A curmudgeon writes.
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve been on a bit of a Gibson jag of late, so I figured I’d revisit this, his distinctly non-cyberpunk collaboration with Bruce Sterling. I’d read it a long time ago, and I recalled it fairly fondly, though not too well.
Turns out there was a pretty good reason. Continue reading “Book review: The Difference Engine”
All Tomorrow’s Parties by William Gibson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not with a bang, but a whimper. That’s how William Gibson’s Bridge trilogy appears to end. The final novel is enjoyable, though it’s shot through with frustration and missed opportunity.
The problem is that while characters reappear from across the previous two books, certain key characters are wasted, or used too sparingly. All we get of Blackwell is one unnamed appearance? Come on, guy. Continue reading “Book review: All Tomorrow’s Parties”
Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York project has received a lot of praise and some criticism. Cultural tourism? Slumming? Respectful record? Most likely it’s a combination of the two. What’s true, however, is that Stanton seems to have a knack for capturing someone’s essential spark.
This is the first book of HONY images, and it’s a wonderful example of portraiture. It does tend a little towards the garish and the colourful, which in a place like NY might seem to be shooting fish in a barrel. For my money, the portraits shot Continue reading “Book review: Humans of New York”
Count Zero by William Gibson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the second of Gibson’s ‘Sprawl trilogy’, and while it exists in the same world as Neuromancer, Count Zero has no compunction about shedding characters from the author’s breakthrough novel. Sure, there’s a couple of familiar faces, but the main players – a back-from-the-dead electro-merc and his target, a disgraced art dealer and her vat-dwelling Howard Hughes-alike boss, and a young-gun hacker – are new, and just as striking as any who’ve come before.
The snapping tension generated by Gibson’s shift of viewpoint between mission operatives in his first novel has flowered here into a tripartite narrative. There’s three stories braiding together through the novel. Obviously, we figure they’ll come together by book’s end, but watching how Continue reading “Book review: Count Zero”
Neuromancer by William Gibson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve had this book since 1989. I’d heard it was cool and, impressionable 13-year-old that I was, I snaffled a copy and was immediately confused by it. I couldn’t get into it, didn’t know what to make of it. I couldn’t go on, and it sat on the shelf since then, occasionally daring me to give it a go, but mostly biding its time.
Here we are, some 16 years later and I’ve finally finished. And my first thought on reaching its conclusion is that if I can ever jack in and meet some representation of 13-year-old me, I’m gonna smack him in the head.
It’s difficult to write about the experience of reading this novel as it’s so hard to separate it from everything that came afterwards. Continue reading “Book review: Neuromancer”
Dark Entries by Robert Aickman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Robert Aickman worked in what he described as “strange stories”. It’s an oddly reductive description, inherently self-deprecating, and about as English as you’d expect from a man whose other great enthusiasm was the restoration of the inland canal system. But to think the stories are somehow lesser than more grandiose weird tales would be to underestimate their power. Continue reading “Book review: Dark Entries”
Uzumaki (volume 3) by Junji Ito
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This, the final volume of Junji Ito’s coiling narrative, is perhaps the most consistent, storywise. It’s just a shame it’s also the least satisfying.
The previous two collections shocked, either from the gore or the nerve-jangling weirdness. This one shocks to a certain extent, but it also rides over into silliness territory. That whole whirlwind gang thread? The bullying children? Oh, come on. Continue reading “Book review: Uzumaki (volume 3)”
The Lucy Family Alphabet by Judith Lucy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book describes Australian comedian Judith Lucy’s family.
It’s important to state at the outset for those unaware of Lucy’s act – though I’m uncertain who would read this book without knowing at least a little of the comedian’s work – that her caustic style makes much of the role of her family in her upbringing. The loony parents who won’t let their kids take showers (despite having a functional appliance) and who exist on disdain and laxatives are the cornerstone of her pieces. Continue reading “Book review: The Lucy Family Alphabet”
Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Peter Carey became one of my favourite authors from my HSC study of Oscar and Lucinda. I suspect the reason behind this was that that work was set in the same period as some of the other (to my younger self) fusty works but brimmed with self-confidence and interest.
I’ve managed to reread it on an almost yearly basis since I first devoured it (the night before a reading diary was due – one I’d supposedly been writing all holidays) though in the years since I’ve discovered that this compulsive consumption is common where Carey’s involved: something certainly true of Jack Maggs.
The book is another interpretation of an existing work. As Oscar and Lucinda is to Patrick White’s Voss, so is Jack Maggs to Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Continue reading “Book review: Jack Maggs”
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I came late to Dickens, I think. My mother was always on at me to read A Tale of Two Cities – and I still haven’t, strangely – but I never seemed to click with the novels I tried. I just couldn’t get into his world.
It wasn’t until Year 12 that I had to read Great Expectations for a book report. As was my wont, I didn’t start reading the book until the night before the paper was due. But something strange happened: instead of just skimming, as I’d otherwise have done, I was engrossed. I ripped through the book, paying it closer attention than I’d expected to. I loved it. Continue reading “Book review: Great Expectations”
Yeah nah. 