[.ca] Idoru (ISBN 0425190455)

From Amazon.com:
The author of the ground-breaking science-fiction novels Neuromancer and Virtual Light returns with a fast-paced, high-density, cyber-punk thriller. As prophetic as it is exciting, Idoru takes us to 21st century Tokyo where both the promises of technology and the disasters of cyber-industrialism stand in stark contrast, where the haves and the have-nots find themselves walled apart, and where information and fame are the most valuable and dangerous currencies. When Rez, the lead singer for the rock band Lo/Rez is rumored to be engaged to an "idoru" or "idol singer"--an artificial celebrity creation of information software agents--14-year-old Chia Pet McKenzie is sent by the band's fan club to Tokyo to uncover the facts. At the same time, Colin Laney, a data specialist for Slitscan television, uncovers and publicizes a network scandal. He flees to Tokyo to escape the network's wrath. As Chia struggles to find the truth, Colin struggles to preserve it, in a futuristic society so media-saturated that only computers hold the hope for imagination, hope and spirituality.

Much more beneath the surface:
Wow! I don't often write reviews, but came here expecting to see many other positive reviews. I am surprised at the negative reviews. Here is my perspective: Gibson takes us to a place where the Internet may be in the future. The richness that he ascribes to it is far beyond where we are today, and shows us what may be possible using the latest VR technology at the end of the decade. He also gives us glimpses into the complex social issues surrounding the increase in "Reality" media and the unparralled access the media channels have into celebrity and everyday lives. For those reviewers who seem to think he is writing about the Internet as it exists today, I would suggest they re-read the book. I work in Technology, and some of the concepts he describes sent shivers down my spine. Others simply made me sit back and go "WOW!" I found it refreshing that an author also knows how to tell a story and move on. While this does leave some filling in of the characters to be done by the reader, it makes for a compelling, exciting read. I could not put the book down!

THEATER OF THE VIRTUAL ABSURD:
Imagine a world in which virtual communities flourish on a system called "the world wide web". Imagine graphic representations of people intearacting with each other in that world. Imagine a future in which celebrities remain young forever through the media, able to touch up their photos. Imagine a world in which everyone seems a cyberpunk. Only a writer like William Gibson could dare to construct such an incredible vision of...... HEY, HOLD ON A SECOND! All he's writing about is the world we already live in! What's so exciting and refreshing about that? I came here looking for some science fiction, some cutting edge work, and here is this practically goofy novel looking me in the eye. I guess Gibson was cutting edge in 1984 but unfortunately the world has caught up to his subject and moreover, passed it by. This book is a dinosaur. First of all, let's look at the dumbo plot. A Japanese rockstar named Rez has decided to get married an Idoru, a virtual reality star created much like the American Idol winners, except that she does not have corporeal form. She only exists as a hologram in our world. Various elements in Rez's orgainization want to find out who has put him up to this. They call in Colin Laney, a man with a talent for tracking down information in webspace. Doesn't it sound great? It gets better! Colin's story alternates with another character named Chia McKenzie, a fourteen year old member of Rez's fanclub who tells her mom she's staying with a friend as she sneaks off to Japan to scout out the truth of Rez's forthcoming marriage. Somehow she gets involved with outlaw hackers, the Russian Mafia in Japan, and some low-life smugglers along the way. I guess there were some good things about this book. It didn't take much effort to read? It had some interesting paragraphs? Raised some interesting questions that were never looked at closely enough like the nature of love between a human and a media construct. But a Heckle and Jeckle book like this wouldn't look into a dark soul thing like that. The plot of this book is so ludicrous that it would make a good comedy or satire if Gibson didn't seem to write so seriously. Also good for a laugh is the dustjacket that states that he envisioned the internet and virtual reality before it existed. Please! That's almost as ludicrous as Albert Gore taking credit for it. I don't know why I finished reading this book. I guess because it wasn't awful, just dumb. I was disappointed because I had always heard such good things about the author. Maybe so many people read him simply because its the "cool" thing to do. It just seems so dated, the subject matter. I believe there are many realities about "cyberspace" (he invented that too) that are more fascinating than the "supposed" earthshattering visionary outlook of the futures of William Gibson. This pedestrian book would make good bedtime reading for young cats. And I really mean cats, not the slang. Or other small animals.

Idoru = Princess Diana:
Gibson published this book in 1996 and Princess Diana died in 1997. In all ways, Princess Diana was the Idoru of our time and culture. And Gibson, amazingly enough, predicts the international emotional outpouring and celebrity *worship* that greeted Diana. I could not escape the comparison as I was reading the book, and chances are you won't be able to either. It makes the story that much more powerful and scary.

Gibson in transition:
Idoru is typical Gibson with his post-modern strengths and weaknesses. There is probably no contemporary writer who packs so much detail into his prose; one can read him over and over again and endlessly pick out elements that one didn't notice before. On the other hand, his characterization is weak. His characters are kind of like cutouts: they don't as characters rise to the level of his vision of the not too distant future. This in my judgement is true of all of Gibson's work, even his most recent text, the title of which escapes me. Perhaps, in fairness to Gibson, characterization is beside the point. Characters and personalities are absorbed into the sheer sweep of post-modern life, in which the corporatization of technogical innovation stamps out -- or nearly stamps out -- the cult of the individual. Although I enjoyed Idoru, I feel that it doesn't measure up to the cyberpunk master's earlier work. The same vigor just isn't here. Perhaps it is a post-success syndrome. Success for some writers means that the initial motivation and energy just is no longer there. Hopefully, this is just a phase that Gibson is going through. That being said, even inferior Gibson is just on a different level than most than the work of other writers of speculative fiction. Here is an author who combines a coherent vision of what the near future looks like with a truly grand, pop-literate, post-modernist style. I will continue to devour Gibson's work and look forward to each new text. I would however recommend that those of you who are new to his work to start with the earlier novels.

A Book About Nothing:
Originating the word "Cyberspace" seems to be what qualifies Gibson as a great writer in most peoples reviews. I tried to keep in mind that this book was first published in 1996 when the internet was still fairly new to most people, but even with that in mind there were not really any new ideas. First, the idea of a srich, spoiled, pampered and out-of-touch with reality pop star wanting to mary a computer generated woman isn't really unusual given the context. It's no more strange than something Michael Jackson, Prince or any of their ilk have actually done. I also think that there could have been a subtle homoerotic subtext to the whole premise considering the only programmers of the idoru that were mentioned were all men who apparently created their idealized woman from a PC rather than go out in the world and find a real woman. Basically after reading this the original premise now seems uninteresting. I might have even liked the premise better if the writing had been better. It was confusing, disjointed and nearly impossible to follow what there was of a narrative for most of the book. The characters were completely unbelievable as was most of the action. Much of the seemingly interesting ideas that were brought up such as an earthquake destroyed Tokyo being rebulit by nanotechnology were mere sidebars that went nowhere. it seems to me that Gibson has great ideas, but then does all the wrong things with them. The only other book of this that I have read is "The Difference Engine" cowritten with Bruce Sterling. This book suffered from the same problem. A great idea that went nowhere and didn't explore the real potential of the original premise. I'm still going to give Neuromancer a try, but if it is no better than what I have read so far I will never read Willam Gibson again.