Little Brother

Doctorow, C. (2008). Little brother. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 0765323117

Plot Summary

                     The wrong place at the wrong time: this is where Marcus finds himself on the day his hometown of San Francisco is bombed by terrorists.  He and his friends appear suspicious, according to the Homeland Security Officers who snatch them from the streets like kidnappers and detain them in a secret location for interrogation.  Marcus and his friends endure the most difficult days of their lives struggling to provide answers to questions that have no answers, and defending the technology that is intrinsic to their everyday lives.  Upon being released, Marcus finds himself in a different world, one in which citizens are monitored, questioned, and detained for any reason at all, and technological freedom is a seeming impossibility.  With the help of other like-minded teens, Marcus initiates a nonviolent technology war against the oppressive government.  Almost immediately, this movement catches the consciousness of his entire generation like fire and grows enormous and unwieldy, alienating Marcus in some ways, and creating in him an unwitting celebrity who is simply struggling to regain the country he once knew.

Critical Analysis

                          Doctorow’s Little Brother is compulsively readable in its pace, its sense of fun, and its examination of a subject matter that is almost too close for comfort to some of our current political realities.  Marcus’s voice is vibrant and real and the reader identifies with both his outrage and his trepidation as the war he accidentally started rages out of control.  His massive knowledge of technology and how to manipulate the Internet is very believable, although sometimes a bit long-winded and inaccessible for a technology novice.  Just as believable is Marcus’s voice as a teenage boy.  He is every bit as naive, doubt-filled, impulsive, and distracted by girls as he is intelligent and focused.  His character is very complex and drives this story forward just as effectively as the plot and conflicts.  The majority of Doctorow’s characters show this same complexity, which is refreshing and necessary in a novel that wrestles with such intricate ethical issues as government surveillance, terrorism, and human rights.  The reader sees Marcus evolve as the story unfolds, and his relationships with those around him evolve as they respond to the tragedy in different ways.  He loses some friends who cannot condone his actions against the government, and he gains some who support him.  The reader also experiences him falling in love with the girl who becomes his partner in crime; it is this kind of plot line that fleshes out the story beyond a simple technological cautionary tale.   Place in this novel is also key.  One of Marcus’s main motivators is love of his country and his city.  San Francisco after the attack and Marcus’ memory of it before play major roles in this novel.  Through Marcus’s eyes we see the streets and neighborhoods he loves, the places that were once safe and familiar, destroyed and violated not only by the attack, but by the government’s response to the attack.  In a way Marcus is mourning his city throughout this novel and we see and feel that clearly through his inner monologue and his actions.  Overall, this book is extremely satisfying to read and leaves the reader fulfilled and seeking more books by Doctorow.

Reader’s Annotation

                                 Following a devastating terrorist attack, Marcus finds himself a victim of his own government, in his country which he loves.  He delves into the world of technology and social networking to fight back against this oppression and ignites a movement that takes on a life of its own.

About the Author

                          Cory Doctorow is a technological activist and expert, blogger, teacher and lecturer, journalist, and writer of young adult science fiction.  His nonfiction work appears in publications such as The Guardian, Wired, and The New York Times.  He is former director of the European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, co-editor of boing-boing.net, and co-founded a peer to peer software company OpenCola, among many other accomplishments in the field of technological freedom and civil liberties.

                           Doctorow’s novels have won awards such as the Locus and the Sunburst and have been nominated for such honors as the Nebula and Hugo awards.  All of his novels, in addition to being published in print, are available online under Creative Commons licenses, which promote free sharing and re-use.  His work has been translated into dozens of languages.

Genre

        Adventure/Thrillers - espionage/terrorism

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include truancy, social disobedience, sex, underage drinking, and profanity.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing or History: for English, voice, dialog, and story arc; for History, social unrest, political change, and civil disobedience (perhaps during a unit on the Sixties).

Booktalk

              How would you feel if suddenly the government was against you, tracking your every move, treating you like a suspect in your own home?  What would you do?  Would you act out against the oppression, or would you try to adapt?  The characters in Little Brother find themselves in this very situation after a terrorist attack on San Francisco.  Some of them choose to trust the government that claims it is trying to take care of them, while others fight against it in an effort to regain their freedom.  As you read it, ask yourself, what would I do?

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                   Grades 9-12, although it might have more impact on older teens who are more politically aware.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          Teens growing up in this day and age are bombarded with information from all sides, including information about war, terrorist threats, and our often uncertain and changing political climate.  They are far more aware of the world they live in than the generations preceding them.  This book will give them an outlet to think about what they would do if the worst happened.  For that reason, I felt it was important to include in the collection.

References

Doctorow, C. (2011). About Cory Doctorow.  Retrieved  from http://craphound.com/bio.php