Idoru

Originally published to www.fictionlove.com

I'm going to be honest here. I didn't think I was actually going to like this one. I know by admitting this I may have the hordes of science fiction fans setting their phazers to kill and targeting me. William Gibson just happens to be one of the BIG NAMES in science fiction and a pioneer in the field of Cyberpunk, so saying anything negative about his books would be blasphemous.

So why did I read it if I thought I wasn't going to like it? Well, for school of course! I'm in a Science Fiction in Japanese Culture course and this book is one of the required course readings. So I found myself bunkering down with a mug of tea ready to take it on. Don't get me wrong, I'm a giant science fiction fan, but I just prefer my scifi in other mediums. I prefer to watch then to read my scifi.

But back to the book.

Idoru follows two protagonists. Chia Pet McKenzie is a fourteen year old girl and the member of the local Chapter of Rez's Fan Club. Rez is a rockstar and half of the band Lo/Rez. Chia's Chapter hears that Rez is going to be marrying the Idoru Rei Toei and sends Chia to Japan to figure out exactly what is going on. Why are the fangirls obsessed with this marriage to the point where they send one of their own to Japan? Well seeings as Rei is an Idoru, she's not actually real. Rei like Rez is a singer, but she's a digital one, similar to the current Japanese star Hatsune Miku. She's a synthetic person. While in Japan Chia accidentally gets mixed up with some unsavoury people and needs to try and navigate the cyber culture to find a way home.

Our other main character is Colin Laney. When he was younger he underwent an experiment that rewired his brain causing him to be able to shift through large amounts of data and find Nodal Points. Laney gets hired by Rez's team to figure out what is going on with their eccentric popstar and why he insists on marrying Rei Toei.

In a world completely flooded with technology, Idoru asks it's reader what actually constitutes as human. Is Rei Toei more than a program? Has she managed to transcend the boundaries of technology and become something real? And while you're at it... what is real? Gibson raises these questions cleverly through his narrative and it doesn't feel like he is trying to attack you with them.

On another note, the concept of Nodal points fascinated me. It makes perfect sense that you can create an accurate depiction of someone by taking all of their online records (social networking, shopping, instant messaging) and piecing them all together. This concept may have been a foreign one when this book was originally published in 1996 but now it is common knowledge. No one maybe as skilled as Laney (yet) but everyone knows a thing or two about online facebook stalking these days.

All in all, this book was extremely interesting. I recommend it to any scifi fan, or anyone in the mood to try something new. It starts out rather slow, but by the time you get sixty pages in I guarantee you'll be hooked.

Looking back, this was a very enjoyable read. There were so many separate storylines initially that I was completely lost for the good chunk of the book. However, Mr Gibson expertly guides them dancing and weaving around each other until one unified thread is formed and the story ends. And it ends WELL, which was completely unexpected.

The setting is fantastic - a rebuilt Tokyo, a global virtual livingspace, the evolution of the relationship between humans and their digital constructs. Most (well, just about all) of the characters are fairly cookie-cutter-ish or horribly cliche, but this actually adds to the story. It is Technology and those under its thrall who drive the story forward.

I have to say I am not a William Gibson fan. I surprised myself first by picking up this book, then again when I actually read it. Now I'm glad I did.

It wasn't Gibson's best work by far, but he's so good at prose it doesn't seem to matter. As in Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, this was the type of story that started frayed and merged with a bang at the end. I started out bored and frustrated, but it comes together finally towards the end. I guess that's the point with many of his stories: Sometimes the method is as important as the content. If you are new to Gibson however, don't start with this book. I gave it a 3 because he's capable of much better, but for any other author, this would have been a 4 or a 5 out of 5.

A superhacker with a losing profile and a 13 year old fan share little in common. But they are both the convincing (small scale) heroes of a story where the superstars Roz and Idoru play a smaller role. Gibson has an original way of relating ordinary events, like the job interview at the beginning. The mixture of American and Japanese culture comes out not only from technology, but from human values like friendship. But it is science fiction also: Idoru passes the Turing test brightly, so why couldn't she marry a real man ?