GIBSON ISBN: 0553566067 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson ISBN: 0441007554 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson ISBN: 0553281747 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 06 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Count Zero by William Gibson ISBN: 0441117732 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: April, 1987 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson ISBN: 0399149864 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 03 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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