Virtual Light - William Gibson

* The father of cyberpunk has not convinced to me

This novel left me puzzled since its opening lines. I admit I re-read the first page a couple of times because it was not clear to me who he was talking about, their whereabouts and especially what they were doing. I had never happened to run into such an incomprehensible starting that in my opinion would have discouraged the most.

 But I'm stubborn and I went forward.

 In the proceeding, the setting, the characters and the story become clearer, although the understanding is never immediate, but stems from a search of the essential elements in the midst of a flood of digressions, which in most cases have little or nothing relevance to the plot.

 This post-disaster San Francisco, with people who have occupied a disused Oakland Bridge and live there, has its own charm, especially for those who love post-apocalyptic fiction (even if it is not my case), and highlights the immense imagination of the author. But the seemingly chaotic way in which the whole is presented makes you almost think that the latter had too many ideas in his head and has not been able to transfer them to the paper in the right way.

 Beyond the style that you may like it or not, in my opinion the plot is that in which this novel flaws even more. Removed the numerous digressions and asides, what remains is a weak and short story, with characters that I just cannot get involved with. I had the impression that these were described from the outside, sometimes without the author had the certainty of the facts narrated. Not to mention the cyberspace and virtual light topic, which here is pretty much just mentioned and almost nothing explained. It is also true that it is the first of a series of novels, but it is for sure the last one I read.

 I admit that if I had not known before who the author was and what he represented, I would have simply listed it as a bad book by a bad writer. I apologize with Gibson's fans, but I personally believe that reading should be entertainment, while in this case I got often bored and I was also disappointed by the hasty final, subdued if compared to everything else.

 In any case, it was still an instructive reading, in some ways, but my judgment must still be linked to the general satisfaction, which was undoubtedly low.

Virtual Light on Amazon.com.