I’m a person of theater. Every single major creative endeavor I’ve ever done in my life has been in some way connected to the study of the Theatrical Arts. In my time as a theater student, I’ve taken a few acting classes here and there along the way. One consistent aspect of those classes is the concept of Super Objectives and Tactics.
“Super Objective” is theater speak for the end goal of each character in each scene (ie: Hamlet wants everyone to think he’s crazy.)
“Tactics” are the ways in which a character goes about trying to achieve that Super objective. (ie Hamlet speaks in nonsense metaphors, and roams the castle acting like a loon to convince everyone he’s lost it.)
Actors are taught that the better your ability to reveal these objectives and tactics to the audience is, the easier it will be for audience members to become involved in and relate to the story.
In my opinion, this is where Gibson falls short and makes it difficult to read.
The hardest part about Neuromancer for me hasn’t been the language, it hasn’t been the setting, and it hasn’t been the timeline. All of that, to me at least has been fairly straight forward. The most frustrating thing for me is that I don’t care about the characters.
All of the sneaking around and deception would normally draw me in, but I feel like I’m not being given enough insight into who the characters actually are. Without insight as to why they do what they do, I just don’t care. I know that some of that info must be kept secret to build suspense, but at this point in the novel, I should be able to relate to at least one character, and I don’t.
Yes, Gibson explains how the technology works, and yes, he gives us a play-by-play of how Case thinks, but once Case “jacks in” it kind of seems like the only relationship developed is the one between Case and the Matrix, which at least for me, isn’t relatable at all.
Take for example, the moment where Case gets a chance to find out who Armatige is. That should have been a big moment, a huge game changer. But it wasn’t. It was relayed to the reader as if it were the weather report.
There’s also no explanation as to why Case and Molly are sexually involved. It just happens. There’s no love between them. There’s not even very much lust.
I know we’re not really supposed to do “review-y” type blog posts, but I’m really having an issue with this. I don’t really care at all about Gibson’s characters and I’m half way through the book. Sure, the world is interesting and complex, and the technology is far beyond it’s time, but the humanity that drives so many stories isn’t there, keeping me interested, pulling me through.
Now, this might be intentional on Gibson’s part. The characters do live in an isolationist world. But there’s not even a consistent internal dialogue that goes above the primal needs of each character. Again, this may be intentional on Gibson’s part, but it doesn’t give the reader any vested interest in the book.
I just wish there was a little more character development. That would make it much easier for me to read.
