|
 Idoru by William Gibson
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 12, 1996
Perhaps it is the speed with which our world is changing, but Idoru has the feel of a book set in a future that is no further away than the next revision of Windows. There is nothing in the plot or the background that you feel could not be made possible with just the tiniest tweaking of current technology. The strangeness in it seems no more than that you would expect in any novel set in Japan, a cultural rather than a temporal displacement.
Is this a good or a bad thing? I don't know. From a purely SF angle the book feels as though it is genre, one hundred percent. Looking at it from a general perspective, non SF readers would not be put off by its focus on cyberspace. A third of business people do not know how to use a computer and an obviously much higher percentage have never used the internet. But they know it is there and they know what it does (sort of). Cyberspace is merely a short step further along that road. Isn't it?
Half Irish, half Chinese, rock star Rez has announced his determination to marry the Idoru. Unfortunately, the Idoru exists only in virtual reality, a totally computer generated media personality. And Rez is fifty percent of the extraordinarily successful act Lo/Rez. Commercial interests dictate that he remain on the rails. His own minders, employed by him through a series of shell companies, determine to find out whether he is crazy or not; to find out why he has declared his intention to marry Rei Toei, the Idoru. They employ the attention deficient Colin Laney, perfect for the job of scouring the information net because of his handicap: somehow he synthesizes answers to complex questions from fragmentary information which can be gathered from the public domain.
Nor are these the only interested parties. The American branch of the Lo/Rez fan club decide to investigate the situation themselves. Their adoration of their idols is total, as is their dedication. If anyone can discover the truth behind Rez's rumoured marriage plans, surely it is them. They dispatch one of their members to Tokyo, a young girl called Chia McKenzie, armed only with a somewhat bogus line of credit, a contact in the Tokyo branch of the fan club and a determination to succeed.
Idoru is the story of how their individual searches come together and the baggage they inadvertently bring to an already complicated situation. The relationship between the Idoru and her inamorata seems almost incidental to this near future thriller. Here is a book about the clash of technology and culture, the present and the future. But it is a novel that does not need the future to exist. Its future is now.
|
