I had received a copy of this book from Cory Doctorow himself quite a while ago, but finally got around to reading it. He has an interesting writing voice. And sometimes, that voice changes. While his voice in Eastern Standard Tribe matched his voice in public speaking and blogging, there was something different about his voice in Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.

It was almost as if Neil Gaiman took control of righty while China Mieville took control of lefty, and they duked it out on Doctorow's keyboard. But, to some degree, Doctorow was still in control.

The book, a contemporary fantasy set in the not-too-distant future, complete with emerging technologies, like mesh nets and such, is about a man named Alan. Well, he'll pretty much answer to any name beginning with A, like his brothers: Bentley, Charles, Daniel, Edgar, Frederic, and Gerald. His mother alphabetized them instead of giving them names.

I don't really blame his mother for not being able to keep track of everybody's name. I mean, she was a washing machine. And his father was a mountain. To use a joke in the book: she kept them in clean clothes, and he kept a roof over their heads.

He and his brothers are all outcasts in a way. Allan looks normal, but has regenerative properties. Barry has psychic abilities, Chester is an island, Doug is a zombie, and Evan/Frank/George are Russian nesting dolls.

Andy's moved to a new house where he wants to write a book. He meets his new neighbors: Krishna, Link, Mimi, and Natalie. Krishna doesn't like him very much, but everyone else manages to cozy up to him.

Likewise, he befriends a dumpster-diver named Kurt, and tries to get his ParasiteNet (a mesh network) up and running throughout the Kensignton Marketplace.

But then Denny rears his ugly, undead head, and Errol, Flynn, and Gentry start disappearing. Dick, who plagued Alfred's life during childhood, and strained his relationship with his first girlfriend, Marci, will have none of Andy's antics, especially after Arthur was the one who killed him in the first place, and buried him deep in the soil of Corbin.

Andrew must balance his life: posing as a human, avoiding his undead brother's attempt to kill him, avoiding Krishna's hateful glares, helping get Kurt's network up and running, and dealing with his bitter past.

I enjoyed the book with only the argument that, though it was 12,000 words, it should have been longer. Fortunately, it's under the creative commons, so if I did want to write a nice little addendum to the book, I could (if it's derivative, which I think it is). ( )

Boy, this is a tough one. I definitely liked it better than Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by the same author because I felt like the characters were far more developed. As with Down and Out, I'm still not sure about the ending, but at least it didn't seem rushed.

On the whole, I liked it, I liked parts of it a lot. ( )

http://craphound.com/someone/ ( )

I found the first and longest portion of this book very exciting in its point of view, its clarity and brilliance, its energy and general wonderfulness. Something went kind of wrong in the last part of the book. One important character in particular didn't fulfill his promise, and I was disappointed with that. Nevertheless, the strengths of the book far outweigh what I perceive as weaknesses. Recommended. ( )

Doctorow adds a nice twist of Alice in Wonderland surrealism to a story that is about monsters-- the very real kind that haunt people who survive being raised in dysfunctional families. This is a dark & wonderful story about the destructiveness of keeping painful family secrets and the hope that can be found in becoming strong enough to stop hiding who one is. ( )