Idoru by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Idoru
Book Review: it could be better
Summary: 2 Stars
With all the fuss about William Gibson, I was excited to read IDORU, but it proved out to be a mediocre book. The story is poorly developed and the plot seems like "you've seen that before" type. If you really want to read some fine sci-fi, don't read this particular book. You can also try something else from Gibson, but not this oneBook Review: misunderstood
Summary: 5 Stars
Take a look in the ISBN section of this book and you''l understand what makes it so clever, not only is it listed as science fiction but also under Rock-star psycholgy. At first when I read both Idoru and Virtual Light I was worried Gibson was loosing his touch, but as time goes on and I get a chance to reflect more on both books I begin to them as the phenomenl triumphs they are. The story is eesentially about reality and identity in the future. Colin Laney can take any random bits of data about an individual and recreate their entire life (proably in real science this is just silly, but it sounds really plausible doesn't it?), but colin himself has no idea who he really is. He just wanders from job to job trying to survive. Then of course you of the charecter of Lo-Rez, who has become so disenchanted with modern day life the he has fallen in love with an artificial creation. That really just the surface but I sugest that all the reader who have described this book as "light" and "silly go back re-look at at the story and see how much of your own life looks back at you.Book Review: not so good as I had hoped
Summary: 3 Stars
There's no doubt that Gibson can flat-out write. His line-by-line writing is powerful, clear, and compelling. He knows when to start a scene, and when to drop it to move to another. His characters are interesting. And he draws powerful pictures of a dystopian future of corporate control of the world, people more interested in virtual reality than the increasingly-devastated world that surrounds them, and a deep alienation and sorrow. BUT, and this is a huge but, his plots always seem flat to me. This has been true of the other books of his I've read, and it's certainly true of this one. There never seems enough at stake for the main characters, emotionally, philosophically, or physically. His words suck me in, and his plots spit me back out. This one was okay, but nothing to write home about.Book Review: not that impressed
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my first time reading a William Gibson novel. I have heard many good things about his works but I must admit that I was not very impressed with 'Iduro'.I sensed that the story, in many ways, was underdeveloped. The characters seemed a bit shallow revealing very little new information about them after the first few pages. The plot itself did not seem very solid, it felt as though it was more about the imagery than the story.
The imagery that Gibson created was spectacular, describing a world filled by technology of the near future - some of which seemed practicle and convincing. But unfortunately it was weighed down by the more unsubstatiated descriptions and portrayals of these future technologies.
The pacing of the book is very choppy (alternating chapters describe different stories) but I got used to it and I don't think it actually takes away from the novel. The only thing is that throughout the book you wait for these two story lines to cross and when they do it is not that exciting. On the whole I was not that conviced by the futuristic world in 'Iduro'. My advice would be to perhaps try one of Gibson's other books.
Book Review: through thick and thin
Summary: 3 Stars
It was stated in the Book Review that Gibson's reality was "part hell and part paradise".The same is true of his writing. While at times his spontaneous, in-the-moment style is both powerfully engaging and magnetically provocative, the majority of the novel's immediacy simply stutters. It is so choppy that it feels like a film in fastforward; the words are so hopelessly muddled and distorted that they simply blur together, while the images are so abstract that the reader frantically grabs onto the ones that he can. The rest he just lets fall behind, because he must be prepared for what's next. Gibson's speed is extreme, but Idoru becomes both a race against plot with an earnesty for more, and a race against one's attention span, with a lustful desire to simply finish the book.Idoru truly IS a hellish paradise.