Opening
Bibliographic Information:
Little
Brother / by Cory Doctorow
ISBN-13: 978-0765319852 / Tor Teen
p. 384 / $12.21 (Amazon) – Free (Various Creative Commons Sites)
Body of Content
Summary: Marcus
is a street-smart kid – with a knack for technology. He lives in San Francisco with his parents. Marcus loves to skirt the system – routinely
skipping school and damaging school surveillance equipment in the process. When Marcus skips school one day – to join
with friends in playing a scavenger hunt type role-playing game – he finds
himself in the center of a different story.
Terrorist have attacked San Francisco – and Marcus' world of adolescent innocence
shatters – as the destruction of the Bay Bridge and death of thousands of
American citizens creates a brave, new world of unprecedented governmental surveillance. Having been placed into custody for questioning
in a secret prison, Marcus and his friends are released back into a city that
they no longer recognize. Marcus decides
to fight and subvert the system – a system that may have killed his best friend
– as system that tries to keep San Francisco protected from future attacks – and
a system that might spell the end of Marcus’ freedom on a more permanent basis.
Critique: Admittedly,
I had difficultly relating to the characters in the novel. But I found Doctorow’s take on technology
both entertaining and realistic. The
book never specifies the year of the events, but the reader is left to the
observation that it occurs post 9/11 and very near in the future.
Rightly, numerous mentions of technology contain the very
functionality or potential to do what Doctorow suggests in his novel. Although I do not own an Xbox, the basic
premise of the computer and Internet potential is well-known. I had a good friend in graduate school who
read online how to hack the software, and subsequently, made the game console
into a personal computer. What Doctorow
suggests – for a next-generation incarnation of Xbox – is creative but also
realistic. Other items such as FastPass,
RFID tags, and unprotected wireless signals are part of culture in the
here-and-now.
Doctorow does a masterful
job creating a believable futurist version of San Francisco that is not too
different from the metro status quo.
Personally, I did not enjoy the novel as much as expected – partially
due to his writing style – but his attention to detail is a creative strength when
creating a literary universe.
Teaser: Marcus finds himself in trouble with school administrators
almost on a routine basis. But after an
act of terrorism in San Francisco, Marcus may have encountered a completely new
kind of enemy.
Information about the Author: Cory Doctorow holds a
different pedigree than many other YA writers.
He has extensive background experience in technology and business fields
– including a few startup companies that he later sold for profit. Originally from Canada, he also lives outside
the U.S. – now
in Britain (Wikipedia, 2011) – perhaps giving him a different
vantage point than many American authors.
His novel Little
Brother received a fair amount of accolades, including the 2009 Prometheus
(Libertarian Futurist Society, 2011).
His overall work have received attention, as Doctorow received the 2007
EFF Pioner Award – choosing to dress rather ceremoniously with a red cape and
eyes goggles – an fashion and humorous allusion to a xkcd comic strip depiction of himself
(Wikipedia, 2011). Doctorow is cut from
a different literary cloth – as he champions the rights of authors over
publishers – particularly vocal for his belief in the legitimacy of file-sharing
and licenses related to Creative Commons (Doctorow, 2011).
Supplemental
Material
Genre: Thriller / Science
Fiction / Dystopian
Curriculum Ties: History – totalitarianism,
Patriot Act, Constitution, personal privacy, technology
Booktalking Ideas: 1) In
an age of technology and surveillance, how much of Marcus’ life is truly
private? 2) Marcus is playing a game of chess against a controlling government –
but can he keep one move ahead of Homeland Security – or forfeit more than a
game in the process?
Reading Level: While the violence mentioned
in the book is not extended, the subject matter – of impeding harm,
governmental forces, personal paranoia – are more adult themes than YA. The age preferences vary – with School Library Journal suggesting grade
10 and up– while Booklist suggests a lower entry level at grade 8 and up
(Amazon, 2011). Boys (more than girls) and
persons interested in technology may show more interest than their peers in
this book.
Challenge Issues and Defense: The
subject matter does contain some adult themes – with some adult language. Some parents may find challengeable issues
related to sexual mores – with the premarital sex between the main character
and his girlfriend. The best defense for
this book stems from its critical success – as it received numerous awards in
YA circles. (The book is far from trashy literature).
Personal Reasons for Inclusion: Though
I did not enjoy the book to the same extent as other titles in this genre,
Doctorow does a thoughtful job on the topic – succeeding on the time front – on
presenting a very near-future version of a dystopian, cautionary tale.
Last Thoughts
References:
Amazon.
(2011). Little Brother [Webpage].
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-
Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765319853
Doctorow,
C. (2011). Little Brother [Webpage].
Retrieved from http://craphound.com/littlebrother/
download/
Libertarian
Futurist Society. (2011). Press releases [Webpage]. Retrieved from
http://lfs.org/
releases.htm
Wikipedia.
(2011). Cory Doctorow [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Cory_Doctorow
Listening to (Music):
Artist – Brooke Waggoner / Album – “Fresh Pair of Eyes”
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