Dystopian Fiction: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Doctorow, Corey. Little brother. Tom Doherty Associates, 2010. 432 pages. Tr $12.99, ISBN 978-0765323118

VOYA Evaluation

1. Grade Level Interest: S; A/YA
2. Quality: 3Q
3. Popularity: 2P

When I picked up Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2010) from our stacks at the Central Library, I read the back of the book and was immediately intrigued by this idea of a larger entity surveilling our every move. While I have seen this idea play out in movies like The Net with Sandra Bullock and V for Vendetta, this would actually be my first time reading a dystopian novel that shared such theme. With such prestigious honors and awards given to this title like the Prometheus Award for best novel, I decided to give it a shot.

After I completed the reading, I had serious thoughts of moving this text from the teen collection into the adult fiction section. The story felt like a Call of Duty mission where you’re constantly on the lookout for enemies who will shot at you. It felt like Marcus aka W1nst0n was on the same mission but instead of using a gun, used technology like the X-box to camouflage himself from his enemies (U.S. Dept of Homeland Security). Although Marcus is depicted as a teen, his complex ideas, hacking experience, and instincts to save his friend Darryl from a major government entity, made it feel like he was way older than 17 years old; traits that not every teen can relate to.

 

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon Pulse, 2011. 432 pages. TR $12.99, ISBN 978-1442419810

If you liked this book, you would probably like Uglies by Scott Westerfield (2005). While Little Brother takes place in current day San Francisco, CA and Uglies takes place in a future world, both texts share themes of combating their government to make a difference for humanity and their future. According to Novelist, both share the same appeal terms:

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Pace: Fast-paced

Tone: Thought Provoking

Subject: Dystopias; Teenagers