The Peripheral question

My thoughts exactly. I got about the same amount through it and gave up. He has been a favorite author of mine. Loved earlier books. This one just mystified me. Makes me want to go back and re-read Pattern Recognition.

I disagree. It was true Gibson. Interesting plot that flowed well.

I had only read two Gibson books before this one (Neuromancer and Count Zero), but I thought that the plot structure was similar to that of Count Zero with all of the seemingly separate plot lines that intertwine at the end. I will agree that I had trouble with the first half of this book, but Gibson has a way of making the tough-to-decipher plots and unexplained jargon in his books suddenly make sense to the reader. Each of his books that I have read have left me confused in the beginning, but by the end, I completely understand what is going on. When I think back on the book from beginning to end, I can't ever seem to remember when I started to understand. It just happens, and I think that makes Gibson a talented sci-fi writer.

Yeah, my sense with Gibson is not to get too caught up in whether the beginning makes complete sense. In fact the recent trilogy probably was his most straightforward work. The Peripheral is more like the old in being bendy, but there are further complications with some version of time travel, and characters existing in different timelines. Stick with it, and you will get a great description of a breakfast burrito.

Same as the above poster. There are parts at the beginning you may not fully understand until later. The first time I read Neuromancer I would re-read pages over and over and not get it, only to move ahead and "get" the concept later. I think once you can let go of the idea that you should be understanding everything, the books are a lot more fun, and even better on consecutive reads.

For me it was vintage Gibson giving me the taste of what it would be like to be time-machined some years into the future with today's rapidly changing world and runaway technological progress. Incomprehensible, terrifying, frustrating. Loved it.