Pixel Juice - Book Review   by trevorm

#7647 in Arts
Rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 0 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

Pixel Juice by Jeff Noon

I assume that you've read Jeff Noon's first novel, Vurt? You haven't? Then go and buy it tomorrow. No, make that today. Vurt is a great book. It's hard work and takes a lot of getting in to but is worth the effort. Noon's following novels expand on parts of his world, adding to its depth without quite recapturing the brilliance of Vurt.

In Pixel Juice Noon breaks out of this territory. The book contains 50 stories (yes, 50!) of assorted styles. Some of these are based in the Vurtworld, others not.

 

Image: Pixel Juice

Overview 

One thing the stories in Pixel Juice share is a high surreality index. Consider the very first line from very first story:

"In the first shop they bought a packet of dogseed, because Doreen had always wanted to grow her own dog."


Trying to describe these stories is difficult. "Cyber-punk without the cyber" comes close, though Noon writes too well to be associated with the likes of Gibson. Just look at a few of the story titles: Qwertyphobia, Fetish Boot #7, Autopsy of a Hummingbird. Time Out describes Noon as a "psychedelic fantasist" and I don't think I can improve on that.

Many of the stories would be classed as SF, yet there are few of the standard SF props around. If you're looking for spaceships and aliens then look elsewhere. These stories are of near futures extrapolated from the world today then... twisted.

There are, of course, many references to the world of Noon's Vurt cycle - this collection adds significantly to the Nooniverse. Especially interesting is reading of Scribble's first Vurt experience. Oh, and Celia Hobart's first proto-feather! If that means nothing to you, don't worry - these stories can be read equally well as stand alones.

Opinion 

Whilst the Vurt stories are interesting, what is most impressive is the range of the non-Vurt stories. Noon successfully uses numerous very different voices. There are stories in here that I would never have attributed to him had I read them in isolation. There's a lot of darkness buried just beneath the surface of these stories - despair, suicide and loss of innocence are recurring motifs.

Of course, nothing's perfect. Not all the stories here work. In particular a few are just too short (I really hate to say that) being simply brilliant concepts not explored. Some of the "stories" seem simply pointless. Noon's biggest problem is endings - many of the stories either tail off into nothingness or hit you with a "twist" that was obvious from the first page.

Conclusion 

If you're a follower of Noon, read this book because of the additions to his world. Whether or not you've read Noon before this will be a thrilling if rather bumpy ride.

Buy the Book 

Pixel Juice

Pixel Juice

by Jeff Noon

Amazon Price: (as of 10/06/2008)

Buy Pixel Juice through Amazon

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trevorm

The Lensmaster

Hi, I'm Trevor and I live in Edinburgh - the capital of Scotland.

I'm interested in a wide variety of things and love learning. I intend to write a similarly wide var...

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