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This is the book that made me want to be a writer. I’ve also given this book to at least three people who “don’t read books” with great results.
The prose is just dazzling.
The prose is just dazzling.
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Incest
Vurt is fundamentally a book about people who trade in their dreams for manufactured facsimiles, and it's a raw deal.
Analogies to our modern lifestyle abound: drugs, pornography, the boob tube, video games, music, media, DRM. We have all surrendered our minds to mass media culture in some way, big or small, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to hack, subvert, remix, and otherwise take back that which should have been our birthright all along.
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Now that I've finished Vurt, I have to say that the book loses its way towards the end. I get the impression that Jeff Noon got bored with his characters and plot, and just wraps up the story in a straightforward, predictable way. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this book, but the opening is stronger than the closer.
Analogies to our modern lifestyle abound: drugs, pornography, the boob tube, video games, music, media, DRM. We have all surrendered our minds to mass media culture in some way, big or small, and we spend the rest of our lives trying to hack, subvert, remix, and otherwise take back that which should have been our birthright all along.
---
Now that I've finished Vurt, I have to say that the book loses its way towards the end. I get the impression that Jeff Noon got bored with his characters and plot, and just wraps up the story in a straightforward, predictable way. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this book, but the opening is stronger than the closer.
I think when I was younger I would have liked this more. The ideas were interesting but the story came off frantic and rambling. Trippy at times and always a anxious energy propelling the story forward. This is a journal of a drug addict. Though interesting at times I was hoping for more of a sci fi story that would step back out of the drug fog once in a while.
The style is annoyingly hard to read, but the story is very much worth it.
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3089047.html
I was not really blown away by the book, as so many readers clearly were when it first came out (including the Clarke judges, who in my view should have gone for Snow Crash). Cyberpunk isn’t really my subgenre, Dick did the Dickian bits better, the characterisation is rather flat, and in the set-up, the state rather implausibly seems to have little contact with the alternative scene of our protagonists (when in fact you’d expect police and welfare agencies at least to be keeping a wary eye and at worst to be complicit in the supply of dubious substances). I found it rather dragged, despite its relatively short length. I can see why some people liked it, but it didn’t really work for me.
I was not really blown away by the book, as so many readers clearly were when it first came out (including the Clarke judges, who in my view should have gone for Snow Crash). Cyberpunk isn’t really my subgenre, Dick did the Dickian bits better, the characterisation is rather flat, and in the set-up, the state rather implausibly seems to have little contact with the alternative scene of our protagonists (when in fact you’d expect police and welfare agencies at least to be keeping a wary eye and at worst to be complicit in the supply of dubious substances). I found it rather dragged, despite its relatively short length. I can see why some people liked it, but it didn’t really work for me.
I really enjoyed the 'Game Cat' chapters. Overall a good reader, even though I felt that some parts were dragging a little bit. Superb ending! I will definitely read some more Noon...
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
Moderate: Animal death
Cyberpunk vind ik een heerlijk genre, maar ik kan me niet herinneren dat ik ooit een boek in het genre heb gelezen. Wel heb ik een heel aantal cyberpunk films gezien en vooral de Japanners kunnen er heel erg goed mee uit de voeten. Ik houd van de koortsdromen die de verhalen zijn, de gejaagdheid en opgefoktheid die erg meeslepend werken. In films is dat een sfeer die je makkelijker kunt bewerkstelligen dan in literatuur (de snelheid en actie binnen het verhaal werken makkelijker met een visueel medium), maar Jeff Noon lukt het met Vurt.
Als ik cyberpunk zou moeten omschrijven, dan zou ik zeggen dat het gaat om verhalen die in de toekomst afspelen waarbij de sociale orde volledig overhoop gegooid is en anarchisme de boventoon voert. In veel gevallen speelt technologie ook nog een grote rol, al is dat in Vurt wat minder aanwezig. De verhalen zitten vaak boordevol actie en snelheid en taboes worden zeker niet geschuwd. Je moet er niet iedere dag mee geconfronteerd worden want dat is doodvermoeiend, maar zo af en toe kan ik mijn portie cyberpunk erg goed smaken.
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Als ik cyberpunk zou moeten omschrijven, dan zou ik zeggen dat het gaat om verhalen die in de toekomst afspelen waarbij de sociale orde volledig overhoop gegooid is en anarchisme de boventoon voert. In veel gevallen speelt technologie ook nog een grote rol, al is dat in Vurt wat minder aanwezig. De verhalen zitten vaak boordevol actie en snelheid en taboes worden zeker niet geschuwd. Je moet er niet iedere dag mee geconfronteerd worden want dat is doodvermoeiend, maar zo af en toe kan ik mijn portie cyberpunk erg goed smaken.
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