"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