banked in memory

Asking me to pick which one of Bill Gibson's books is my favourite is more difficult for me than (I imagine) picking a favourite child. His tend to be the books I reread the most, and the ones I hold closest to my heart. This time I've gone back to Spook Country, the second in the (loosely) Bigend/Blue Ant Trilogy. The character that has always stood out for me has been Tito; a young Cuban male of a certain Soviet flavour living in New York City. He's part of a family; a boutique "firma" concentrated in the direction of interstitial crime. Very niche. Some DGI/CIA ties. The chapters that revolve around Tito are especially captivating. He has a very rigid set of physical protocols that he adheres to but at the same time there is a side of him which is obviously deeply spiritual. The passages evoke a sense of deep peace. There's something about the promise of methodology that will flow out of this person and how it is being kept in check. A subscribing to some sort of higher knowledge, playing a part, then acceptance and obedience. Perhaps it's something that I find fascinating because it feels foreign to me, personally. I like that he is constantly aware of himself and his relation to the space surrounding him. An obscure comfort brews there.

I've always concentrated on the main character through my readings, but this time around I've finally consciously hit on an elegant inverse symmetry between the chapters with Tito and the ones with Milgrim. How to explain Milgrim. He appears out of thin air and is being (sort of) kidnapped by what the reader assumes is a Fed (Brown). What keeps him there is his dependence on anti-anxiety meds. He seems bland but he grows on you (or at least on me) because of his childlike demeanour which belies a serious intelligence in terms of streets and academia. Both Tito and Milgrim are bound in certain physical and mental ways, Tito by protocol/the firma, and Milgrim by meds/Brown. But what's dynamic about it is how they use this to their advantage. Tito works with his protocol, his "systema," and ends up succeeding, as much as his character can. Brown, however, through underestimating Milgrim tends to let his work and whatever protocol he has internalized get shoddy and Milgrim uses this to his advantage. It's just a small complementary aspect in a larger body of work, but it makes everything that much more enjoyable. And there's more to discuss regarding the work as a whole.
Which is why I won't pick favourites.