Neuromancer

Gibson, William. Neuromancer. The Berkley Publishing Group: The United States, 1984 Heart Borders Books $7.99 Cyberpunk

In reading science fiction one generally finds stories built around the future- the technology and the culture of a world yet to be. It is a strange and refreshing experience to read science fiction and find that the story is a human story. Neuromancer is a story driven by new technology and new conflict, but a story about the human psyche in all its complexity interacting with itself, humanity, and the environment around it. Neuromancer is a debut novel that stands out among the rest; it represents the debut of both an author and genre, and changes the culture of science fiction forever.

The protagonist of the story, Case, is a young man down on his luck. He sells rare and expensive drugs in the Chiba district of Tokyo, living on the edge of disaster each day. He nurses an uncontrollable addiction to speed and cigarettes. His self-destruction began two years before the reader meets him, when he betrayed his employers in the game of information retrieval. He was once one of the best “jockeys” in all of the Sprawl- what the massive mega metropolis that transverses the United States is called.. “A thief, he’d worked for other, wealthier thieves, employers who provided the exotic software required to penetrate the bright walls of corporate systems, opening windows into rich fields of data.”(Gibson, 4) After making the fatal mistake of stealing from his employers, they destroy the nerve endings necessary to “jack in” to the matrix of cyberspace. He embarks on a journey of self-destruction, dealing with petty Japanese thugs in a high stakes game of profit or death. Just when his luck is finally running out for good, he is saved by an offer of from a wealthy man named Armitage. He promises to fix Case’s nerves- in exchange for his unquestioning cooperation on one mysterious job.

As the story progresses the plotline quickly tangles, doubling back and jumping forward, opening old wounds in Case’s mind and exploring new characters and environs. It becomes clear that Armitage is just a pawn for a much larger, more intimidating entity. The story progresses from the slums of Japan to the backstreets of the Sprawl to the edges of a space colony orbiting earth. The plot flows flawlessly from one location to the next- Gibson wastes no time encumbering the reader with detailed descriptions of culture or technology. Instead, bits and pieces are shown to the reader based on the actions of Case and his companions in order to display the cosmos of the future. At one point Case and Molly, the other specialist hired by Armitage, are tasked with stealing a particular recording of a famous “console cowboy” so that Case will have a guiding hand in his work. They enlist the help of a particularly violent nihilist youth counterculture, who wear camouflage suits that react to their surroundings constantly. Instead of dwelling on the recording and how it works, or exploring the causes of the counterculture, or inundating the reader with pointless accounts of how the suits work, he simply tells Case’s story. Gibson provides just the right amount of detail, exposing the reader to new elements and fleshing their humanity out brilliantly, but leaving much to the reader’s imagination.

This sparseness is incredibly refreshing, unlike the pointlessly long lists and descriptions of technology that is characteristic of other science fiction greats, like Jules Verne. This difference and understanding of human nature, mostly in its desperation, can be traced back to Gibson’s childhood. When Gibson was young his father died while away on a business trip. He himself admits that this trauma perhaps helped him grow as an artist, as it has trauma has a peculiar way of doing. From there he goes on to drop out of high school and join the counter-culture, eventually going to Canada to exploit hippy girls and enjoy drug abuse. This contact with the counter-culture was probably based on his reading of Beat Generation literature. Gibson’s direct contact with the counter-culture of his time gives him a great ability to understand the psyches of his criminal drug-abusing characters. The influence of the Beat Generation also explains his ability to focus on the human side of events, instead of focusing on hard results pointless details.

I think that this novel deserves a heart because of the flow and speed of the storyline, and the life-like and compelling character development. I would even go so far as to say this is one of my favorite books of all time, even though I don’t usually enjoy science fiction the way I enjoyed this book.