
Little Brother - jlees
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
======
riffraff
I read the book and while I enjoyed it, I must point out one thing that really
drove me crazy, and that appear common to cory doctorow's YA fiction (e.g.
also in "pirate cinema").

People have zero depth. All the good people are _perfectly good_ and identify
with an absolute shared good idea. E.g. if two people want free wifi for
everyone they'll also share the same ethics, political views, aesthetic sense.

There is never disagreement in the book between two of the good guys that goes
on more than a paragraph.

A YA demographic doesn't justify that and I deeply believe this is the wrong
lesson to teach kids.

But still, they are good stories, and the world would probably be better if
more people read them.

~~~
Jehar
I found this to be an astute observation about Little Brother, but it's not
something I'd apply to the genre as a whole, or even Doctorow. I was highly
impressed by the characterization in Makers, which was only published a year
later. Little Brother was written in haste[1] with an explicit focus on the
ideological, at the expense of more human characters. I would urge anyone who
felt the characterization in LB to be lacking to check out Makers.

[1]:[http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/GunnLecture/Cory_Doctorow-
Little_...](http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/GunnLecture/Cory_Doctorow-
Little_Brother.htm)

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dperny
Oh, man, this book. This book is literally the reason I am studying computers.
I read out for the first time not long after it came out. I was in the eighth
grade at the time, and it rocked my world. I took up programming and began
exploring hacker culture shortly after. I can't even express how important
this book was to me.

Yeah, it's not a mature fiction novel. The characters are a bit hollow and the
story wasn't outstanding; all that criticism is justified. It did what it was
meant to do though. It got me and who knows how many others to explore the
world of technology.

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brudgers
I checked it out of my public library. While I've enjoyed Docktorow's _Makers_
and more recently _Rapture of the Nerds_ , I didn't feel I was quite the
target audience.

However, I passed it to my nearly teenage son, who very much enjoyed it.

After he finished it, I took it back and _Homeland_ \- the sequel to _Little
Brother_ was on the new fiction cart. My son enjoyed that too.

~~~
derleth
It's a juvie, which is what Young Adult (YA) fiction was called back when
Heinlein was writing for that market.

However, I called it a 'juvie' because the book fits the older style better: A
young person Gets Into Trouble and uses Native Wit, Loyal Friends, and a few
Helpful Adults to Solve The Problem. It not incidentally teaches Moral Lessons
by example, like how important it is to stand up for yourself and so on.
Modern YA stuff is more psychologically deep and less focused on Solving The
Problem.

Anyway, the target audience is middle school to high school. The protagonist
is in high school, but it's a rule in kid lit that kids will gladly read
things meant for older kids but never stuff meant for younger kids.

~~~
eru
Didn't we used to call those Bildungsroman?

~~~
koralatov
A _bildungsroman_ deals with the same sort of narrative arc, but doesn't
necessarily have a moral or ethical lesson it's trying to teach.

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smoyer
I've read them both, though I'm not the target audience and believe they're
perfect for the 12-15 year-old crowd. They're dystopias that we can all
identify with - given the surveillance state we seem to be constructing and
current compared to 1984, etc.

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dudurocha
Guys, do you have recommendations on books in the same topic? (surveillance,
hackers, NSA, etc) YA or not?

I've read Little Brother, liked a lot, even thought I'm not in the target
audience. So I would like some 'grown up' recommendations.

~~~
AdrianRossouw
You could read the sequel 'homeland'.

it was actually fairly prescient about the whole current nsa scandal. Well,
more like it stated the obvious before we had conclusive evidence... but still

~~~
lessnonymous
Homeland made me sad.

In the book, the DHS's surveillance is revealed .. and everyone goes apeshit
and protests. In real life it seems 90% of the population just keep drinking
the Cool Aid

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avivo
There is a series of events this fall in SF based on this book. Details at
[http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000615601](http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000615601)
(organized by the San Francisco Public Library, but involving many other orgs)

Everything from book discussions coupled with LED plushie making, to talks by
security and policy people from Twitter and the EFF.

It's for the "One City One Book" program: "an annual citywide literary event
that encourages members of the San Francisco community to read the same book
at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout
the City."

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jlees
I read this yesterday / today after doing a Little Brother-themed mastermind
treasure hunt in SF. The themes really hit home after some of our recent
surveillance related events. Thought it worth sharing with the HN crowd -- I
personally find YA books enjoyable and wish books this technical and readable
were available when I was that age!

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runejuhl
Read this recently, followed by Homeland. While I'm a bit older than the
target audience, I enjoyed the book and chewed through it in a day.

Homeland was good, but not great. I felt a bit let down. Both books made me
think of Neal Stephenson, especially his Reamde book -- but that might just be
because of the theme.

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xmpir
A professor of the Vienna University of Technology lets his students read this
book as homework - mandatory. I hope more students in the world will read the
book.

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lbcadden3
Good book. Aimed at the young adult audience, I only knew this because when I
went to the store to buy a copy it was in the teen section.

I have enjoyed everything by Cory though.

