What a wonderful book. If you're at all concerned with the issues of excessive electronic government monitoring of its citizens, or of electronic privacy in general, make sure to give this book to your young teenagers.
Written post 9/11, and after the passage of the Patriot Act, Doctorow gives us a San Francisco where the Department of Homeland Security has gone over-the-top after the destruction of the Bay Bridge. His protagonist gets caught up in the post-attack frenzy, suspected of being a terrorist essentially because he knows how to penetrate the firewall of his high school.
It's a fantastic story pitting reduction of freedom in exchange for safety vs free expression. (And Doctorow is clearly on the free expression side, given that "safety" is portrayed as hiding in your home, terrified of the government.)
Doctorow's characters are wonderfully complex and well thought out, and I especially liked the San Francisco setting (I'm a native of the area). All the tricky, techno bits were lots of fun as well.
Highly recommended.
5/5 stars
Written post 9/11, and after the passage of the Patriot Act, Doctorow gives us a San Francisco where the Department of Homeland Security has gone over-the-top after the destruction of the Bay Bridge. His protagonist gets caught up in the post-attack frenzy, suspected of being a terrorist essentially because he knows how to penetrate the firewall of his high school.
It's a fantastic story pitting reduction of freedom in exchange for safety vs free expression. (And Doctorow is clearly on the free expression side, given that "safety" is portrayed as hiding in your home, terrified of the government.)
Doctorow's characters are wonderfully complex and well thought out, and I especially liked the San Francisco setting (I'm a native of the area). All the tricky, techno bits were lots of fun as well.
Highly recommended.
5/5 stars
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