Pattern Recognition by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Pattern Recognition
Book Review: Couldn't put it down
Summary: 5 Stars
In the midst of other deadlines, I read this book in a little over 24 hours. Gibson shows such great sensitivity to contemporary cultures and technologies, and the implications for personality and human consciousness. I've spent several years in Tokyo, and quite a bit of time in London and NY, and now I want to go to Moscow, so I can verify that his picture of that city is as illuminating as of the cities I know. And all the stuff about fashion, and its great power, and viral phenomena on the Net (Rick Astley, anyone?). It's not exactly realistic, but extremely authentic.Book Review: Don't bother
Summary: 2 Stars
I read this book based upon the reviews for Neuromancer. I'm not happy that I did. Sure, there were a lot of words in the book, but they really didn't do anything for me. I thought the characters were second rate (development took FOREVER), I thought the plot was very predictable (and boring), and I thought that I should stop reading it (but didn't).
Read some Richard Morgan, you'll get more enjoyment out of it...
Book Review: I just want to slap her!
Summary: 1 Stars
I was a huge fan of Gibson's books back when he writing about interesting things (Neuromancer, Burning Chrome), but this is probably the most tedious book I've finished this year. Essentially it's about... well, fashion. Call it memetics or some other such twaddle but it's fashion by any other name. That and a bit of just stupid "Blair Witch Project" frippery thrown in.
I guess the reason I'm writing this review is that I have to commend Gibson (if that's the word) for conceiving herein the most unappealing heroine I have ever come across. The appalling Cayce Pollard. Even the name ("Cayce", gimme a break) is symptomatic of the pseudy, pompous nonsense that is supposedly her life. Here is a woman who is literally "allergic" to fashion - the mere sight of a Tommy Hilfiger logo or the Michelin man make her retire to her bed shaking with apoplexy and horror. She meticulously picks off the logos from T-shirts, but somehow makes her living by swanning around the fashion capitals of the world, pulling new, hugely-expensively designed fashion logos out of sealed envelopes and - to the undivided holding-their-breath attention of the world's fashion moguls - utters a single syllable, "no" or "yes". That's it. That's what she gets paid for, or so Gibson would have us believe. Where's my gun! How can we take such a character seriously? It's not only absurd, you just want to slap her! Stupidest, most obnoxious person and premise I've ever come across. Not to mention this doyen of anti-fashion is completely lacking any smidgen of self-deprecating humor, which you would have thought she'd need a wheelbarrow of just to get up in the morning.
OK. Rant over. The tepid mystery of the "footage" (the Blair Witch thing) kept me going through this bollocks, that and the fervent desire to see the precious "Cayce" reduced to bussing tables at IHOP in a Faded Glory polo shirt.
Book Review: Is it cyberpunk?
Summary: 4 Stars
Few genres have writers who is more or less synonymous with them. When you think of mysteries, a number of writers come to mind. With horror, Stephen King stands out, but other names are also dominant: Koontz, Straub, Barker, et cetera. With the science fiction sub-genre of cyberpunk, while there may be other authors, it is William Gibson who pretty much is the king of that field. Nonetheless, I don't know if I'd call his novel Pattern Recognition cyberpunk: in fact, it's barely science fiction.
Pattern Recognition takes place in the very near future and follows Cayce Pollard, a thirtyish woman with the ability to recognize what is cool long before most other people. This puts in demand with sneaker companies and other enterprises that want to be on the cutting edge. On the other hand, her talent comes at an unusual price: she has a strong phobia towards certain advertising logos and a general loathing of any trademarks.
Initially in England to assess a company's new logo, Cayce is soon recruited to go on a strange mission. It seems that every now and then a little bit of film is released on the Internet, attracting interest by those trying to understand the mysterious footage; is it part of a larger movie or should it be viewed in some other context? No one knows where the film is coming from, but plutocrat Bigend Hubertus wants Cayce to find out. Her effort to do so will have her globe-hopping and avoiding enemies who want her to either fail or not get the information in time.
Unfortunately, there is a big flaw in Pattern Recognition, namely who cares? I never really felt the urgency of Cayce's mission: finding out the maker of the film is not going to be earth-shattering. It's akin to knowing who shot Monty Burns well before the revelation episode: it's kind of cool, but it doesn't really change much.
Fortunately, however, Gibson is a decent writer, so this flaw is offset by his interesting world and characters, enough to merit a low four-star review. Is it cyberpunk (or even science fiction)? Only in the vaguest of ways. Is it a decent (if flawed) addition to Gibson's canon? Yes.
Book Review: Lots of Enjoyment
Summary: 2 Stars
I checked out this book hoping for something awesome. William Gibson is an excellent writer and according to many, his earlier books were the best. He just did not deliver with this book. There is so much excessive descriptions of this and that, while the exciting points of the book seem too spread out and insignificant.
The book should have been quicker paced and shorter. The book simply felt empty. I will check out his earlier books.
More Pattern Recognition reviews:
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