Little Brother

Little Brother by Corey Doctorow is a fun read. George Orwell’s Big Brother is now manifested in the form of the Department of Homeland Security, but little brother, a geek, game-playing adolescent, is ready for them. The use of technology in this novel is well-done and informative. The plot, however, is too much of the victimized-adolescent for me. It’s Harry Potter, the victim of the Ministry of Magic. It’s Louis Sachar’s innocent kid digging holes in the desert for his keepers. Plots such as this are very attractive to adolescents, who view themselves as victims of the adult world.
This story paints the Department of Homeland Security as more evil than the terrorists they are hunting. The hero gets arrested and interrogated for no reason other than that he was walking on the street when a bomb went off. That part of the story is not credible in my opinion. The story could have been redeemed, if the hero had helped capture some terrorists, but they never appear. Still, the story moves well and the characters are interesting.