Friday, September 26, 2008

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow



A co-worked at mine showed me this book when he complained about having too much to read on his reading list (to his credit, he was expecting a baby at the time). I didn't think much of it at the time, but I was getting more into teen/young adult books more so than the adult variety (I think reading the Bourne trilogy wore me out for a bit).

Now, granted, I'm geek at heart, and this book walks you through the lives of teens as they battle with "the man" when it comes to a terrorism threat in Frisco. It goes through the reactions of Homeland Security, discusses the cultural ideals between generations, and the bonds between friends and people who are just usernames on the screen.

The book is a good romp into the not to near future, and I found the adventure enjoyable. The only downside was it occasionally goes into the "how-to" portions of how technology is manipulated and drags that portion of the story down. Anyone who's seen the Mission Impossible movies know that everything discussed in the book is very, very, very plausible, which made it intriguing and scary all at the same time.

If you've got a teen, or want to know what it can be like to be a teen in the near future (my son is 4, so some of this may not be far off), it's a good read. It does have a love interest, and does go through some heated father/son discussions (giving up personal freedoms to feel safe, etc.).

I'd reccomend it. I myself wouldn't reread it, but it's a good book to devote some time to.

Even if most of the time was read while comforting Teal and Purple through some teething at 3am.

1 highly regarded thoughts:

My 14 year old son read this book. When I bought it for him he wasn't too enthused. But he said it was "OK" when he was done. And from a 14 year old that is a passing grade.

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