alt Hacker NewsI read the book for the first time last year. It was a bit of a drag to read unfortunately. I understand that it's pioneering, but much of it's content has been done a lot in other media, leaving it feeling derivative (even though I know it's the other way around). The John Carter movie gave me similar vibes when I watched it.
Replies
metabagel • today at 4:16 PM
I tried to read it in college in the 80s, but I couldn't get into it.
expedition32 • today at 4:37 PM
I agree with this- it birthed Cyberpunk but others ran with it.
Read Naked Lunch by Burroughs, then read Neuromancer. Then read The Ticket That Exploded by Burroughs.
Gibson has mentioned he was greatly influenced by the beats (Burroughs is sometimes called the godfather of the beats) and it very much shows. Somewhere in the 80s people picked up on Orwell's style and encouraged everyone to eschew anything that wasn't short sentences describing physical characteristics.
I don't know if Gibson was trying to make a "difficult to read" text, but his influences were pretty clear about how they cared more about the immediacy of emotional impact than clear prose.