Bad Voltage (Signet) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jonathan Littell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet | Publication Date: June 6, 1989

Paperback.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Roc (June 6, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451160142
• ISBN-13: 978-0451160140
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,422,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is not fiction...., August 16, 2000

By 

Bernard Mendiburu (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Voltage (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

For peoples who read this book an loved the storyplace, i've good news... Many of the characters of this book are real. Yes, Chtulu, Toxic, Olric... are real niknames of real peoples, living in paris. Most of the events in 'bad voltage' are based on real naughty thing they've done late 80's. I told about this book last sunday with Chtulu. We met in the catacombs were i'm used to go a few time per year. He told me that they didn't really care about this american guy who used to go with them when they went to 'hack' Paris underground. And one or two year later this guy whent back to USA, they received this book and then understund johnatan was a writer !

isn't this incredible ? that's true.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book will not leave my head..., December 3, 2004

By 

D. Poston "phoenixOne" (Pacific Sprawl) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Voltage (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was given this book in college as part of my further education into "all things cyberpunk" (it being the 90's, when many people believed cyberpunk was our future if not already or present). Since that one read, I can't get the characters and situations out of my head. Now, more then 10 years later, I've read dozens (hundreds?) of cyberpunk books but I had to go back and read this one again.
Don't get me wrong, this is not the best book ever written. A lot of it reads like those trashy novels you pick up at the airport because the cover art looked interesting. Despite that, or maybe because of it, this book manages to contain the essence of cyberpunk like few books can. Drugs, music, class conflict, mega-corps, youth, and technology are all represented here.
Snow Crash and Neuromancer are much better written books but, if you're looking for raw cyberpunk, you need to add this book to your collection as well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The forgotten cyberpunk gives Gibson a run for his money !, November 28, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Voltage (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

So you think William Gibson & Bruce Sterling are the only ones writing truly revolutionary "cyberpunk" sci-fi ? Think again ; this 1989 offering from Jonathan Littell is a brilliant novel which works within the genre and yet simultaneously manages to achieve its own distinct style. The novel's brilliance is evident in all its aspects ; from the generically non-traditional European setting, to its strong characterisations, its fast paced plot line and it's sheer street "cred" :-). Last but not least, Littell seems a lot less preoccupied with describing every detail of the advanced technology his characters make use of than Gibson. He concentrates instead on character development & reader empathy, and this makes "Bad Voltage" considerably more accessible to the "average" or first time (cyberpunk) reader than Gibson's "Neuromancer" will ever be...