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Pattern Recognition

By William Gibson

(119)

| Paperback | 9780425192931

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Book Description

In a post-9/11 world, the present is as unpredictable as any future...

Paid to predict the hottest trends, Cayce Pollard is in London to evaluate the redesign of a famous corporate logo when she's offered a different assignment: find the creator of the obscure, enigmatic video clips being uContinue

Critics

Back to the 80s

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson 368pp, Viking, £16.99 In the end, William Gibson's novels are all about sadness - a very distinctive and particular sadness: the melancholy of technology. On the opening page of Pattern Recognition we are introdu ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

In search of the promised brand

Pattern Recognition by WIlliam Gibson Viking £16.99, pp357 William Gibson, branded as a science-fiction writer (Neuromancer his best-known book), tries his hand in Pattern Recognition at London and the present day. Cayce - pronounced 'Casey'- Pollard ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

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9 Reviews

4 people find this helpful

Rediscovering Gibson

Gibson isn't a very prolific author, but when one of his books comes out to the shelves you expect it to be good. And they are; I haven't been disappointed yet by any of them.
Pattern Recognition is a masterpiece, for me it's like making a voyage watching the world from within the mind of i ... (continue)

Gibson isn't a very prolific author, but when one of his books comes out to the shelves you expect it to be good. And they are; I haven't been disappointed yet by any of them.
Pattern Recognition is a masterpiece, for me it's like making a voyage watching the world from within the mind of it's main character.

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Runlevel0 said on Jul 2, 2007 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Terrific female protagonist. Cayce Pollard is an incredible woman and his flaw is pure genius! The way the novel describes hes journey through the assignment is intriguing, since it's supported by the crucial issue of pattern recognition. The line about Cayce interviewing the first guy wearing the b ... (continue)

Terrific female protagonist. Cayce Pollard is an incredible woman and his flaw is pure genius! The way the novel describes hes journey through the assignment is intriguing, since it's supported by the crucial issue of pattern recognition. The line about Cayce interviewing the first guy wearing the baseball hat backward is total cult, even tho, according to the wiki: «The idea of wearing the cap backwards is commonly attributed to catchers in baseball, as when they began using facemasks, they had to turn the cap around to fit the mask on». Unfortunately, the plot doesn't lead to a very fulfilling climax and the resolution isn't fulfilling as well. Still, Gibson can bring the reader through places and feelings and especially lack of feelings as nobody else can do.
Can't wait to see how Peter Weir will translate the book into a thriller movie. It's gonna be pretty complicated to dramatize Cayce in hollywood standards without making her too banal (http://pullquote.typepad.com/pullquote/2004/04/who_will_play_c.html)

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Anatole Pierre Fuksas said on Aug 31, 2007 | Add your feedback

"Pattern Recognition" by William Gibson

This is the first I've read of William Gibson since I read Neuromancer a couple years ago - and upon finishing it I'm starting to feel that was a bit of a mistake, perhaps. (it is clear that Gibson has come a long, long way since Neuromancer, and I'd like to read his other works to see his progressi ... (continue)

This is the first I've read of William Gibson since I read Neuromancer a couple years ago - and upon finishing it I'm starting to feel that was a bit of a mistake, perhaps. (it is clear that Gibson has come a long, long way since Neuromancer, and I'd like to read his other works to see his progression from NM to PR)Definitely a good book, but I still gave it a so-so rating (it's hard to be objective with NM in the back of your mind...). I guess I'd consider this a science-fiction, but in a subtle way: a lot of the plot has to do with technology (web forums, email, (internet) film culture, globalized world, etc) however the technology feels a lot more recognizable than Case running around through "cyber space". I suppose it's a bit of a thriller too, but maybe in an ironic way (there's a few ironic references to James Bond). The plot was interesting sometimes, but most of the time felt kind of ... flat maybe? Definitely not a super-climatic ending. However I wouldn't consider this a book you read for the plot; rather it's Gibson's writing itself, and the ideas there, that is most interesting. Stylistically he's a talented writer for sure. A very interesting read, recommended.

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Scott said on Mar 8, 2010 | Add your feedback

Section 3[return]Society

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Jonaschau said on Jul 18, 2009 | Add your feedback

Second Time it's better

This is the second time I'm reading the book.
First I had it in Italian, right when it's been published.
Reading it again now makes pattern emerge better, leaves a warm fuzzy feeling. Recommended.

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Bru said on Dec 11, 2008 | Add your feedback