IDORU. [Import] [Paperback]

William. Gibson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: PUTNAM. NY 1996; New Ed edition (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670857793
• ISBN-13: 978-0670857791
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,306,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Gibson was born in the United States in 1948. In 1972 he moved to Vancouver, Canada, after four years spent in Toronto. He is married with two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the other hand..., May 20, 2000

By 

Jonah Cohen (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Idoru (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not so good as I had hoped, July 21, 2001

By 

Derrick Jensen (Crescent City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Idoru (Mass Market Paperback)

There's no doubt that Gibson can flat-out write. His line-by-line writing is powerful, clear, and compelling. He knows when to start a scene, and when to drop it to move to another. His characters are interesting. And he draws powerful pictures of a dystopian future of corporate control of the world, people more interested in virtual reality than the increasingly-devastated world that surrounds them, and a deep alienation and sorrow. BUT, and this is a huge but, his plots always seem flat to me. This has been true of the other books of his I've read, and it's certainly true of this one. There never seems enough at stake for the main characters, emotionally, philosophically, or physically. His words suck me in, and his plots spit me back out. This one was okay, but nothing to write home about.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Glimpse into the Near-Future, March 9, 2005

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Idoru (Mass Market Paperback)

When an author writes a first novel as inventive and as startling as Neuromancer, everything that follows cannot possibly compete, no matter how good it is. So it is with Idoru. Gibson's speculative thriller follows two main characters: Colin Laney, a man whose brain has been altered by experimental drugs and who searches the internet for "nodal points" that explain reality at a level most people can't understand; and Chia Pet McKenzie, a Seattle teenager who belongs to a fan club chapter devoted to the rock group Lo/Rez. Laney is hired by Rez's security detail in Japan when the rock star announces that he will marry Rei Toei, a virtual reality pop idol. Rez's people are worried because they believe Rez must be under the influence of someone they haven't yet identified, and they need Laney to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Chia also races to Japan, to see if the rumors of Rez's marriage to the non-woman are true. Subplots involving a vindictive former boss, nanotechnology, and Russian gangsters increase the stakes as both Laney and Chia find themselves skirting danger in both the real and the virtual worlds. The plot, while thin, is well-paced, and it has the trademark Gibson edginess.

Gibson writes well and convincingly, even with lyricism. He incorporates the specifics of his futuristic world with such confidence that the reader can suspend disbelief for the duration of the novel. The problem is, he has done it better before, and with greater detail, so fans are not likely to forgive him for a simpler world and story. Still, reading any Gibson book is a treat, especially compared with much of what's out there. His ability to incorporate near-future technology with an exciting story that fits perfectly inside this fabricated world is astounding even on this smaller scale.

I recommend this highly-readable novel for cyperpunk/sci-fi fans, as long as they don't expect this to be another Neuromancer. The lackluster ending is a disappointment, but the rest is vibrant enough to capture the imaginations of most readers.