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Author	Cory Doctorow
Original title	Little Brother
Country	USA
Language	English
Subject(s)	Terrorism, cryptography, computer hackers, Department of Homeland Security
Genre(s)	Fiction / Cyberpunk
Publisher	Tor Teen
Publication date	2008
Media type	Book
Pages	380 pp
ISBN	9780765319852
OCLC Number	176972381
LC Classification	PZ7.D66237 Lit 2008

Little Brother is a novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books. It was released on April 29, 2008. The novel is about several teenagers in San Francisco who, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, defend themselves against what they see as the Department of Homeland Security's attacks on the Bill of Rights. The novel is also available free on the author's website, as a Creative Commons download.^[1]

The book debuted at No. 9 on the New York Times Bestseller List, children's chapter book section, in May 2008.^[2] As of July 2, it had spent a total of six weeks on the list, rising to the No. 8 spot^[3]. Little Brother has also won the 2009 White Pine Award^[4], the 2009 Prometheus Award.^[5] and the 2009 John W. Campbell Memorial Award

Little Brother was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel^[6].

Plot summary

Characters observe Bay bridge bombing. Illustration by Richard Wilkinson

The main character, Marcus Yallow, also known as w1n5t0n (using the leet alphabet), and three of his friends are truant from high school and find themselves near a terrorist bombing of The San Francisco Bay bridge. The friends try to get help for Darryl who was stabbed while they escaped the massing crowd headed for a fallout shelter. The foursome are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and held as enemy combatants because of their suspicious behavior, including having encryption on Marcus' cell phone.

After three days of interrogation by psychological torture and humiliation Marcus is released to find that San Francisco has become a police state. Marcus and two of his other friends (Van and Jolu) are released after being forced to sign documents stating they were voluntarily held and interrogated by DHS. The main antagonist Carrie Johnstone (known as Severe Haircut Woman throughout most of the novel) is introduced while interrogating Marcus.

His best friend Darryl, who was stabbed after the bombing, is not released after the interrogation and provides Marcus' main motivation to fight back against the DHS. Marcus dedicates the majority of his time to organizing resistance to the DHS while his relationship with both his friends and family deteriorates. Both of his remaining friends from the original foursome, Van (Vanessa) and Jolu (Jose Luis), drop out because of fear of retribution by DHS. While his relationship with his mother (Lillian) stays strong he and his father (Drew Yallow) are sharply divided over DHS's tactics and control over the Bay area.

However while organizing resistance he develops new friendships and a love interest, Ange (Angela Carvelli), that help support him during his doubts and fears over fighting the federal government. He helps develop a clandestine wireless network, X-Net, that avoids DHS monitoring using anonymity and encryption. Using the X-Net as a secure communications medium he organizes teenagers and twenty somethings who are upset with the police state tactics imposed after the bombing. They develop innovative uses of existing technologies to foil DHS monitoring and cause mass confusion and embarrassment to law enforcement.

Marcus being interrogated by DHS

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 of what really happened the three days he was imprisoned to his parents and Darryl's father 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 (CHPS) 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.

The novel ends with Marcus' life going back to "normal" and DHS's losing power even though no one from the DHS is actually punished despite video proof of DHS personnel torturing him. Marcus seems to be happy with his life and relationships with both his girlfriend and parents. However he dedicates a lot of his time to campaigning against the established political party that let this happen to U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

Characters

Marcus on limited edition cover

• Marcus Yallow - Main protagonist, a 17 year old high school student who enjoys understanding technology and building his own custom devices. He is the leader of his foursome of friends.
• Darryl Glover - Marcus' best friend who attends the same high school as Marcus and is the details man of the group. He has had a crush on Van forever.
• Vanessa Pak (Van) - 17 year old North Korean girl who attends a nearby all girls' Catholic school, she is the "ideas" person of the group. She has had a thing for Marcus for a long time. Her parents managed to escape from North Korea.
• Jose Luis Torrez (Jolu) - A brilliant high school student at a nearby Catholic school, he is the technical member of the group. Even though everyone in the group is very tech savvy he is the most technology orientated, doing programming and works for a local ISP. He is somewhat vain and seems to work at being cool.
• Charles Walker - Also a student at the same high school as Marcus and Darryl, he is the antithesis of Marcus. He is a bully, a brown noser and a narc for the authorities. He and Marcus have a long standing feud and detest each other.
• Carrie Johnstone - Main antagonist and in charge of the DHS that is monitoring San Francisco. She is a cold sadistic woman to whom the ends always justify the means and enjoys abusing her power. She is mainly known as "Severe Haircut Woman" throughout most of the novel.
• Fred Benson - One of the vice-principals at Cesar Chavez High School. He is a authority figure, clueless about technology, who has had it in for Marcus for years. He seems to be one of the primary reason for Marcus' distrust of authority figures.
• Angela Carvelli - She attends the same high school as Van and develops into Marcus' love interest. She is an active member of the X-Net and is very strong willed and independent.
• Ms. Galvez - A social studies teacher at Cesar Chavez High School, she is a dedicated teacher and an independent thinker. She seems to be the only teacher that Marcus respects at his school.
• Barbara Stratford - Investigative reporter for the Bay Guardian, who helps Marcus expose what the DHS has been doing.
• Lillian Yallow - Marcus' mother, British ex-national, who helps newly immigrated Britons integrate into American life. She and Marcus have a strong bond and seem to think alike. She is a strong woman and helps mediate Marcus and his father's fights.
• Drew Yallow - Marcus' father who has a stormy relationship with Marcus through most of the book. He was so scared by the thought of Marcus having died during the bombing, because Marcus was missing for three days, that he supports the tactics DHS employs. This leads to many arguments with Marcus despite his former mind set that was similar to Marcus'.

Dedications

Each chapter of the e-book edition of Little Brother is dedicated to a different bookstore: Bakka-Phoenix, Amazon.com, Borderlands Books, Barnes & Noble, Secret Headquarters, Powell's City of Books, Books of Wonder, Borders, Compass Books/Books Inc., Anderson's Bookshops, the university bookstore at the University of Washington, Forbidden Planet, Books-A-Million, Mysterious Galaxy, Chapters/Indigo Books, Booksmith, Waterstone's, Sophia Books, MIT Press Bookshop, The Tattered Cover, Pages Books, and Hudson Booksellers.

Cultural cross references

• Chapter 17 mentions Dan Bernstein and his contributions to an EFF lawsuit about strong cryptography.
• The title "Little Brother" is a play on Big Brother in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, mentioned in the author's bibliography. Marcus also uses the handle "w1n5t0n", a reference to the book's main character, Winston Smith.
• The later pseudonym of M1k3y is a reference to the computer "Mycroft" or Mike" in Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Moon is a Harsh Mistress also involved a computer-facilitated revolution.
• A real Paranoid Linux is in development based on the version of Linux in the book (Which ParanoidXbox was based on.)
• The film Office Space is referenced by the systematic destruction of a laptop computer and an offhand reference to a "pound-you-in-the-ass" prison.

Reception

Cindy Dobrez in her review for Booklist said that "Doctorow’s novel blurs the lines between current and potential technologies, and readers will delight in the details of how Marcus attempts to stage a techno-revolution. Obvious parallels to Orwellian warnings and post-9/11 policies, such as the Patriot Act, will provide opportunity for classroom discussion and raise questions about our enthusiasm for technology, who monitors our school library collections, and how we contribute to our own lack of privacy."^[7] Kirkus Reviews described it as an "unapologetically didactic tribute to 1984", and that it was a "terrifying glimpse of the future--or the present."^[8] Publishers Weekly said that it was "filled with sharp dialogue and detailed descriptions of how to counteract gait-recognition cameras, arphids (radio frequency ID tags), wireless Internet tracers and other surveillance devices, this work makes its admittedly didactic point within a tautly crafted fictional framework."^[9]

Footnotes

References

• Little Brother at Tor Books

External links

• Official Book Page on Cory Doctorow's website
• A Little Brother related article by Cory Doctorow: Security Literacy: teaching kids to think critically about security
• eMusic Q&A: Cory Doctorow about Little Brother
• Publishers Weekly: Q & A with Cory Doctorow about Little Brother
• w1n5t0n on Instructables.com
• Little Brother at MySpace
• Little Brother Facebook Page
• Little Brother related video playlist on YouTube
• Online Version of the book
• several eBooks of the German translation
• Audio review and discussion of Little Brother at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast