Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 21, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 21, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The new William Gibson novel, Pattern Recognition, is incredibly appealing for many reasons (elegant writing, oddly beautiful detached sense of time) but one is the way it taps into using an overmarketed time, like Jennifer Government, as the setting, giving this odd sense of paranoia and discomfort. It's certainly nothing new, but what's fascinating that all of the material objects around us, all the brands attached to us like it or not, become part of the fabric of what distinguishes today from yesteryear. This is a good candidate for the first Gothamist Book Club selection. Thoughts?
According to his blog, William Gibson was stuck in NY during the blizzard.
Tagged
Book Club
books
club
gothamist
government
Jennifer Government
reading
What I
William Gibson
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Why LCD Soundsystem's 'New York, I Love You' is still the city's most honest anthem
The song continues to resonate 20 years after its release, even showing up in movies and TV to convey people’s mixed feelings toward the city.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 30, 2026
Would you live on a Halloween block? These Hackensackers live for it.
A guillotine, killer clowns, clownfish: They've got it all on Clinton Place.
By
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Would you live on a Halloween block? These Hackensackers live for it.
A guillotine, killer clowns, clownfish: They've got it all on Clinton Place.
By
James Ramsay
Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November
By
Alec Hamilton
How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul
By
Hannah Frishberg
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .