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| Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books) ISBN: 978-0-7653-1985-2 |
Plot Summary
Little Brother is Orwell’s 1984 set in San Francisco in the near future. The narration is focalized through high school senior Marcus (aka w1n5t0n in a nod to Orwell's protagonist). After terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge, the Department of Homeland Security mobilizes and the Patriot Act II takes effect. Marcus and his friends -- who were playing hookey from school to go ARGing (alternative reality games) -- are swooped up by Homeland Security and whisked off to Alcatraz, which is being used as a holding cell. After Marcus is released, he works tirelessly to expose his captors and find his friend Darryl by setting up a secure online communication network using his Xbox. He also meets, develops a crush on and subsequent relationship with Angie. He and his network of friends pull pranks on DHS to show how fallible they are and to fight for privacy. Eventually, he takes his story to a journalist friend of the family. Ultimately, he's kidnapped by DHS again and, in the climactic scene of the novel, water-boarded.Critical Evaluation
Perhaps the fairest assessment one could give of the book is to say that it is not merely a trojan horse for progressive web savvy ideas. In many ways, the foci of the book are encouragements to program, hack, support the media, and vocally question the government. Between these encouragements, the characterizations are very strong: Doctorow believably captures the voice of a post cyberpunk teen. And the book is a plausible speculative fiction that shows us how easily we can be tracked in the computer age and how an understanding of computers can protect us and mobilize resistance. The book mostly builds upon existing technologies and concepts (for example, while Xbox Universal isn't a real prototype of Microsoft's popular gaming platform its concept isn't totally ridiculous, but Paranoid Linux is real and the book details the actual history of the operating system as used by Chinese dissidents). Doctorow is likely to spark interest in Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Free Speech Movement, and Python (a programming language).Reader’s Annotation
Marcus Yallow is a tech savvy teen who uses his know-how to surreptitiously text in class, confuse gait recognition software, cut class, and play geocache-style ARGs. While out playing his favorite ARG -- Harajuku Fun Madness -- terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge. The book never deals with the terrorists, but instead the aftermath of living as a citizen in a surveillance heavy post-attack San Francisco. Marcus and his friends are detained. After his release he works to expose the problems of giving up all of our privacy. The book is a clear indictment of a post-Homeland Security America, but also exciting and fun.Information about the author
From the author's webpage:One sentence: Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of the bestselling Tor Teen/HarperCollins UK novel LITTLE BROTHER. His latest young adult novel is HOMELAND, his latest novel for adults is RAPTURE OF THE NERDS.
One paragraph: Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of young adult novels like HOMELAND, PIRATE CINEMA and LITTLE BROTHER and novels for adults like RAPTURE OF THE NERDS and MAKERS. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London. (Doctorow, 2013).
Genre
Speculative FictionCurriculum Ties
The book provides a compelling counterpoint to George Orwell's 1984 (a book in the California Department of Education Recommended Literature database).Booktalking Ideas
1) The book is exciting. Reading one of the passages with tense action might be compelling.2) The book is current.
3) Everything feels real and much of the technology exists, so it's easy to put yourself in Marcus's shoes.
Reading Level/Interest Age
The protagonist is 17 years old, suggesting that older teens would find him relatable. The language also suggests that the reading level is likely 9th grade and up.Challenge Issues
Rebellion against Homeland Security is pictured as a noble cause while government agencies are painted as evil empires. The book deals frankly with sex.I would openly greet any patron who presented a challenge to the work, giving them ample time to detail their complaint. I would listen attentively. To respond to these challenges I would have some reviews of the work on hand. I would be prepared to explain that as a public institution libraries "cannot limit access on the basis of age or other characteristics" (ALA, 1999). I would have copies of the library's collection policy on hand. I would be prepared to politely discuss that parents can control what their children are exposed to by coming to the library with them and examining books they check out. If the Teen Advisory Group had written reviews of the book I'd have them handy. While it may be of little comfort to certain parents, I would also be prepared to discuss my staunch support of intellectual freedom and abhorrence of censorship. As a last resort, I would be sure to keep copies or a reconsideration form on hand.
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