Poorly written but still a classic

Published in 1984, the novel Neuromancer initiated and popularized the cyberpunk genre: this is what we learn according to his readings on the net. Only partially true, as commentators overlook the importance of Philip K. Dick in the genesis of the genre. However, without this classic science fiction has become, Neuromancer by William Gibson, Matrix would never have existed and Ghost in the Shell would not upset us. Suffice to say that we approach the reading of this novel with a mixture of excitement and fascination.

The story starts well: we met Case, a former cowboy of the Matrix, able to go hacking computers or change computer files at the other end of the world by wiring on a machine. But when he wanted to sweeten a employer, the employer made him undergo the operation preventing connect again on a computer. Since junkie and lover of Linda Lee, a borderline daughter, he scrapes by bad shot, before a package FRICS to unsavory types ...

At a first level of reading, Neuromancer is therefore built into the genre of thriller: one finds the dependent hero, in love with a bad girl, sinking into mediocrity and will end up stabbed at the bottom of an alley ... That is why the beginning of the book fascinates: despite a complex vocabulary, it remains accessible and include its brands. But things get complicated when Case meets the mysterious Armitage, an enigmatic employer. The latter offers him a deal allowing him to become a cowboy of the Matrix. Accompanied by sexy and dangerous Mollie, a samurai streets, off they go in search of a smoking ganja and a perverse illusionist to perform a mission of the utmost importance.

Mission which we will not understand until the last page! Indeed, William Gibson has decided not to make it easier for the reader while walking in a cryptic story: it is not known why the characters act, we do not necessarily understand what they do (you've got to know the vocabulary cyberpunk before you get started) and the time it takes down completely ... Yet the harshness of aeuvre not entirely began the interest in the book. Certainly, we must stuff a clear syntax (of the author or translator?) And do not always follow the story inevitably spoils the fun, but like a poem which we do not understand all words or images, you can always just go with the magic. And here, it works beautifully. Especially in the last part, with this including Molly Case feels the slightest movements, faces a gallery of freaks not so monstrous that they have the air ... and until recent enigmatic lines to be making us doubt all. Finally, are we not in the Matrix or attend to be a miracle?

In Gibson's world, God has indeed gone and we can see the whole book as a metaphysical reflection on this oversight and understand the mission of our heroes as the attempt to resuscitate him. For Case and Molly are doing if not eliminate gods to give birth to the one God? You can follow the book in the light of this reflection, and found that there was an interesting and daring attempt to restore the sacred in a moral universe without. No doubt that further Neuromancer (Count Zero and Mona Lisa explodes) will complement our thinking. As it is, we nevertheless advise this work despite a certain opacity, but as always, there are no free lunches. Often the difficulty is interest.