(no subject)
Nov. 13th, 2007 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
William Gibson, Spook Country
Before I cracked open this book, I was predisposed to like it. I've very much liked everything Gibson has written with the exception of The Difference Engine, which I just wasn't able to finish (I am not sure how much of that dislike was circumstantial and I intend to try it again, someday.)
Within the first half-dozen pages I wasn't sure I was going to finish it. Gibson's sentences have become choppier, more comma-filled, harder to follow -- one thing that I've become very sensitive to when I read is the rhythm of the words, and it's tossed me out of more than one book that was probably excellent otherwise.
I did eventually get hooked, enough to overcome my dislike of the rhythm, and finished it the other night. It was great watching all the pieces and players come together and the real motivations revealed. The characters were all very well drawn, enough that there seemed like a lot more stories there that were only hinted at. The central event of the book was wonderful to watch unfold. In the end, though, I'm left feeling not sure if it was quite enough; with all that setup and those characters lives spun out to that depth, in the end what happened was (probably intentionally) not especially momentous, except conceptually. It's definitely a book that gets in your head and opens up a lot of doors of thought spun off from the actions of the novel, but I wonder if much of the substance of the book only exists outside of the book.
So I liked it, but I feel somehow unfulfilled, let down. What did other people think of it?
Before I cracked open this book, I was predisposed to like it. I've very much liked everything Gibson has written with the exception of The Difference Engine, which I just wasn't able to finish (I am not sure how much of that dislike was circumstantial and I intend to try it again, someday.)
Within the first half-dozen pages I wasn't sure I was going to finish it. Gibson's sentences have become choppier, more comma-filled, harder to follow -- one thing that I've become very sensitive to when I read is the rhythm of the words, and it's tossed me out of more than one book that was probably excellent otherwise.
I did eventually get hooked, enough to overcome my dislike of the rhythm, and finished it the other night. It was great watching all the pieces and players come together and the real motivations revealed. The characters were all very well drawn, enough that there seemed like a lot more stories there that were only hinted at. The central event of the book was wonderful to watch unfold. In the end, though, I'm left feeling not sure if it was quite enough; with all that setup and those characters lives spun out to that depth, in the end what happened was (probably intentionally) not especially momentous, except conceptually. It's definitely a book that gets in your head and opens up a lot of doors of thought spun off from the actions of the novel, but I wonder if much of the substance of the book only exists outside of the book.
So I liked it, but I feel somehow unfulfilled, let down. What did other people think of it?
no subject
Date: 2007-11-13 05:57 pm (UTC)