J. Brad Hicks (bradhicks) wrote,
2009-05-07 21:48:00
  • Mood: sick

Massively Over-Rated: Cory Doctorow, Little Brother

After about five straight months of non-stop hype for the same book, I took advantage of the fact that I was taking time off from reading newspapers and the wire services to finally get around to reading Cory Doctorow's attempt to channel Scott Westerfeld, his already massively award-nominated young adult science fiction novel Little Brother. I was rather looking forward to it, even though I have no illusions about Doctorow's limitations as a writer. The man cannot describe a scene or write dialog to save his life, but then, the same is true of Bruce Sterling, and I love Sterling's stuff. Given that he credited Westerfeld, who I consider to be one of the best science fiction authors working today, in Little Brother, and given how many experts on the subjects of counter-terrorism and surveillance had favorably reviewed the book, I was expecting to groan through some of the uneven writing that you find in anything Doctorow does that's longer than a short story, but to otherwise have an enjoyable time.

Oh. My. God.

This book is a train wreck.

Here's the capsule summary, and I'll warn you right now, I'm going big-time spoilerific here, and I feel no shame about that, because I'm spoiling a book that you absolutely should not read. That's a bold claim, and I will defend it in a few moments, but:

( spoilersCollapse )

Oh, for gods' sake.

This is cartoon liberalism. This is straw-man liberalism. This is the kind of stupid crap that morons like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Weiner-Savage like to accuse liberals of believing. And yet not only Cory Doctorow, but everybody who has praised this book and everybody who has nominated it for major awards, apparently think this plot twist is plausible enough to not even be remarked on. This is not merely slanderous and libelous. This is not merely treasonous. This is not merely paranoiac psychotic thinking: this is stupidity on a monumental and brain-hurting scale. I can count on the thumbs of both hands all of the "liberals" I've ever met who believe that any of this is even possible, let alone proven true, and all of them have a long history with mental health professionals dating back to before 9/11. I find it irresponsible and disgusting to think that anybody but a paranoid or a schizophrenic praised this book to even one other person, let alone reviewed it favorably in newspaper after newspaper and nominated it for half a dozen awards.

I weep for my country.

Next: On the other hand, one of the books that was recommended to me as a fantastic book was actually under-rated. That book, when I get around to writing again.
Tags: books, science fiction, war on terror

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