Little Brother / Cory Doctorow

Little Brother

category: science fiction, subadult, thriller, author:

Cory Doctorow

original copyright 2008

read in September 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

Well worth reading? Really? For its paranoid conspiracy message, perhaps. For the quality of writing, no.

Little Brother is subadult. It aims at the teenage -- boy -- market. At least, I guess it does. The style gives the distinct impression that the book is written by an older adult, pretending to know how a teenage boy would speak and act. The style rings false... Or, perhaps, it's me that has never spoken with a teenager :-)

It is also a thriller, in that there is a major -- adult -- conspiracy that the hero must battle. No matter which way he turns, the villains are there, watching, waiting for him to slip. Standard thriller scenario.

The book is also -- and this is its main thrust -- science fiction. Set just slightly ahead of our time. With Big Brother taking over. (Still, could be worse. The city could have been taken over by Big Brother the tv show.)

The author's message is slathered on like marmalade, thick and heavy. Complete with the Heinlein touch, of classroom discussions, where hero and villain discuss politics and philosophy. The author's view is clearly the winner, though the villain then uses positional power to shout down the author... sorry... hero.

The whole subadult writing style is... laboured, overdone, contradictory. While reading, it did seem obvious, but I did check: the author is well past 25 years old. Yet his good guys are urged to not trust anyone over 25... Urged, in one major scene, by someone aged (if I remember correctly) 32. The hero's final success is driven by a reporter -- who is as old as his parents.

And what about the hero's under-25 supporters? Well... the hero does not trust them. He forms a "ring of trust", to keep out the treacherous under-25s. A teenage personal enemy wants to turn him in to the thought police. Another teenager has been acting as a police informer.

There are two messages about trust: do not trust anyone over 25 (shouted loud and clear) and, do not trust anyone 25 or under (this is shown by act and attitude). Which perhaps adds up to a perfectly valid message: if you are fighting the thought police -- do not trust anyone.

This book is rather poorly written. Easy to read, a touch of suspense, unbelievable action. (But then it is science fiction, so that's okay!) Contradictory, with heavy-handed authorial lecturing.

But perhaps the authorial lecturing is valid. Perhaps the conspiracy theory is correct. Perhaps we do need to protect our privacy, to protect our freedom. Perhaps there are people in power who like to keep us in perpetual fear, in order to control us. Little Brother is extreme -- but the conspiracy theory may have some basis in reality.

At the very least, we need to consider the possibility that the conspiracy theory could grow into absolute truth. That the people who are -- in reality -- prepared to do anything to maintain power, could be trying hard to destroy our freedom to think.

The message is slathered on with no subtlety. Still, a novel is easier to read -- and more likely to be read -- than a political treatise. And the message is worth our consideration.

..o0o..

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