Scan barcode
A review by caitlinxmartin
Vurt by Jeff Noon
5.0
I associate Vurt with Snow Crash because they came out around the same time. I was very fortunate to borrow Vurt from a friend who had a British copy of it he'd received from a friend in London. I loved the cover and had no idea what to expect. I started reading it, fell asleep, woke up the next morning and called in sick to work so I could read the book cover-to-cover all at once. It was an amazing reading experience and one of the best roller coaster rides of a book that I ever had. Snow Crash, in comparison, seemed to wish it was Vurt.
At the time of Vurt's publication I was neck-deep in text-based virtual worlds - MUDs and MOOs - and many of the people in my real life had crossed over from my virtual life. I was also an active member on the FutureCulture list-serv. We were all doing a lot of thinking about what it meant to have a virtual life and a real life, where the two might meet/meat, and where we thought all of it was going. I'm still close to many of the people I know from then whether I've actually met them in the flesh. I've known lots of these people going on 15 or so years. For me, Vurtcaptured the feel of that time and the not-so-secret desire to be liberated from flesh to play in dreams.
The writing and pacing of this book are pretty flawless to me. Vurtgrabs you by the collar and shoves you into its world running as fast and furious as it can with you bumping along behind. Noon has a very visual writing style, a knack for cyberpunk imagery. The book doesn't differentiate one world from the next as you careen with Scribble, our hero, on his search for the gateway to his sister. You might not approve of the lifestyle choices, but these people are complex and real and I feel like I know them all. All of this remained true on my second read so many years later.
I've recommended this book to lots of people and have given away many copies. One of my favorite reads.
At the time of Vurt's publication I was neck-deep in text-based virtual worlds - MUDs and MOOs - and many of the people in my real life had crossed over from my virtual life. I was also an active member on the FutureCulture list-serv. We were all doing a lot of thinking about what it meant to have a virtual life and a real life, where the two might meet/meat, and where we thought all of it was going. I'm still close to many of the people I know from then whether I've actually met them in the flesh. I've known lots of these people going on 15 or so years. For me, Vurtcaptured the feel of that time and the not-so-secret desire to be liberated from flesh to play in dreams.
The writing and pacing of this book are pretty flawless to me. Vurtgrabs you by the collar and shoves you into its world running as fast and furious as it can with you bumping along behind. Noon has a very visual writing style, a knack for cyberpunk imagery. The book doesn't differentiate one world from the next as you careen with Scribble, our hero, on his search for the gateway to his sister. You might not approve of the lifestyle choices, but these people are complex and real and I feel like I know them all. All of this remained true on my second read so many years later.
I've recommended this book to lots of people and have given away many copies. One of my favorite reads.