As cool and empty as my heart

English Edition.

Count Zero by William Gibson.

While reading Count Zero I could not stop thinking of the word “cold” and at the same time I was amazed at the level of detail given to the narration, nothing new to Gibson, but it is always remarkable: the slang, gadgets, fashion, environment, curious concepts (e.g. the voodoo thing); the context is so rich and he has a smooth way of words. It was so stylish but empty.

I read Necromancer some time ago and remember liking it a lot, it was a crazy romp but I felt this one differently. In theory, there is a lot of action, but maybe didn’t engage because I could not care for a single character in the book, not one, they seem so very cool… so cool that I cringed sometimes, and all that cyberpunk felt underplayed, like there were so many gadgets that did not lead to anywhere or had a real impact, maybe I wasn’t in the mood or something.

Undeniably, Gibson is a visionary and it is pure joy the attention to detail, concepts and context. I will be reading Mona Lisa Overdrive after giving some room with other books.