This post won't be helpful at all.
This book was not my most favourite thing ever. It was recommended highly to me, but it just wasn't for me. It was like Crichton on the strongest, most hopped-up steroids possible, and it just moved too quickly for me. Also, the parts I could follow reminded me of the movie The Lawnmower Man, which is never a good sign (Stephen King sued so his name would not be associated with it. That's how bad it was).
Anyways, it's set in the future. A future where computer upgrades to oneself or plastic surgery is not only successful, but cheap as hell. One girl had surgically inserted retractable (and small) razorblades under her fingernails, another has "mirrored eyes", which give the eye a Terminator-esque readout. (Her ducts were relocated to lead to her mouth, so if she ever had to cry she would just spit the tears instead.) That sort of thing. Also they fix the main character's--Case's--liver so he can't get high off pills or whatever when he ingests them. Alcohol also no longer affects him. Oh, and you can back up your memory on hard drives and such. And there's the Matrix, which is an actual computer thing and not something made up for Keanu Reeves (in case if you didn't know--my dad's a programmer and whenever he messes a code and can't figure it out, I suggest that there could be a glitch in the matrix. He's never seen the movie).
The main character is unable to connect to the matrix because something I don't understand was messed up in his head and other stuff, so he is an alcoholic, a junky, and a hustler who just sort of floats around.
And that's it. That's basically where I lost the story. I know that sounds pathetic, but I just couldn't follow it around. And I couldn't even follow the end. It's actually kind of depressing. I felt depressed after it ended and realizing I couldn't even get that. Complicated sci-fi futures are a lot easier in comic book form, like Akira (awesome, if you haven't ever read that).
So... These are just some parts I liked, or whatever. Sorry that I've been doing this so poorly lately, but not really because chances are no-one actually reads this anymore, sooo I win.
The first one is when some thug--"the Flatline"--describes himself as "'them huge f--kin' lizards, you know? Had themself two goddamn brains, one in the head an' one by the tailbone, kept the hind legs movin'. Hit that black stuff and ol' tailbrain jus' kept right on keepin' on'" (Gibson 78). He's referring to stegosauruses.
"'One burning bush looks pretty much like another'" (Gibson 173). I can't give much of a context to this, but it seems pretty much like Case is being warned about communicating with the wrong person. It was just something that jumped out at me in a big mass of what. I can't give context. On anything anymore. I'm full of Chinese food and kind of woozy--wait, I can finish this. I swear.
The thing that confused me the most was probably the end. Normally I can pretend to make logic out of an end, even when I can't follow the story itself, but I was just confused and sad and thinking about Lawnmower Man. He finds a new girlfriend that's not Molly--who was somehow the catalyst of this book or something--and has a job writing software or something. He sees another woman--Linda (????) and someone with his arm around Linda that--lo and behold, is him. The Wikipedia summary doesn't even address this or really explain it, unless if I didn't even understand that, which is entirely possible. I am the worst book blogger ever.
MLA citation information: Gibson, Wiiliam. Neuromancer. Ace Books: New York, 1984.
PS. I've started rereading Akira. Awesome!
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