Brasyl - Ian McDonald

Pretentious twaddle

I did finish reading it but it was hard work. Really hard work. It is much too liberally sprinkled with either genuine foreign words and phrases, or fabricated ones. For versimilitude I suppose, but it just made it too, too tedious to read and enjoy.

The basic idea of the plot was quite clever, with a few inventive items but all those makey uppy words. Yerruggghh

a hard read

This was the first book by Ian McDonald I have read. The plot was interesting, even engaging at times. But the writing was horribly loose and overwritten, and especially in the beginning before I got used to large amount of Portuguese words scattered everywhere this was really, really slow read.
Why say something simply, when you can use a few flowery and long sentences without commas to say the same thing? :-) This book didn't give me any need to sample something else McDonald has written. Second this years' Hugo nominated book I have read. At this time "No award" is still my first choice in the novel category.

Mediocre Yet Intriguing

This book is billed as "Blade Runner in the tropics," but I have to object. Brasyl is no such thing. If any contemporary sci fi is like a rehash of BR, then it's Morgan's latest, "Thirteen." But "Brasyl" is more like "The Matrix" meets Twelvehawk's, "The Traveler," instead.

The premise of the story is rather interesting - Apparently, McDonald read a book for Smart People (Physicists) and got the idea of many different realities playing themselves out concurrently in other time lines and then proceeds to tell the story of blonde haired, blue eyed, reality-TV producer Marcia, a Gibson inspired pseudo cyberpunk named Edson, and a warrior clergy from the 1700s.

The story takes place during different time periods in Brazilian history, specifically, in Sao Paolo. Sounds intriguing, and, at first blush, it is. But the deeper I got into the book, the more I couldn't wait to finish it just to get it over with. The story seemed little more than an excuse to write about snippets of Brazilian history than it was to explore any thing of substance happening to the above-referenced characters.

Bottom line: If you're looking for Blade Runner like action, then either read the book itself or, better yet, rent the DVD, but in either case, don't read Brasyl because you think you're going to see any BR action.

Good things, those who wait--

Brasyl was dense as hell for me since the culture's all new and took me forever to grok -- but the resonance and wonder function of that book is off the charts. It shares a lot of what made The Matrix a special cultural phenomenon, and in a completely different paradigm that fits snugly with any number of creation myths. Which sets my archetypally-inclined synapses atickle.

.345

Ted Williams, the great Boston baseball slugger, hit .400 in 1952 and .407 in 1953. In 1954 he hit "only" .345. .345 is a great batting average for any player.

After MacDonald's earlier book,"River of Gods", "Brasyl" only hits .345.

Like "River of Gods", "Brasyl" takes place in a country that readers from Europe and America will find less familiar. The author develops three story lines: a reality TV producer from 2006; an ambitious son of the Sao Paulo slums in 2032; and a Jesuit priest from 1732. (You've got to admire those Jesuits - interstellar travel in "The Sparrow" and inter-universe travel in this book.) The parenthetical phrase is not a spoiler. Almost from the beginning we realize that the story involves quantum physics and parallel universes, just as we also realize that the lives of the three protagonists will intertwine.

But the plot is just the shaft of an armature, with the field being Brazilian civilization, past, present and future, and the windings being the characters of the three protagonists.

Importantly we see how these characters are shaped by their environments and react accordingly. Sometimes it's not altogether clear whether the protagonists are heroes, or villains, or complex characters, like most humans.

MacDonald writes with style, grace and excitement. I never thought the written details of a sword fight could hold my attention for very long since ultimately one character wins and one loses. But a sword fight described here was played out, stroke and step by stroke and step, in my mind's eye, thanks to the author.

There are a few things I could have done without. The Portuguese /Brazilian glossary of terms in the back of the book had me flipping back and forth, but I suppose the exercise lent some authenticity to the book. I was not always clear of the role of some of the characters flitting back and forth across quantum barriers, even by the end. On the other hand, I was not put off by the fact that, like "River of Gods", there was an untold back story that might have been even more interesting than the tale presented.

I was always a Yankee fan, but even when Ted Williams didn't hit .400 he was a pleasure to watch. So is Ian McDonald.

Brilliant stuff

Brasyl is a work of true brilliance! If William Gibson will still penning mainstream science fiction works than this is what he would have evolved into.

Never has South America seemed so real as in this fictional cyberpunkish take on what it might end up as.

I love it. If you have any taste, you should too!

Pretentious twaddle

I did finish reading it but it was hard work. Really hard work. It is much too liberally sprinkled with either genuine foreign words and phrases, or fabricated ones. For versimilitude I suppose, but it just made it too, too tedious to read and enjoy.

The basic idea of the plot was quite clever, with a few inventive items but all those makey uppy words. Yerruggghh

a hard read

This was the first book by Ian McDonald I have read. The plot was interesting, even engaging at times. But the writing was horribly loose and overwritten, and especially in the beginning before I got used to large amount of Portuguese words scattered everywhere this was really, really slow read.
Why say something simply, when you can use a few flowery and long sentences without commas to say the same thing? :-) This book didn't give me any need to sample something else McDonald has written. Second this years' Hugo nominated book I have read. At this time "No award" is still my first choice in the novel category.

Mediocre Yet Intriguing

This book is billed as "Blade Runner in the tropics," but I have to object. Brasyl is no such thing. If any contemporary sci fi is like a rehash of BR, then it's Morgan's latest, "Thirteen." But "Brasyl" is more like "The Matrix" meets Twelvehawk's, "The Traveler," instead.

The premise of the story is rather interesting - Apparently, McDonald read a book for Smart People (Physicists) and got the idea of many different realities playing themselves out concurrently in other time lines and then proceeds to tell the story of blonde haired, blue eyed, reality-TV producer Marcia, a Gibson inspired pseudo cyberpunk named Edson, and a warrior clergy from the 1700s.

The story takes place during different time periods in Brazilian history, specifically, in Sao Paolo. Sounds intriguing, and, at first blush, it is. But the deeper I got into the book, the more I couldn't wait to finish it just to get it over with. The story seemed little more than an excuse to write about snippets of Brazilian history than it was to explore any thing of substance happening to the above-referenced characters.

Bottom line: If you're looking for Blade Runner like action, then either read the book itself or, better yet, rent the DVD, but in either case, don't read Brasyl because you think you're going to see any BR action.

Good things, those who wait--

Brasyl was dense as hell for me since the culture's all new and took me forever to grok -- but the resonance and wonder function of that book is off the charts. It shares a lot of what made The Matrix a special cultural phenomenon, and in a completely different paradigm that fits snugly with any number of creation myths. Which sets my archetypally-inclined synapses atickle.