Little Brother

As Marcus would say, "B3s7 b00k EVAR!"

Great book. I got this as a gift for Christmas. It was 1337. I liked how Doctorow actually went into detail about all the technical things. Most books don't say about that. Cory Doctorow is amazing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Grabs you and goes!

This was picked up on a whim. I found it hard to put down. The action had me caught up and involved immediately. I've now shared with some of my high school students and they seem to be enjoying the book as well. This is great for me to see, since my students do not typically read anything.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Bound to become an instant classic.

To be honest, I picked this book up because it had a giant red X on the front. It reminded me of those signs that tell you not to do something, but you do it anyways. To be completely, bluntly, and brutally honest and simple, this was a damn good book. It's the kind of book that I could really see on a required reading list in a high school English class. It's a truly important book that deserves to be on shelves among To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, and The Catcher in the Rye...okay, maybe not right now, but in maybe ten years. It's an important book that any teenager can learn something from, whether it's how to hack a free Xbox or score a new girlfriend/boyfriend by smashing your homemade computer. Little Brother is a book about freedom--freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Read it. Buy it. Love it.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Stupid!!!!!!!¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@#/

Tt

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

IN-A-PROPRO read this one. It has good information

There were a couple of sex scenes. You should not read this
unless you have parents permission. An what kind of parent would want you reading something like this! Other than that it is an interesting book. I have nothing else to say except that your parents will find out if you are reading it and i can only assume they will not be happy.
JCO

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

One my favorites

This is one of my favorite books. Great emotion and story. Solid characters. Technically YA but i would recommend this to anyone.

Interesting but. . .

Technical info was too much to convey point. Book was an ode to less government, but there are things that were missed. Ending was too neat and anti-climatic, but then again Marcus did not have brown skin. . .

from missprint.wordpress.com

I don't know what I was expecting when I opened Little Brother (2008) by Cory Doctorow. What I do know is that those expectations were largely colored by Doctorow's appearances in various web-comic-strips on XKCD as a red cape wearing blogger who flies around in a hot air balloon.

Anyway, Marcus Yallow is a senior in San Francisco in the near future. He goes to Cesar Chavez High School which makes him one of the most surveilled people in the world. There's a terrorist attack, he's held captive in a Guantanamo Bay-esque prison, he's released and then he decides to use his hacker skillz to get even and reclaim his city from the sinister clutches of Homeland Security.

And as action-packed as that sounds, the book never became more than a mildly interesting bit of tedious reading for me.

I'm fairly tech savvy, and I do worry about privacy and the like, but after finishing Little Brother the only piece of tech-related advice I retained from the story was that crypto is really awesome. Doctorow tries to embed useful information into the story, but it is either too basic to be interesting or too specialized and esoteric to make sense.

I'm not a teenager and I come from a liberal household and I was living in Greenwich Village during 9/11. I found it irritating that Doctorow's character's seemed to operate in a very binary way. Young people (for the most part) opposed the Department of Homeland Security while older people (for the most part) blithely accepted martial law. Really?

Finally, the real reason I disliked this book is that it just was not well put together. With all due respect to the importance of this novel's subject matter, the writing was far from impressing. The descriptions of technology were almost always too long (and often too technical) to be seamlessly integrated into a novel.

The novel's continuity verged on non-existent. For instance, Marcus makes a point of mentioning in the early pages that he is wearing boots for easy removal at metal detectors. Yet when he is released he receives his sneakers back with clean clothes. The core of the story--about Marcus' missing friend--is left hanging for vast spans of the plot. Doctorow is at pains to create a core group for Marcus only to have them all removed from the story by the halfway point and then haphazardly mentioned in a rushed ending.

Marcus was also a bit annoying as a narrator--particularly when in the company of his girlfriend. Realistic depictions of teens aside, I was hoping for a bit more from characters (teen or otherwise) in a novel which is grounded in such extraordinary circumstances.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anonymos

Way too much technology that i dont undersand at all.

Great read.

Looking forward to the sequel.

Very good

Intriguing

too much tech

The basic story is okay and the main kid is cute and all but it's too much tech-talk for me. Kind of predictable too but I like SF and having martial law there was kind of funny to read about.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Read+it%21

If+you+haven%27t+read+this%2C+you+know+nothing.++An+epic+story+that+makes+you+keep+reading+all+day+and+night%21+For+only+%2410+it+is+a+must+have+for++computer+nerds%2C+geeks%2C+or+anyone+wanting+to+find+an+epic+book%21

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for Teens Read Too

LITTLE BROTHER presents a pretty scary picture of the way things could be if terrorist threats continue, and politicians keep funding the Department of Homeland Security with no thought as to how this might victimize the average innocent American. There is already an incredible amount of technology devoted to "spying" on the citizens of our country, and we normally don't give it a second thought. This book will make you think - and not just a little bit. Marcus is a seventeen-year-old tech wizard. Granted, he often uses his skills for less than ethical reasons, but he doesn't hurt anyone. When a terrorist attack destroys the Bay Bridge near his home in San Francisco, he and several friends are captured by police (DHS) as they are attempting to help a fallen companion. They become the victims of frightening interrogation and torture. When Marcus finally gains his freedom, he vows to take back America from the out-of-control Department of Homeland Security. Using his vast techie skills, he creates an alternate Internet called Xnet, which utilizes the old XBox game system. Marcus becomes known as M1k3y and develops a huge group of supporters. Together, they attempt to undermine the government agencies determined to destroy the true meaning and protection of the United States Constitution. Cory Doctorow has created a modern-day 1984. Set in the not-too-distant future, this book attempts to show what could happen if we sit back and allow the government to whittle away at our rights to "protect" us from terrorism. It gives a whole new meaning to the idea of terrorism and fear within our own government. LITTLE BROTHER is full of adventure and intrigue. A lot of the suspense comes from all the technical tricks Marcus brings to the story. Some of the details might prove too much for a struggling reader, but any tech/geek teens will not be able to read it fast enough.

Not high on it- IMO.

I was looking forward to reading this book based on the reviews it got. I was extremly disappointed. I get the point of it and it tells a great message. From a story stand point and character development it disappoints. It got off to a great start and just got bogged down in so much techno babble. Doctorow really gets into the defintion of each technical term and it takes up a major portion of the book and stroy suffers, which is too bad because the characters are great but under developed.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

My Fav b00k

Th1s 1s my fav0rit3 b00k 3v3r b3cau5e 1t has 3v3ryth1ng p3opl3 l1k3 m3 l0v3

Little Brother review

How safe do you feel from terrorists? Now let me ask you this question. Would you be willing to sacrifice your privacy and have your every move watched so you could feel protected from terrorists? The idea of trading privacy for security is the main theme presented in the book that I read in my media literacy class,  Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Doctorow utilizes the main character Marcus to portray his belief that the government should not be able to constantly watch what people are doing. 
Throughout the novel, I truly felt like I was with Marcus dodging the government. However it was the detail in which Doctorow went into explaining the complex hacking procedures that was the downfall of this book. I often became bored while reading these tedious procedures that although informative, were just too long (often multiple pages), and unless you are interested in computer engineering, were just plain boring. Marcus is not alone in his adventures and him and his friend Daryl, are an inseparable duo, and are masterminds when it comes to dodging surveillance.  I could really relate to paling around with my friends while reading all of the exciting situations that those two get into. As expected when dodging the government, things don't always go well for Marcus and his friends.  This is apparent when Marcus and his friends get captured by the Department of Homeland Security.  This is one of the most exciting parts of the book, and you will find yourself on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happens to them. This book turns a complete 180 and almost turns into a love story when Marcus meets Ange.  Ange is a girl who Marcus meets at a "jamming" meeting.  They hit it off right away and Marcus starts to turn all of his attention to Ange. This is when the book begins to turn into a love story as Marcus and Ange begin the typical teenage relationship.  I could put myself in Marcus' position as a teenager in a committed relationship. The main theme is again seen when Marcus and Ange go to an illegal concert.  This reminded me of Vietnam war protests as even though the people at the concert were doing nothing wrong, the government gassed and arrested innocent teenagers. This was another example of the main theme as the government interrupted this peaceful protest, so that the rest of the world could feel safe from these "terrorists". As you can see, this idea of trading privacy for security is shown throughout the book. Doctorow's view on this issue, that government should not be able to intrude on people's privacy, is shown through the main character Marcus and the rest of the "jammers". Although I don't know if I agree with Doctorow, I do think that this is a great read, that's only flaw is the boring rants on hacking.

Little Brother Review

For my Media Literacy class I had a chance to read the book Little Brother by: Cory Doctorow. Marcus, the main character in this book; is a computer whiz and loves playing video games with his friends Van, Darryl, and Julo. One day while they were searching San Francisco for a clue to there video game there is a terrorist attack on the Bay Bridge. Marcus and friends are at the wrong place at the wrong time and are picked up by the DHS and accused to be terrorists. They are taken to prison holding cells and beaten if they don't cooperate. Eventually he is released but can't tell his story or they will put him back in jail. He uses his computer skills to start a secret group to spread his story and tell people about how the government is controlling our lives. I can kind of relate to that because of how our school limits what websites we can visit, and doesn't allow us to text in school. In the end of the story Marcus is interviewed and tells his story which causes him to be put back in jail. After the second time he gets out he and his Friends decided they had enough and get lawyers and plan on getting revenge for what they went through. Overall I thought this was a pretty good book. Sometimes the author would get on rants about computer hacking or technology for a couple pages and then gets back to the story, but otherwise it was a good book.

Little Brother

As Americans, we'll never forget September 11th. As a result, things have never been the same when it comes to terrorism. In the novel, Little Brother by Cory Doctrow, the main character Marcus witnesses a second attack against America just as devastating as September 11th. Not only that, he has also hacked into any program that he could. So it's not surprising when he is picked up and questioned by Homeland Security.

Marcus is also known as w1n5t0n to his friends and anyone else on the web. Marcus is smart and feels he can hack into any computer security system's mainframe that the wants. Because all of his hacking and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he and his friends are brought in for questioning even though they are only 17 years old. They have no rights and are treated as terrorists. Even though Marcus is innocent, he still does not help the government by giving up some of his programs. After he is released, his world is been taken over by the military and everyone is suspected of terrorism. Marcus feels this isn't the way you are supposed to live so he tries to get rid of Homeland Security using his knowledge of computers. What follows is his passion and determination to make his way of life the way it was before.

I thought this book would be more on terrorism, but it was more about hacking into computers. If you are a techno-geek, you will like this book and the way it is written. It is an easy read for young adults. Marcus could be any student out there.

Little Brother Review

I had recently made the choice read the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow for a class assignment. It's a story involving a 17 year old tech-wiz named Marcus and three of his friends Darryl, Vanessa, and Jolu. The four of them go through many situations with one another when all they are trying to do is make it through their senior year. They go to a high school in San Francisco and end up going through several tragic events they won't forget.
We learn in the beginning of the book that Marcuse and his friends are in high school and in their school they are watched very carefully with the new levels of technology that the school has. With the ability to track kids using books it causes frustration among the students. Marcuse and his friend enjoy playing a game known as Harajuku fun madness in order to win a trip. It's during their adventure that they run in to some serious problems. One day while they are out there was an unexpected explosion that ends up being a terrorist attack. As you might guess Marcus and his friends are in the wrong place at the wrong time and one of them gets hurt. When looking for help they flag down what seems to be the police, but ends up the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS takes them to their main headquarters to question them asking all about Marcuse and his high intelligence level thinking that they are involved in the attack. After several days they are released but once released Marcuse makes a vow to himself on how to deal with everything he went through. After this event Marcuse goes through many events dealing with his family, the DHS, and his love life as this high school students main focus is not get expelled or arrested. After reading this book the themes that came to mind were technologies influence on society and governments power level. Both of these themes seem to fit the book since the government treats citizens in an irrespective manner and the addition to new technology to get involved in others lives.
I thought that this was an overall good book. I was really interested in the beginning but lost interest as it progressed. It seemed to talk about one thing for several pages and got reparative at some parts. It seemed to end quickly and other than some big events I thought was predictable.