473 pages
English language
Published Oct. 29, 2003 by RB large print.
Cayce Pollard, a design consultant, is on the trail of the creator of Internet videos that have attained a worldwide cult following. As she draws closer to the truth, Cayce's life is threatened by those who will stop at nothing to protect the secret of the videos.
Gibson is great at interpreting near-future/timely trends into well-blended characters and experiences, in this case of pervasive marketing, surveillance, internet affinity groups, and coming to terms with 9/11. But I don't think he can write endings.
This was the second time reading this, almost 10 years later. Probably due to the age difference I enjoyed it much, much more the second time around. Hence the upgrade in stars.
Gibson has patterned a world of cascading dualities, a world of "mirror-worlds" as the protagonist calls them. Mirror-Things that look similar (but not quite) to Real-Things, and sometimes end up looking more real, more substantial, more meaningful and connected. There are patterns of lateral similarity becoming visible every time the protagonist moves her point of view. From city to city, from the online to the offline, from the personal to the ritualistic communal.
Pattern Recognition is his most current work I've read, and leaving aside the 9/11 attacks as a temporal point of reference, the most timeless. It's not SciFi, nor cyberpunk, the events could have indeed happened when published in '02, or they could have happened in โฆ
This was the second time reading this, almost 10 years later. Probably due to the age difference I enjoyed it much, much more the second time around. Hence the upgrade in stars.
Gibson has patterned a world of cascading dualities, a world of "mirror-worlds" as the protagonist calls them. Mirror-Things that look similar (but not quite) to Real-Things, and sometimes end up looking more real, more substantial, more meaningful and connected. There are patterns of lateral similarity becoming visible every time the protagonist moves her point of view. From city to city, from the online to the offline, from the personal to the ritualistic communal.
Pattern Recognition is his most current work I've read, and leaving aside the 9/11 attacks as a temporal point of reference, the most timeless. It's not SciFi, nor cyberpunk, the events could have indeed happened when published in '02, or they could have happened in '14 as well.
Bits and pieces:
- I knew WG was a fashion nerd, but damn he went overboard in PR. Every single character is described mainly through detailed depictions of their garments. Lots and lots of fashion all somehow playing an actual role in picturing the characters with further connections to other parts of the story
- 3 years before YouTube was created and the online video craze took off, WG portraited the mystic power of anonymous user generated viral content, so powerful that the Advertisers will like to usurp it at any cost
An interesting book, that's aging very quickly.
The book revolves around marketing, logos and brand perception, and the current culture of the time, both off and online.
When written, it was almost but not quite futuristic. Now it's a reach to drop yourself back into a world where toaster Power Macs and clamshell iBooks are admired rather than giggled at.
In fact, that's what makes the whole novel hard to appreciate - all the characters are driven by attachments to styles and fashions that seem so meaningless now, several years later, or perhaps my own biases are showing through.
There are threads here that eluded my grasp - I don't understand the Stuka at all.
If you're willing to put some work in, perhaps you'll adore this book as much as many reviews, but it will take some flexibility in outlook.
Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than โฆ
An interesting book, that's aging very quickly.
The book revolves around marketing, logos and brand perception, and the current culture of the time, both off and online.
When written, it was almost but not quite futuristic. Now it's a reach to drop yourself back into a world where toaster Power Macs and clamshell iBooks are admired rather than giggled at.
In fact, that's what makes the whole novel hard to appreciate - all the characters are driven by attachments to styles and fashions that seem so meaningless now, several years later, or perhaps my own biases are showing through.
There are threads here that eluded my grasp - I don't understand the Stuka at all.
If you're willing to put some work in, perhaps you'll adore this book as much as many reviews, but it will take some flexibility in outlook.
Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear, indeed.
