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Summary: Idoru lacks characters or any real personality
Review: "Idoru" is the third piece of Gibson fiction I had read or attempted to read over the past ten years or so. His short stories (Count Zero, Neuromancer) are quite good -- enough to get me to pick up longer novels like this.I was disappointed with "Idoru" though. One reviewer here on Amazon suggested that the term Speculative Fiction be used now instead of Science Fiction for "SF" and that Gibson's is a good example of speculative fiction. The only problem I have with that is that Gibson's work here is hardly speculative. The Japan he describes in "Idoru" hardly seems 21st century -- rather 20th century. "Idoru" culture IS alive in Japan these days and yes, it makes a great topic for discussion or a book, but Gibson doesn't seem to be stretching himself to make the book very Speculative (i.e. visionary) or even Science Fiction (SFfy) -- there's hardly as much cyber-pyrotechnics going on here. The problem with the book is that the characters are poorly developed. Gibson has two protagonists -- Laney and Chia -- which he reveals in alternating chapters -- and they do come together -- but the more Gibson actually involves them in the plot of the story, the more they fizz out. The characters are much more interesting in their flashbacks (here is where Gibson's Speculative Fiction is really good and interesting). When Laney and Chia actually get closer to the climax and goal of the plot, the less we care about them. And the AI "Idoru"? Boring. I think the success of the novel -- and what would be of interest to anyone who might only have this Gibson novel around them -- is the atmosphere of this world in our future -- but not too far off in the future. Unfortunately, people live in the future and the ones in Gibson's world -- when they actually live their lives -- are boring. Gibson should write books like Proust -- Remembrance of Things Almost to Pass.
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Summary: Review of Idoru by William Gibson
Review: I enjoyed Idoru not only because it is a good science fiction book, but also because it is a good story with an interesting plot. I found it fairly easy to read and it kept my attention. Compared with many of the sci-fi novels I've read, this one was refreshingly direct. I never felt slowed down by excessive descriptions of odd technologies or confused by scientific jargon. (If you're a huge fan of the strange futuristic environments, it does take place in twenty first century Japan, and there are plenty of extraordinary elements to keep you entertained. After all, it's a science fiction novel!) The main plot line of the novel is centered around a rock star who wants to marry an entirely virtual woman, and the people who are investigating this strange situation. Colin Laney is a man who has been hired by the rock star's employees to find out what exactly is going on, and Chia McKenzie is a fourteen year old girl from the rocker's fan club who has been sent to Tokyo to find out if her idol is indeed marrying a virtual creation. Gibson follows these two on their way through Tokyo, and while doing so creates a fabulous picture of bizarre clubs and exceptional buildings that have sprung up in Japan since it suffered a huge earthquake. One of the best parts of the book is Gibson's way of describing the settings and situations. Having also read Neuromancer, which is considered Gibson's best achievement, I can say that I enjoyed Idoru a great deal more. It is written in a much more straightforward style, and I simply found it easier to understand and more interesting than Neuromancer. As far a sci-fi novels are concerned, Idoru has its share of computer related and technological scenes. Many important incidents occur online, and having an entirely virtual character of course requires advanced technology. In my opinion Idoru is a perfect book for a science fiction fan or a fan of William Gibson's work. It is also an excellent book if you are just looking for a good novel to read in your free time.
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Summary: details details
Review: A fast paced, intensely detail orientated book by long time cyber fiction writer Gibson. The story plot is a mixture of Japanses pop culture/ Russian espionage with an innocent girl and confused man caught in the middle. The plot seems like a decoy for Gibson to speculate about future gadgets and new technology. The writing is choppy and boring. The characters are not thought out, and several meaningless red herrings are thrown in just for the heck of it. Overall, I found it not very stimulating. But maybe it's just me.
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Summary: On the other hand...
Review: As I scanned the other reviews of this book, I found that I couldn't agree less with many of them... but did agree with parts. Don't know what that says about different peoples' perceptions of this book.
I'll start by saying I liked all of Gibson's previous work and I liked Idoru, too. I was a little stunned to read some people who seemed to find it went on too long, as the hardback edition I read is under 300 pages (large print, breaks between chapters.) The plot is admittedly simple: rock star plans to marry a virtual reality character. When do computers become alive? --- recurring theme for Gibson.
Rather than tell it from the POV of these two lovebirds, he alternates chapters between the book's two main characters. One, Chia, is a teen fan. One, Laney, has the the strange talent of... to put it in contemporary terms, he can separate the signal from the noise when websurfing. (That >would< be a useful skill!)
Things I liked? While the plot is straightforward, I preferred it to more overarching books that start out well and have things crumble by the end. There have been plenty of those. Second, I found the charactrers all well defined and appealing, especially Laney, a sort of everyman who ends up in the middle of a lot of weird stuff.
And of course, there's Gibson's writing, powerful and at times even hypnotic. Each chapter reads like a story unto itself, but they do all move towards a clear resolution. Even the title seemed like a subtle commentary on the story. ("Idoru" = "I adore you", perhaps?)
I give it a big thumbs-up.
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Summary: Near Future Elegance
Review: Despite the cyberpunk/future noir copy on the cover, Idoru is more near-future comedy of manners than thriller, its subtle humor expertly conveyed in William Gibson's increasingly elegant writing. Even Gibson's earliest stories trumped traditonal cyberpunk in their relentless fascination with the shrinking divide between the human and digital. But in Idoru the cybercowboys of Neuromancer have become a hapless everyman and a fourteen year old fangirl -- the too-cool nihlism and cop-out mysticism of the earlier books replaced by a generous sense of character and absurdity. Gibson's near-future metaphysical musings fascinate as much as ever, but in Idoru he's hitched them a more sophisticated vehicle than the original Neuromancer trilogy. While the book does end with a traditional Gibson anticlimax, it manages the neat trick of being both an endlessly colorful and detailed travelogue and a tightly-plotted, propulsively paced narrative.
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Summary: Idoru = Princess Diana
Review: Gibson published this book in 1996 and Princess Diana died in 1997. In all ways, Princess Diana was the Idoru of our time and culture. And Gibson, amazingly enough, predicts the international emotional outpouring and celebrity *worship* that greeted Diana. I could not escape the comparison as I was reading the book, and chances are you won't be able to either. It makes the story that much more powerful and scary.
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Summary: "god is in the details," but where else?
Review: gibson's been blessed with a gift. it allows him to ramble on and on about a wall for three pages at a time. he describes his environments beautifully, eloquently, in excruciatingly wonderful detail. he visualizes his worlds (real or virtual) with such wild and lovely abandon that he tends to forget something rather important. now what was it that was missing?... oh yeah, HIS STORY! how is it that i read this entire book, but not know any of the events that are apparently taking place right in front of me? because gibson spends too much time staring at the ceiling, thinking of how to describe each and every crack in it. another problem is your seeing these places and "experiencing" these events through the eyes of two people who are only vaguely connected to the actual events in the book. they can't help you to understand the contents of the story, but they're good at looking at stuff! events unfolded before me and characters were introduced to me that were supposed to be important to the story, but just weren't worthy of the same attention as a staircase... this was my first complete reading of a gibson book. and while i completely appreciate him, it's just not to my personal taste. if you like gibson, i'm sure you'll love this, if you don't like him, this won't suade you to start, and if you've never read him, this is as good a place as any to start. enjoy?
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Summary: Idoru, the best after Neuromancer
Review: Gibson's last work proves that he continues in the top of the Sci-fi writters of the present.
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Summary: Least favorite of his, so far.
Review: I didn't find Idoru awful, or bad, in fact for the most part its typical Gibson. The ending in this one is what disappointed me. I hate to write that as I know others may be just like me---reading along just fine, enjoying things, and then you start to notice that there aren't that many pages left, how is he going to wrap all this up? Well, he really doesn't sorry to say. And I love the Gibson I have read so far, unlike some of the reviewers I have seen post negative reviews in every Gibson book on this site (easy to spot due to the fact they say the same things). I have not read Burning Chrome yet, nor The Difference Engine, but I thoroughly enjoyed Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Virtual Light. And I even really enjoyed this one...until the end.
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Summary: a great introduction to gibson
Review: i don't know what all these people are talking about when they say idoru is for hardcore gibson fans only. it's the first gibson, and the first of the genre, i ever read, and i loved it. in terms of character development, and plot structure its excellent. maybe it doesn't have as many mindless action sequences as neuromancer, but its more well-constructed. its about something much larger than new ideas in technology, its about how people cope emotionally and psychologically with technology moving at a much faster pace than their psyches can keep up with. if you're even slightly curious about gibson, this is the place to start.
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