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Spook Country by William Gibson
Sep. 11th, 2007 08:58 amMagic capitalism, seems like a good enough label for this. I think I found this a better book than Pattern Recognition. For one, while Cayce and Hollis are in similar circumstances for the exact same reason, Hollis is a better character. Not that she does anything, but that seems to be the trend in this series of novels, since Spook Country is a sequel of sorts to Pattern Recognition, an extension of its territory and themes. Basically the characters ehre (and there are two more central characters other than Hollis) are tools for the larger narrative who don't initiate action, and in Hollis' case don't actually do anything but observe and ask questions.
Both books have as the mastermind behind their narrative the seductive Hubertus Bigend, founder of the avant-garde advertising firm Blue Ant. Who is probably insane. Bigend is a force of nature and I am glad that Gibson leaves it that way.
I did like the old man in this book. He is heavy in the literal allusions to le Carree and other dearly loved spy novels. He's the reala ctor here (even more than Bigend) and I like the fact we only see a sliver of his actions.
And now I want to see some actual locotive art!
One of the major themes of this duology (I suspect a third, its a pattern Gibson has used before) is that hyper-capitalist consciousness has evolved to such sophistication that it becomes indistinguishable from art, philosophy, even magic. So its no surprise that one of the characters is tied in with the loa.
I hope I don't sound down on this book, I really loved it. Its important to realize that the narrative complexity of Spook Country, with its fugue-like advancement of melodies toward an oddly harmonic resolution at a port in Vancouver. This incredibly compelling, the techno-thriller mechanics of these recent Gibson novels are largely beside the point. Gibson doesn't engineer his labyrinthine plots to disclose the meaning at their core: The maze is the message. Which makes this very firmly in the tradition of novels that use espionage to tell us how we live Graham Greene in its intensity.
Both books have as the mastermind behind their narrative the seductive Hubertus Bigend, founder of the avant-garde advertising firm Blue Ant. Who is probably insane. Bigend is a force of nature and I am glad that Gibson leaves it that way.
I did like the old man in this book. He is heavy in the literal allusions to le Carree and other dearly loved spy novels. He's the reala ctor here (even more than Bigend) and I like the fact we only see a sliver of his actions.
And now I want to see some actual locotive art!
One of the major themes of this duology (I suspect a third, its a pattern Gibson has used before) is that hyper-capitalist consciousness has evolved to such sophistication that it becomes indistinguishable from art, philosophy, even magic. So its no surprise that one of the characters is tied in with the loa.
I hope I don't sound down on this book, I really loved it. Its important to realize that the narrative complexity of Spook Country, with its fugue-like advancement of melodies toward an oddly harmonic resolution at a port in Vancouver. This incredibly compelling, the techno-thriller mechanics of these recent Gibson novels are largely beside the point. Gibson doesn't engineer his labyrinthine plots to disclose the meaning at their core: The maze is the message. Which makes this very firmly in the tradition of novels that use espionage to tell us how we live Graham Greene in its intensity.
