Scroll down for the English version.Il padre del cyberpunk non mi ha convinto Questo romanzo mi ha lasciato perplessa sin dalle sue prime righe. Ammetto di aver riletto la prima pagina un paio di volte, poiché non mi era chiaro di chi stesse parlando, dove si trovasse e soprattutto cosa stesse facendo. Mai mi era capitato di imbattermi in un incipit così incomprensibile, che a mio parere avrebbe scoraggiato i più. Ma io sono caparbia e sono andata avanti. Nel procedere, l'ambientazione, i personaggi e la storia diventano più chiari, sebbene la comprensione non è mai immediata, ma nasce da una ricerca degli elementi essenziali in mezzo ad una marea di divagazioni, che nella maggior parte dei casi hanno poca o nulla attinenza con la trama. La San Francisco post-catastrofe, con le persone che hanno occupato il ponte di Oakland ormai in disuso e vi abitano, ha un suo fascino, soprattutto per chi ama la fantascienza post-apocalittica (anche se non è il mio caso), e mette in luce l'immensa fantasia dell'autore. Ma il modo apparentemente caotico in cui il tutto viene presentato, ti fa quasi pensare che quest'ultimo avesse troppe idee in testa e non sia poi riuscito a trasferirle sulla carta nella maniera giusta. Al di là dello stile che può piacere o no, a mio parere ciò in cui questo romanzo pecca ancora di più è la trama. Tolte le numerosissime digressioni e divagazioni, resta una storia brevissima e debole, con personaggi che non riescono proprio a coinvolgerti. Ho avuto come l'impressione che questi venissero descritti da fuori, talvolta senza che l'autore avesse la certezza dei fatti raccontati. Per non parlare dell'argomento cyberspazio e luce virtuale, che qui viene praticamente solo accennato e quasi per niente spiegato. È anche vero che si tratta del primo dei romanzi di un ciclo, ma è di sicuro l'ultimo che leggerò. Ammetto che se, non avessi saputo in precedenza chi era e cosa rappresentava l'autore, l'avrei semplicemente catalogato come un pessimo libro di un pessimo scrittore. Non me ne vogliano i fan di Gibson, ma personalmente ritengo che la lettura debba essere intrattenimento, mentre in questo caso mi sono spesso annoiata e sono rimasta pure delusa dal finale sbrigativo e sotto tono rispetto a tutto il resto. In ogni caso è stata comunque una lettura istruttiva, per certi versi, ma il mio giudizio deve essere comunque legato al gradimento generale, che è stato senza dubbio basso.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 by William Gibson was the first book in the “Bridge Trilogy” written by Gibson. Gibson is well known for his science fiction novels and thats the genre Virtual Light falls under. The title “Virtual Light” suggests the book has a futuristic and sci-fi setting with unique plot that goes along with the setting. The title fits the novel well in my perspective. He gives a modern place a futuristic setting, once you figure this out in the novel the easier the book will flow. I found reading the back of the novel really helped through the first chapters because he doesn’t get into setting right away. The novel takes place in NoCal and SoCal, the state of California divided by North and South in the future. Remember, the book was written in 1993 and they had no idea what the future was going to be like so the futuristic setting takes place in 2005 so keep that in mind reading it today. With the author’s style of writing it takes a while for the reader to understand the setting because he explains it in pieces not all at once.The plot is good but is not well written. There were parts that were vital to the plot but were not written with a lot of emphasis. For example the plot is based off of a pair of sunglasses but the author doesn’t take a lot of time to explain the severity of these glasses which has the reader thinking, “Why are these so important?”. Other then that the novel had a good plot, it was very exciting and exhilarating. The plot is made up of action and suspense but he also threw in a building love story between two characters to give the novel some diversity, which really helped the plot.The characters are done very well throughout the novel. They are begun explained very thoroughly from main characters to characters that play miniscule roles. Throughout the novel you notice the development of the main characters because of how well it is written. The main characters Chevette and Berry start off as simple easy-living folks but chapter by chapter you see the change happening due to the intense plot.To finish off i think Virtual Light is a good novel that is aimed for the more higher reading level readers. The book is written well all around and is worth the money and the time.
What do You think about Virtual Light (1996)?
Rydell picked up Monica's copy of People and found a picture of Gudrun Weaver and the Reverend Wayne Fallon. Gudrun Weaver looked like an actress in her forties. Fallon looked like a possum with hair-implants and a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo.Synopsis: In post-apocalyptic California, two people's lives collide. Rydell, a rent-a-cop who attracts trouble like *ahem* honey attracts flies, and Chevette, just a girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, unaware that she's stepped in it, bigtime, on an international espionage scale.Chevette Washington escaped from a juvie facility in Oregon and made something of herself when she came down to NorCal, the post-earthquake nation that is emphatically not SoCal. Specifically, she found a job as a bike courier and a home on the rogue mob-taken Golden Gate Bridge. All of which she jeopardized by stealing a pair of glasses to get back at some asshole at a crashed party. Good thing for Chevette, Rydell's on the case. Having been fired as a cop and a rent-a-cop, he's got only his roommate to lose. Cue the Cops In Trouble theme music...Here's the thing about Gibson, for me: you either love him or you hate him, and it varies by book. I loved Idoru and its sequel, All Tomorrow's Parties. I hated Neuromancer with the heat of a thousand fiery suns, ditto Mona Lisa Overdrive. Now, without having looked it all up on Amazon, there was something very familiar about this book from All Tomorrow's Parties, and it turns out it's the prequel, if only very loosely based. The thing that binds them together is Gibson's incredible, mind-bendingly real concept of how people take over the Golden Gate Bridge and colonize it in a beautifully organic vision of how things would truly work when things are truly, irrevocably broken. The community Gibson describes is so well thought out, so well realized that it lives and breathes and claws its way out of the book, out of both books, and it's a conceit so incredible that it can sustain its life outside Gibson's work.Chevette and Rydell are both great characters. Thank God for non-boy-crazy girls in smart fiction and ditto for flawed but savvy boys who are--and this is key--willing to adjust their world views, to learn and adapt in order to survive. I still can't stand Neuromancer. Yes, the one that got made into Matrix.Anyway, wholehearted rec for this book, both for scifi and post-apocalyptic fic fans.
—Oddmonster
Gibson's world-building is characteristically strong. The plot, pacing and development of characters seemed off a step.A middling effort, but I finished it. I'm not one to finish a book just for the sake of finishing it - something needs to keep me going and this novel did. Luckily it's short length aided in reading one of Gibson's lessor works. Even a lessor work of Gibson's is better than most. Every writer is allowed books that don't quite hit the mark, especially if they, like Gibson, have provided so many that do.
—Doug
I really enjoyed imagining the world of this book while commuting to work every day past the bay bridge.A lot of what Gibson wrote here is very prescient, a lot of other stuff is almost laughably off. The big reveal at the end where (view spoiler)[drones storm the building (hide spoiler)]
—Sam Julian
