Type: Fiction/Young Adult
Title: Little Brother
Writer: Cory Doctorow
Copyright Date: 2008
Publisher: TOR Books
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1985-2
Genre/Subgenre: YA Fiction/Cyberpunk
Interest Age: 12 to 21
AR Reading Level: Upper Grades (UG 9-12)
Wordcount: 106188
Awards: SLJ Best Book; Booklist Editors' Choice; Publishers Weekly Best Book; Kirkus Editors Choice/Best Book; White Pine Award/Nominee; Award Winners-Golden Duck Award/Nominee.
Favorite excerpt: “The law didn’t care if you were actually doing anything bad; they were willing to put your under the microscope just for being statistically abnormal.”
Part I: Reader’s Annotation, Plot Summary, Critical Evaluation, Reader’s Annotation
Reader’s Annotation -- Set in the near future, this story involves a dramatic increase in authority and activity at the Department of Homeland Security immediately following a terrorist attack on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Teenage Marcus Yallow finds himself caught up in the middle as he is suspected of anti-government activities and subjected to illegal surveillance that he fights to overcome and ultimately expose.
Plot Summary -- Marcus is a fairly normal teen with an extraordinary ability with computers. He attends a public high school in San Francisco where he’s under the microscope of a caustic administrator who suspects that Marcus is “w1n5ton,” a hacker. In fact, Marcs is w1n5ton (pronounced Winston) but he is not responsible for stealing a standardized testing as suspected. He does occasionally use his hacking skills to get around the high schools heavy handed surveillance to cut class, however.
In fact, the plot’s first major development involve his lining up gamers to meet up for challenge within their favorite online game. The four teens from various local high schools -- Marcus, Van, Jole and Darryl -- meet up at Marcus urging to solve a puzzle for an online game they all play. They are together when a terrorist attack on the Bay Bridge triggers a state of emergency prompting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain hundreds of civilians. Marcus and two of his friends are detained and interrogated for days -- and then suddenly released but warned not to tell anyone what has happened. The fourth teen, Darryl, got separated in the mayhem after being stabbed and remains missing and presumed dead by his parents.
After Marcus returns home, his parents do not find out about the detainment since he’s afraid to tell anyone. They think he was separated due to the catastrophe, and his father remains sympathetic if not supportive of the government’s anti-terror efforts. Marcus attempts to go about his life but has to be very careful since he’s being watched by the authorities. He figures out a way to use his gaming console to access the Internet without detection of the roving DHS vans.
This so-called Xnet, which allows others to use their consoles to form a surveillance free internet, spreads as underground users from all over the region start to communicate freely. The DHS tries to infiltrate the network but a scheme Marcus devices undermines their efforts. His friends and friends of friends are involved as they plan a ways to protect their own privacy and circumvent the government’s secret agenda, which involves surveilling ordinary citizens without warrants and illegally detaining them in secret facilities in the name of anti-terrorism. Marcus starts dating a girl named Ange who helps with his efforts.
The Xnet spreads and DHS steps up its efforts to find the culprits. Marcus and Jolu, his technical buddy, figure out a way to create a more sophisticated encryption. They have to meet up one time with other Xnet users and spread the codes. This happens at Sutro Baths (this novel is full of interesting San Francisco locations) and uses the cover of a beer party. Marcus is forced to tell his parents the truth when rumor of Darryl’s imprisonment reach him -- and they help him contact a family friend who is an investigative reporter. She meets with Marcus and gathers the facts about his detainment and Darryl’s disappearance. The reporter vows to investigate his accusation, and her efforts help Marcus and Ange reveal the dark truth behind the DHS efforts to the public at large are key to the story’s resolution.
Critical Evaluation -- The character of Marcus is one of the classics in modern young adult fiction. A regular teen in many ways, Marcus aka “w1n5ton,” is an anti-hero of sorts -- one that ordinary teens can identify with. He’s a smart kid who strives to do the right thing but is in trouble at school with heavy handed-security administrators who virtually police his high school and its students. His bright ideas make him the unofficial leader of a group of ‘geeky’ teens who are also interested in gaming and technology. When they are detained by the Homeland Security, it becomes apparent that Marcus is the real target of the organization’s agents -- and one in particular is a woman who uses coercion to scare people into compliance. She becomes Marcus arch enemy. He keeps his cool even after being humiliated while imprisoned and eventually rises to the occasion by remaining vigilant in his efforts to protect his privacy and rights as an ordinary citizen.
Doctorow uses his extensive knowledge gained as an activist in the freedom of expression movement to blend the growing concerns about government’s role in our private communications into this fascinating story. Set in the not-too-distant future, the story details a not-too-improbable scenario in which terror is used to justify violation of fundamental rights of citizens who are not suspects. While he stops short of advocating anti-government activities, Doctorow’s introduction and conclusion point to the importance of individuals in maintaining our basic freedoms through awareness and activism. He details the history of hackers and discusses their role in maintaining a balance to the government’s increasing role in our lives, including intrusion into our private communications via the use of advanced technologies. This larger context is part of what makes this novel so fascinating and engaging for the ‘geek’ in all of us.
Part III: Author Info
Canadian-born author Cory Doctorow is the author of numerous award-winning science fiction works. He has over time been involved in activism promoting open rights and away from controlled access to copyrighted materials. His books are typically published using the Creative Commons model that allows for free non-commercial dissemination of his works. Doctorow is also a blogger and journalist with extensive involvement in Boing Boing, a blog that follows issues and interest involving copyright and science fiction. On his blog, his self-authored bio describes himself as follows: “I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland(it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet, too” (Doctorow, n.d.).
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- Little Brother has the potential to work into courses as divergent as Computer Science to U.S. Government. The issues of technology, free speech and privacy are important issues that are increasingly important for current generations to understand.
Diversity of Cultures -- Set in San Francisco’s Mission district, this novel involves a group of young people inclusive of Asian, Hispanic and Anglo backgrounds. The main character, Marcus, is an activist for civil liberties. In this way, Doctorow creates a very inclusive and egalitarian ethos that normalizes the idea of diversity and unravels some stereotyping that might imply that an inner-city urban youth would not in fact be computer genius with an inclination to stand up for very fundamental American rights.
Booktalking Ideas -- A conversation surrounding the role of security forces and agencies in protecting civilians would be an appropriate discussion. It might be effective to keep the discussion specific to a topic such as, “Should the government be allowed to wiretap our phones and internet without a search warrant?” Issues such as privacy and due process could be defined and discussed in this context.
Challenge Issues -- Some of the hacking activities that the main character Marcus is involved in are perhaps illegal. He continues these attempts to protect his privacy even when faced with criminal investigation. This novel, however, has earned numerous awards for the very reasons of it addressing the issues of government surveillance and its potential downside head on. A parent would potentially understand that this novel raises important issues of the day regarding our rights to privacy and the dangers of unencumbered government surveillance.
Part V: Reasons chosen
This book was assigned for our class. However, it warrants inclusion on the grounds that or originality as well as timeliness of the issues raised. The context of a teen computer geek taking on the entire government toward the end of promoting and protecting civil rights is not that improbable. Doctorow captures the spirit of a young yet idealistic rebel we come to know as Marcus with uncanny realism. He uses a vernacular that’s both teen identifiable and realistic and accurate to the hacker context.
I also appreciated the descriptions of the locations around San Francisco, which gave the novel a very realistic and plausible feeling. The real importance of this work, however, relates to the theme of the individual versus the collective -- wherein we are seeing our rights as individuals diluted obsentibley for the protection of society at large. Where we draw that line is an important issue of the day, and Doctorow’s “Little Brother” tackles these issues in the context of an engaging and carefully crafted tale of intrigue that is fueled by the likable coming-of-age rebellion of the young hero, Marcus.
Part VI: Citations
Doctorow, C. (n.d.) Author bio. Retrieved from http://boingboing.net/
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