Just read the first chapter and found it to be both kind of obscure and dark. Hard to imagine how a first time Gibson reader would react to it.
A good read,tough.

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
Just read the first chapter and found it to be both kind of obscure and dark. Hard to imagine how a first time Gibson reader would react to it.
A good read,tough.

My husband didn't get past the first chapter or was it the first page...

People have mentioned this and the fact that Gibson's language in SC can be difficult.

I found that the opening was perhaps the most accessible to date and that his language in SC seemed to down shifted slightly for understanding. Or rather, there were fewer passages that ight present difficulty for a reader.

Now for me, and probably most here on the boards, Gibson's prose style presents no difficulty whatsoever.

What I wonder is whether, to me, SC seems accessible because of due to intense exposuer or beacuse he was consciouly pairing down the number of potantially dificult tropes.

Any thoughts?

FP-
"My husband didn't get past the first chapter or was it the first page..."

UD-
"What I wonder is whether, to me, SC seems accessible because of due to intense exposuer or beacuse he was consciouly pairing down the number of potantially dificult tropes".
Maybe both. The newest books seem to be written for a different audience than the "SF" books of the past so maybe there is a combination of factors at work. I just found it darker and more opressive than Pattern Recognition. Or I might be just getting older...

The opening sentence of PR is far more dense and coded than SC, which though oblique, isn't dense.

"Oblique" may be it. Kind of brooding, too.
The Santa Ana winds give it a LA noir tone.

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
"Oblique" may be it. Kind of brooding, too.
The Santa Ana winds give it a LA noir tone.

Little Raymond Chandler popping up in teh Gibson once again.

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
Just read the first chapter and found it to be both kind of obscure and dark. Hard to imagine how a first time Gibson reader would react to it.
A good read,tough.

My husband didn't get past the first chapter or was it the first page...

Not uncommon. Neuromancer was the same, in many respects. Gibson's language is not made to be easy to read. There is a learning curve, as your brain starts picking up regularities in the way he uses language. After that it becomes easier, but there is an initial wall to climb, basically. I think it's essential to creating the atmosphere that permeates his books.

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
Just read the first chapter and found it to be both kind of obscure and dark. Hard to imagine how a first time Gibson reader would react to it.
A good read,tough.

My husband didn't get past the first chapter or was it the first page...

Not uncommon. Neuromancer was the same, in many respects. Gibson's language is not made to be easy to read. There is a learning curve, as your brain starts picking up regularities in the way he uses language. After that it becomes easier, but there is an initial wall to climb, basically. I think it's essential to creating the atmosphere that permeates his books.

See, I felt like Pynchon needed a little time to acclimate but Gibson came to me right away as I remember.


But I do remember, when I was readin it for the first time at age twelve I didn't like all the techno-jargon I didn't undersatnd.

"A Braun what's-it-now?"

First chapter? First page? I thought the first sentence was difficult.

Rausch" said the voice in Hollis Henry's cell. "Node," it said.

The inside blurb on the jacket tells you Holli Henry works for a magazine called Node.

What's obscure about that?

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by RUR:
Just read the first chapter and found it to be both kind of obscure and dark. Hard to imagine how a first time Gibson reader would react to it.
A good read,tough.

My husband didn't get past the first chapter or was it the first page...

Not uncommon. Neuromancer was the same, in many respects. Gibson's language is not made to be easy to read. There is a learning curve, as your brain starts picking up regularities in the way he uses language. After that it becomes easier, but there is an initial wall to climb, basically. I think it's essential to creating the atmosphere that permeates his books.

See, I felt like Pynchon needed a little time to acclimate but Gibson came to me right away as I remember.


But I do remember, when I was readin it for the first time at age twelve I didn't like all the techno-jargon I didn't undersatnd.

"A Braun what's-it-now?"

I remember reading it when I was 2 and the words did not make any sense...

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

I remember reading it when I was 2 and the words did not make any sense...

You lost out! I got the pop-up book when I was 2.

Molly's razors almost poked my eyes out though and my mom made me throw it away.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Rausch" said the voice in Hollis Henry's cell. "Node," it said.

2nd time I read it I wondered why Hollis Henry's hotel room was being described as a (jail) cell.

We call those phones, mobile phones on this side of the pond.

Ha! Mirror-worlded, FP! : )

And perhaps the somber, dark veneer all over the book (I felt many things left unpsoken, implied) is because it's somewhat more anchored in current reality? What can be spookier than the news...

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Rausch" said the voice in Hollis Henry's cell. "Node," it said.

2nd time I read it I wondered why Hollis Henry's hotel room was being described as a (jail) cell.

We call those phones, mobile phones on this side of the pond.

Cool. With all the white it would proabably be a cell in a sanatorium.

Possibly the entirity of Gibson's oeuvre is set entierly in Hollis's mind.

And she's really an autistic boy looking into a snowglobe.

Or maybe that's Silencio.

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

I remember reading it when I was 2 and the words did not make any sense...

You lost out! I got the pop-up book when I was 2.

Molly's razors almost poked my eyes out though and my mom made me throw it away.

You mom is a nazi!

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:

quote:

Originally posted by psyclone:

I remember reading it when I was 2 and the words did not make any sense...

You lost out! I got the pop-up book when I was 2.

Molly's razors almost poked my eyes out though and my mom made me throw it away.

You mom is a nazi!

That, was never proven.

I really felt Pattern Recognition was much darker than Spook Country. That book put me through the ringer (which lead to being weirded out by all the Happy Endings) but Spook Country was more fun. Certainly, Milgrim's plight was horrifying, but it was cushioned by his fanciful imagination.

I also happen to find Gibson easy to read, but that's just the luck of the draw, I think.

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:

quote:

Originally posted by UberDog:
Rausch" said the voice in Hollis Henry's cell. "Node," it said.

2nd time I read it I wondered why Hollis Henry's hotel room was being described as a (jail) cell.

We call those phones, mobile phones on this side of the pond.

Snap!
Did a double-take too-- especially cuz really, should it be "in" ? -- it's on the phone, so..
Deliberate by teh Man