Book information

Author: William Gibson

Plot Synopsis: In an urbanized future, several people are drawn together by a moment in which the entire future of human society is going to change. No one of the characters in this play really understands the shape of this moment or why they are drawn towards it, except perhaps for the holographic idoru Rei Toei.

Commentary: Wow, two books in a row where I have to supply a very limited plot synopsis. All Tomorrow's Parties is two things: a sequel to Gibsons' Idoru and a very, very Gibsonish book.     All Tomorrow's Parties never quite tells you what's going on, much like Idoru. Everything that you need to know takes place between the lines, forcing the reader to walk the strands of the plots trying to find meanings in the whole, while all of the POV characters can only see their own, small involvements.     And this is where the book makes its most telling turn into cyberpunk. Much like his later early books (Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero) and recent books (Idoru), Gibson moves away from the Chrome and Implants brand of cyberpunk and towards commentary on how modern-slash-future society is beyond any one person's understanding. Only by adopting a God's-Eye-View can anyone, be they reader or character, understand even a part of the whole of the world of the book.     All Tomorrow's Parties isn't for everyone. I found myself reading this book in fits and starts, absorbing a chapter (or a part of a chapter) at a time, pondering it and trying to understand what was going on before moving on to the next section. You really have to work at this book, which means it's not for casual reading; but in the end I found it extremely rewarding.     I would suggest reading Idoru before this book, if only to get yourself used to this style of writing. It also adds a tiny bit of clarity to the book's plot; you can understand some of the social winds of change going on a trifle better for it. And with a book like this, that makes all the difference.

Moments to Watch For

• The Lucky Dragon. It really is the coldly logical extension of convenience stores.
• God's Own Toy. Now I want to build one of those.
• Graffiti, counter-graffiti and counter-counter-graffiti nanotech. In the end, the grandest will be used for the most banal...

Recommended: If you're willing to put in the work, yes.

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