So I finished Gibson’s cyberpunk classic a few days ago, and honestly, the experience was one of the strangest I've had with a book. English isn’t my first language, but I've never had much trouble reading in English—until this book. I had actually tried reading Neuromancer three times before and ended up DNF’ing it around 50 pages in each time. Then, last month, I replayed Cyberpunk 2077, and the cyberpunk itch came back. I was determined to finally get through this book.
Reading Neuromancer was one of the strangest literary experiences I've had. On one hand, I absolutely loved the book— The content of it, at least. The world, the story, the characters, the puzzles, the mysteries, the moody, grimy aesthetic of the Sprawl, and Gibson’s visionary take on technology and cyberspace.
But on the other hand? I hated reading it. The prose was so dense, and the storytelling so disorienting, that I often found myself rereading entire pages just to piece together what was actually happening. The narrative doesn’t slow down to explain itself. Instead, it throws you headfirst into a world full of slang and cultural references with zero hand-holding. It was like being dropped into a foreign city with no map and no guide—atmospheric, sure, but also stressful.
Gibson would constantly throw out slang or in-universe terms as if I was just supposed to know what they meant. I remember reading the page about the Cobra weapon three times and still not being able to visualize it—I had to look it up. Eventually, I found a site that offers chapter-by-chapter summaries, and I started using it religiously. After each chapter, I’d read the summary and realize just how much had flown over my head. At one point, a character dies early on, and even after reading that chapter twice, I only realized they had died because the website told me. I thought their death was just a hallucination.
I also couldn’t shake the feeling that Gibson was nervous—like he was constantly on edge, worried about losing my attention. The book almost tries too hard to stay interesting, rushing from one sharp image or cryptic exchange to the next, like it’s afraid if you stop for even a second, you’ll put it down. That frenetic energy adds to the book’s intensity, but it also made the reading experience exhausting. By the time I got to a new chapter, I often felt a creeping anxiety, knowing I was probably about to be confused all over again. It wasn’t just difficult; it was exhausting. And once I finished the chapter, I’d take a deep breath and go to the website to confirm what had just happened. It became part of my reading process, but it also ruined the flow. It made the experience feel more like a puzzle to decode than a story to sink into.
And yet… I can’t stop thinking about it. As much as I struggled, Neuromancer sticks with me more than a lot of books that were easier to read. It challenged me. It frustrated me. But it also gave me something completely unique—something raw, visionary, and strangely beautiful beneath all the chaos. I really want to read the next two books on the Sprawl trilogy, but the thought of the reading process being similar to the first book makes me think twice!
Have you had a similar experience with this or any other book?
by Ntinos7