Little Brother（4）

"I lost myself in the library, reading these beautiful old editions of the books. I got lost in Jack Keroac's On the Road a novel I'd been meaning to read for a long time" (Page 233)
"Another thing I loved was how the story is grounded in history: Marcus’ social studies teacher tells the class about the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s and 70’s, especially what took place in the Bay Area. And Marcus makes connections between what was fought for then and what he’s fighting for now. He reads On the Road and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, and the link he feels to his city gives him extra strength to continue to fight for it to become a free place again. How I wish my social studies andhistory teachers in high school had encouraged those kinds of connection. We can't be reminded too often that history is not irrelevant for our lives."
after learning that his best friend, Darryl, is not dead, but still being held in a secret prison on nearby Treasure Island Marcus starts a series of events that culminates in his final confrontation with the DHS. Starting with his confession, to his parents and Darryl's father, of what really happened the three days he was imprisoned, he gives all of his information to an investigative reporter friend. This leads to his being imprisoned and tortured (specifically with waterboarding) by the DHS, personified by the Severe Haircut Lady. He is rescued by the California Highway State Patrol (CHSP) after the governor of California acts on the information provided in the news article. He finds his friend Darryl alive, if severely traumatized by his treatment, as well as his girlfriend Ange in the Treasure Island secret prison.

Little Brother（3）

“I fireballed him as he was seeking out treasure after we wiped out a band of orcs, playing rock-paper-scissors with each orc to determine who would prevail in combat. This is a lot more exciting than it sounds.

It's quite civilized, and a little weird. You go running after someone through the woods, catch up with him, bare your teeth, and sit down to play a little roshambo.” 

Our very first introduction to Marcus tells us in intimate detail about the surveillance he has to deal with, from a bugged and limited SchoolBook computer through to metal detectors and in-class recording. Every key he taps is being analysed by someone, somewhere. Marcus also tells us, in detail, how to evade this surveillance. When his campaign gets going, Marcus leads us through the history of cryptography, of statistical analysis and spam filters (a page on Bayesian analysis), helps us (if we want) to build our own computers and know what to look for if we want to learn basic programming. Just to demonstrate that geekdom does not mean disassociation, we also get several seminars on classroom discussion of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the psychology of paranoia. Further along we learn how social networking can be adapted as a political tool, and how to create revolutionary cells with peer-to-peer security. There are also some fierce warnings about what kind of information not to give on the Internet and why.

Little Brother（2）

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night...


As some people know, as part of an ongoing research project I've spent the past five years reading every science fiction book written for the Young Adult market I can get my hands on. It's not been an entirely happy experience. In most of the books I've read there is an absence of any political complexity, and in particular, an inattention to the way the world works. Perhaps worse, there has been an utter failure to address what I have always thought of as one of the key factors that make an SF book an SF book, that at the end of it, the reader has learned something. This something can be about genetics, strategy in a military mission, the nature of beetle sexuality—I really and truly don't care—but I have always regarded SF as a didactic literature and regarded that didacticism as a good thing, yet most YA SF novels lack it (even when they simultaneously promote a political viewpoint such as science is bad, it will destroy the planet, focus on your mystical abilities). Little Brother, however, is fiercely, unashamedly didactic. Doctorow revels in what he has set out to do, which is simply to place in the hands of every school child a manual which could be subtitled "how to bring down your government and enjoy doing it." The first time I read it I was on a flight to the US, and while I became increasingly concerned that this might have been a Very Bad Idea, I also sort of hoped customs might find the book because it is inflammatory.

Little Brother（1）

"I hate to say it, but you're white. I'm not. White people get caught with cocaine and do a little rehab time. Brown people get caught with crack and go to prison for twenty years. White people see cops on the street and feel safer. Brown people see cops on the street and wonder if they're about to get searched. The way the DHS is treating you? The law in this country has always been like that for us."

I adored Little Brother. It’s such a smart, engrossing and inspiring book. It’s a story about a group of teenagers who think and care and question things, and then go off and do something about it. It’s about not being powerless—not letting others make you feel powerless, because that’s how they win. It’s about social change, but it’s not an idealist’s dream. Change does happen, but Marcus and his friends and allies run a lot of risks, and there are costs. There are also people in positions of power getting away with horrible things, and we’ve all seen that happen often enough.