Book Review: Little Brother

Little Brother
By Cory Doctorow
Tor Teens
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
ISBN: 9780765319852

I'm not tech savvy. I don't know how to hack into a computer and my favorite video game system is still Sega Genesis. Regardless, I loved Little Brother, not just because of Doctorow's conversational storytelling, or because of its inspirational message, but because it made me want to try to be more observant. To be something more. Go figure a YA tech/sci-fi book would do that for me.

In Little Brother, Cory Doctorow introduces the reader to a very secure, very monitored San Francisco. Marcus, or w1n5t0n, is a 17 year old who knows how the system works. He’s smart, fast and can hack into, or override, almost any security system, including the ones at school. When skipping class, he and his friends find themselves in the middle of a terrorist attack. After being taken in for brutal questionings for five days, the group discovers that the city wasn’t how they left it. The Department of Homeland Security took over and now monitors everything. The kids can’t walk anywhere without being watched, can’t talk without being tracked. Instead of letting DHS get away with it, Marcus decides to fight. Using his advanced intellect and army of like-minded youths, he figures out ways to take down the DHS, to make them realize that it’s not smart to mess with freedom.

I like how Doctorow made this average hacker (and ex-LARPer) into someone people look up to, not a geek high schoolers pick on. In other words, Doctorow made computer dorks look cool. Not just that, he made education look cool. Marcus quotes the Declaration of Independence and continuously searches the Internet for more information. It's Marcus's intellect that plays a major role in the story.

That said, I really liked Marcus. He's a good guy, one I probably would have wanted to be friends with in high school. I really liked his group of friends and their relationships with one another. I was slightly disappointed with how some aren't mentioned as much after the middle of the book, but at least the lack of contact is mentioned.

The book has a compelling story that may be too much for some. This pre-attack California is scary and a little too telling. It shows how anyone can and should stand up for their rights and although it isn't easy, it's worth it. Doctorow's story flows nicely, occasionally interrupted only to define the technological terms Marcus is mentioning. In that sense, the book is extremely educational.

What I liked most was, incidentally, the bibliography in the back of the book. Doctorow, someone who constantly speaks out against Internet censoring, includes a list of resources for those interested in continuing their education in either freedom of speech or, well, hacking. The afterword even contains stories from well known hackers - those who do it for a living for corporations. Basically, Doctorow is saying "yes, you do it now, some may say it's bad, but it's actually awesome. Want to get paid for it?"

All in all, Little Brother is an excellent book for those interested in technology or, even simply, freedom. It's an excellent book for teenagers and I can definitely see them being very addicted to it. And it shows - the book was translated over and over again by, that's right, fans from around the world. There's even a Brail version.

So check out the securities around you. Stand up for what you believe in. And always use your voice.

Little Brother official site

Boing Boing

Download the book for free from Doctorow's site

Read the first chapter and see some related links at Macmillan

Reader generated annotated version of the book

Q&A with the author on Publishers Weekly

Doctorow's new project on Publishers Weekly