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Loading... Pattern Recognitionby William Gibson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I was reading this again last night, and as I had the first time I read the book, I found the present tense grating, especially as I started out. But soon, I forgot my irritation in my enjoyment of Cayce Pollard and her richly detailed world--both interior and exterior. I love Cayce's basic competence, her ability to fit in with almost anyone without losing her own identity, even her psychological hang-ups. And her journey and its conclusion are thoroughly satisfying. Oh--and did I mention that Gibson’s use of language is masterful--even when it grates? (  )RayLynneSH | Jul 2, 2009 |   This was my first William Gibson book so I went in with high expectations from all the good things I've heard. I enjoyed reading this book as he is a good writer and is able to pull you into his fictional world. I did not, however, enjoy the story -- or lack there of. The entire novel revolves around Cacye Pollard's quest to uncover the truth behind "the footage", a series of film clips mysteriously found online. I couldn't believe that the mystery and intrigue generated in these characters could happen in real life. Sure, fads like this happen, but they don't get as big as they did in this book. And as others have said, the ending... blah. I read in another review that this book wasn't meant to tell a story, just to give an ambiance of the internet culture in modern day. I buy that, but at least give me SOMETHING of a believable story. (  )baubie | Jul 2, 2009 | Wonderful conceit: allergy to marketing ( )iceT | May 18, 2009 | I remember once trying to read Neuromancer. I failed. The book is still sat on my shelf. When I opened my SantaThing parcel and saw this book I decided that I should really give Gibson another try. I took it as my only book on the Train to Nottingham for Christmas. There are some lovely fields and towns that you pass through on the train. Really quite lovely. Yeah. I got through the first four chapters and... gave up. Gibson is not an author who's work I can enjoy. I love the sound of his work, but the execution leaves me bored. (  )penwing | Apr 7, 2009 | I enjoyed this book, especially imagining the personality of the main character. She has redefined the meaning of "a duck in the face". There are many unique characters in this book in a world that is not too distant from ours. lisa2 | Apr 3, 2009 | 0.059 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0425192938, Paperback)The first of William Gibson's usually futuristic novels to be set in the present, Pattern Recognition is a masterful snapshot of modern consumer culture and hipster esoterica. Set in London, Tokyo, and Moscow, Pattern Recognition takes the reader on a tour of a global village inhabited by power-hungry marketeers, industrial saboteurs, high-end hackers, Russian mob bosses, Internet fan-boys, techno archeologists, washed-out spies, cultural documentarians, and our heroine Cayce Pollard--a soothsaying "cool hunter" with an allergy to brand names.Pollard is among a cult-like group of Internet obsessives that strives to find meaning and patterns within a mysterious collection of video moments, merely called "the footage," let loose onto the Internet by an unknown source. Her hobby and work collide when a megalomaniac client hires her to track down whoever is behind the footage. Cayce's quest will take her in and out of harm's way in a high-stakes game that ultimately coincides with her desire to reconcile her father’s disappearance during the September 11 attacks in New York. Although he forgoes his usual future-think tactics, this is very much a William Gibson novel, more so for fans who realize that Gibson's brilliance lies not in constructing new futures but in using astute observations of present-day cultural flotsam to create those futures. With Pattern Recognition, Gibson skips the extrapolation and focuses his acumen on our confusing contemporary world, using the precocious Pollard to personify and humanize the uncertain anxiety, optimistic hope, and downright fear many feel when looking to the future. The novel is filled with Gibson's lyric descriptions and astute observations of modern life, making it worth the read for both cool hunters and their prey. --Jeremy Pugh (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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