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Title: All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson ISBN: 0-441-00755-4 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 08 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.48 (114 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: And what Costumes Shall Poor Gibson Wear?
Comment: If you've been around in the Gibson universes of _Virtual Light_ and _Idoru_, which are tied together here, this book is an enjoyable enough read. However, it does not measure up to the rest of Gibson's work. If you want action and attitude, you're better served with the _Neuromancer_ trilogy, if you want communities, you're better off with _Virtual Light_ or _Idoru_.
_All Tomorrow's Parties_ shows the communities of the two previous novels in decay: The physical community of the bridge is assaulted by commercialism, anarchy, and sabotage. The virtual communities of _Idoru_ are devolving into people calling each other on cell phones and hiding behind virtual representations. The book does not have much of an intelligible plot, leaving the characters mostly just as confused as the readers.
This does not mean that _All Tomorrow's Parties_ is entirely without redeeming qualities. Gibson still has a great eye for character and scene descriptions and dialogue, and his (somewhat autobiographical) references to watch collecting and auction sites show maybe the first glimpse of modern technology in Gibson's work that the author actually uses himself.
Rating: 2
Summary: A failure
Comment: Like so many others, I thought Neuromancer was a great book. I also enjoyed Mona-Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome, and Count Zero, to varying degrees. Virtual Light ... well, not much of a story there, was there? Idoru was slightly better, but all the trinkets and prose could only barely hide the lack of story; there's not even any real antagonist. In All Tomorrow's Parties the trinkets and prose fail completely. We have seen the bridge before, and it seems the only person who is in love with it is William Gibson himself.
"Something big is going to happen" chapter after chapter tells us, but you start to suspect more and more that the author will fail to show us anything. Trust your instincts. Nothing is shown. The "nodal point" is never to be seen, and you get no hint whatsoever about what kind of change has been made in the world, if any, or where it would lead, if anywhere. Gibson fails to provide a conclusion, leaving the end just as hollow as the rest of the book. All we get is some surrealism with the antagonist physically disappearing into the "flow of information" sort of.
So we have the Walled City, the Bridge, cameras hanging from balloons, a drug called dancer, a chain of supermarkets with cameras by the entrance. Then we have a bunch of characters moving to and fro on the bridge, discussing it constantly to mirror Gibson's fascination with his own creation, and sometimes killing each other. This is what we are offered instead of a story. I'm glad I read this book at the library instead of buying it.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not much of a story really and a little too weird
Comment: I keep hoping for another book as good as "Neuromancer" but not finding it. I don't think Gibson has another like that one in him. I barely finished this one and in the end was disappointed concluding that I shouldn't have bothered.
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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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Title: Idoru by William Gibson ISBN: 0425158640 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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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: 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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