"Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town", Cory Doctorow--Full Review

Aha! You thought I wasn't gonna manage another post for September, am I right? Don't lie. :P

Well, transferring into the IB Diploma Candidate program has been crazy, but things have settled down enough (I hope) to find time to write another review.

This book is pretty deep. I think I'll try to get a "Thoughts" on it up within the week as well.

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Cory Doctorow is somewhat famous on the Internet.

A journalist, blogger, sci-fi writer, and liberal-copyright proponent, Doctorow should know better than to write a book that makes no sense.

The main character--who is called "Alan" initially but answers to and is referred to by any masculine name beginning with A--and his siblings are all children of a mountain and a washing machine.

One of Alan's sibling is prophetic, one is undead, one is an island, and three are Russian nesting dolls.

And that's just the backstory. Alan has moved into a house in Toronto (coincidentally Doctorow's hometown) and meets a punk named Kurt trying to blanket Toronto in free WiFi. Alan strikes up a quick friendship with him and helps him try to achieve a network-ed Toronto while dealing with the layabouts who live next door.

One of whom happens to have wings.

At the same time, Alan is fending off assaults from his undead brother who is randomly kidnapping the Russian-nesting-doll brothers who have come to take shelter at his house.

Have I mentioned that this book is weird?

While a great many of the plot points seem to come out of nowhere or strain suspension of disbelief, this seems to be more a case of writing imitating life than sheer randomosity.

Just like life, the book isn't just a drama, or a fantasy, or a romance, and Doctorow's writing reflects that. The comedic moments are written wittily, the erotic moments sexily, the pensive moments solemnly, and so on.

In real life we don't always get closure. We don't always know why what happens happens. We frequently have no idea who the hell we're talking to, really.

Doctorow seems to be trying to illustrate this universal truth with his plot...which features the child of a mountain and a washing machine, and a girl with wings. Go figure.

The only thing that I really couldn't digest was the conclusion, which seemed a complete departure from Alan's character. I'd elaborate, but spoilers and the fact that my nitpick occurs over less than two pages dissuade me.

In sum: This is a really surprisingly engrossing speculative fiction novel that would've been torrid and torturous if written by any but a select few authors. Doctorow doesn't manage to pull it off perfectly, but it's definitely worth reading.

Rating: 3.8/5

Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins--Thoughts

---VAGUE SPOILERS WILL BE MENTIONED---

In a dystopian future, the world's population has been reduced to one small nation, called "Panem", which is divided into thirteen districts plus the capitol. Every year, each district (save thirteen, which seceded aggressively) sends two "tributes" to the capitol to compete in a vicious contest where only one of the 24 entrants can emerge alive.

Such was the setting until protagonist Katniss Everdeen became a symbol of rebellion to the districts, sparking all-out civil war.

Now, this trilogy certainly isn't the first young-person-sparks-dystopian-rebellion series, and I doubt it'll be the last. The thing that sets this series apart from others that have covered the same ground is, I think, the first-person narration.

We get a direct line into the mind of a Katniss, who has been forced into kill-or-be-killed situations at the tender age of sixteen. She also has faked a love interest with her fellow competitor to gain the popular support necessary to survive the games. This created a love triangle with her best friend. Katniss has been concussed, burned, exploded, shocked, broken, and poisoned over the course of the series, at the very least.

Worst of all--though it's not directly mentioned in the books--she's going through puberty. It naturally follows after all this that she'd be a mental wreck by the end of the series; but most characters in her role display superhuman mental resilience to meet the demands of the plot.

Here, not so! Katniss is undeniably screwed up by the end of the series. In this sense, readers can relate to her. They can see she's not super-human or some immortal symbol, but a regular teen thrust into events disturbing by almost anyone's standards.

There are dozens of things that make this series attractive, but when you're popular enough for a midnight release, "attractive" doesn't cut it. What takes this series a step further is the humanity of of Katniss.

All that being said, the conclusion to the series is just one big anti-climax after another. Fairly disappointing. But hey, a disagreeable ending is far better than no ending at all. :P

Too long; didn't read--Read the Hunger Games Trilogy and marvel at how realistically the protagonist falls into insanity.