That William Gibson, he's a prankster. He writes books -- good books, interesting books, even brilliant books -- and yet, somehow, manages to do so without giving them any discernible plots whatsoever.
Nice work if you can get it.
Gibson, king of cyber-punk and author of such modern science-fiction classics as Neuromancer and Johnny Mnemonic (the story was good! Really!), took a recent turn with his writing, somewhere at the intersection of Head Trip and Schizoid, and ended up at the classy, up-town end of Speculative Fiction Land. Which is the near-future milieu in which the precursors to his new book, Virtual Light and Idoru, are most properly ensconced.
And then comes All Tomorrow's Parties.
From the opening sentence, you are aware that this is a William Gibson book. That distinctive, Gibsonian style thrusts us into the usual weird hell-world, only closer to now, where the tragedies of the present are magnified to the point of being almost ridiculous, and the wonders of our lives are so taken for granted that newer, more fictional wonders seem pretty banal.
And, here's the best bit -- unlike the aforementioned related tomes, this new book is very rarely dull. Well, except for the whole every-character-being-a-parody thing, which would have been really clever had it only seemed intentional.
But the action in the book, for want of a better word, is fast-paced and unique. You don't often see a book wherein the main cataclysm is precipitated by a chain of convenience stores... and, hey, you may think that I am giving too much away here, but believe me, that fact is fairly apparent early on. Unless you're five. And if you're five -- what are you even doing reading this review? Go check out the Thomas the Tank Engine website or something! Geez!
'Cause this is definitely a book for grown-ups. Not because of adult themes or drug references or any of those reasons for annoying warnings on, say, your average Kevin Smith film. Instead, it's because the damn book is one of them thinkin' ones, that make you question the very nature of life and all of that stuff.
Plus, man, it's William Gibson. Extreme word juxtaposition and total grammatical chaos. But, while it may be plotless, predictable and even, at times, incomprehensible -- plus, it doesn't really bother with doing the whole and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after thing -- it is still Gibson. You know, that genius guy?
He's so good he doesn't even need to bother with plots and character development or any of those petty details that other, lesser authors seem to rely upon.
Like I said: nice work if you can get it -- and I, for one, am glad that Gibson got it.
-- Rachel Hyland
All Tomorrow's Parties, published by the Putnam Publication Group, is currently available in hardcover, and will become available in paperback in August, 2000.
We welcome your comments on The 11th Hour and this review. Please send letters to: letters@the11thhour.com
