Science Fiction

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Why is Neuromancer so hard to get in to? (feddit.org)

submitted 2 days ago by BennyInc@feddit.org to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I just started reading Neuromancer, and finished the first two chapters. Can someone encourage me to keep on reading? It’s just so… disorienting. Very quick scene changes, hard to follow dialogues (who is actually talking?), too much jargon (I have read up on some, to get the gist), … I just feel lost, and doubt I will enjoy it at some point.

I like various degrees of scifi, and many people recommended the book (and the ones following it). I also fought through some harder chapters in Trisolaris, Children of Memory, The Expanse books, CS Lewis‘ Space Trilogy, … but Neuromancer is on awholenother level.

Is it just me? Did anyone else have a hard time with it? Does it get better? Is it worth it?

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[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 25 points 2 days ago

Yeah its on another level. I think the disorientation is deliberate, to give a sense of immersion in a confusing and complex future world. Another book like that is Clockwork Orange.

If you're really not enjoying it, maybe come back in a few years and give it another go, or try another of Gibson's books. They aren't all as tricky as this one. That said I do like this one and it kind of blew my mind when I first read it back in the 80s. I reread it recently and I think picked up on a lot more of the actual plot this time.