Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Little Brother (1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations / Mentions
5,222	382	1,640	(4.02)	2 / 272
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

megami-no-ushi, Hans_W, HMALibrary, hueyy, dustinmroberts, vmaganti, Thuzzwoob, Faltiska, charlotteisreading

numbers

show all

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

refresh

▾Member recommendations

251
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (JFDR)
JFDR: 1984's Big Brother is Little Brother's namesake.
100
Feed by M. T. Anderson (kellyholmes)
70
For the Win by Cory Doctorow (jshrop)
71
The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling (persky)
persky: The book that turned Doctorow on to the EFF and a real world account of various government agencies cracking down on teenage hackers.
51
Makers by Cory Doctorow (SheReads)
20
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow (PghDragonMan)
31
Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow (ahstrick)
20
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (kaledrina)
20
After by Francine Prose (meggyweg)
20
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (whymaggiemay)
whymaggiemay: Both about teens fighting back against the greater power using computers.
10
Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller (MyriadBooks)
MyriadBooks: For knowledge, the use and distribution, general purpose. Best for teens.
10
The Media Monopoly by Ben H. Bagdikian (strande)
strande: In chapter thirteen, Ange and Marcus call the media whores. "In fact, that's an insult to hardworking whores everywhere. They're, they're profiteers." Media Monopoly is a whole book about how the media turned into profiteers.
10
Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government Saving Privacy in the Digital Age by Steven Levy (kraaivrouw)
10
So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld (kellyholmes)
10
Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho by Jon Katz (writecathy)
10
The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian (JFDR)
54
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (JFDR)
10
Ink by Sabrina Vourvoulias (reconditereader)
reconditereader: Both involve dystopias, resistance, oppression, technology, and interesting characters.
00
The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith (kaledrina)
00
The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi (g33kgrrl)
g33kgrrl: Young people take on the system.

(see all 31 recommendations)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

Group › Topic	Messages	Last Message
The Green Dragon: JUNE - SPOILERS - Little Brother	15 unread / 15	Jarandel, June 2014
The Green Dragon: JUNE - NO SPOILERS - Little Brother	5 unread / 5	Sakerfalcon, May 2014

» See also 272 mentions

▾Member reviews

English (370) Italian (3) German (3) Hungarian (2) French (1) Catalan (1) Indonesian (1) Dutch (1) All languages (382)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 370 (next | show all)

I really enjoyed this book. It was engaging and a fun read, and I learned a lot about computers and tech, which was very interesting. However, I did think the middle dragged on a bit, and some of the side characters felt really flat, especially his love interest. Overall, I would recommend to anyone looking for a tech thriller. (

)

queenofthebobs | Mar 31, 2022 |

It was rather unbelievable in some places, but was a good story and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. It was definitely a political statement. (

)

Wren73 | Mar 4, 2022 |

I wish I had read this earlier. It's been sitting on my "To Read" pile for a couple of years. I suspect there aren't many other young adult novels that place the Department of Homeland Security as the villain. There probably should be more. Plus some other three letter agencies. I would have liked to see more character development of Marcus's parents especially his father. Some place for them in the denouement would have been good along with the reporter. Charles as the foil was a little flat to my taste and too easily defeated. I think I need to go pick up the sequel. (

)

mjduigou | Feb 27, 2022 |

Good premise, let down by poor characterisation and stylistic flaws.

hierogrammate | Jan 31, 2022 |

Terrific book, try it out you can download it for free from his site. (

)

kevn57 | Dec 8, 2021 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 370 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

2 reviews

add a review

thingScore 75

Little Brother represents a great step forward in the burgeoning subgenre of dystopian young-adult SF. It brings a greater degree of political sophistication, geekiness and civil disobedience to a genre that was already serving up a milder dose of rebellion. After this, no YA novel will be able to get away with watering down its youthful revolution.

added by PhoenixTerran | editio9, Charlie Jane Anders (Apr 23, 2009)

MY favorite thing about “Little Brother” is that every page is charged with an authentic sense of the personal and ethical need for a better relationship to information technology, a visceral sense that one’s continued dignity and independence depend on it: “My technology was working for me, serving me, protecting me. It wasn’t spying on me. This is why I loved technology: if you used it right, it could give you power and privacy.”

I can’t help being on this book’s side, even in its clunkiest moments. It’s a neat story and a cogently written, passionately felt argument.

added by Aerrin99 | editNew York Times, Austin Grossman (Sep 12, 2008)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Cory Doctorow	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Gutzschhahn, Uwe-Michael	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Hayden, Patrick Nielsen	Editor	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Heyborne, Kirby	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Hoteling, Spring	Designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Huang, Andrew	Afterword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Lutjen, Peter	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Schneier, Bruce	Afterword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Shimizu, Yuko	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

Little Brother (1)

Belongs to Publisher Series

rororo

Is contained in

Little Brother & Homeland by Cory Doctorow

Is abridged in

In the Shadow of the Towers: Speculative Fiction in a Post-9/11 World by Douglas Lain

Was inspired by

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering by Andrew Huang

Has as a student's study guide

A Study Guide for Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother" by Gale Cengage

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Little Brother

Original title

Little Brother

Alternative titles

Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Little Brother

Original publication date

2008-04-29

People/Characters

Marcus Yallow "w1n5t0n" "m1k3y"

Vanessa "Van" Pak

Darryl Glover

Jose-Luis "Jolu" Torrez

Angela Carvelli

Important places

San Francisco, California, USA

Treasure Island, California, USA

Mission Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Nebula Nominee (2008.1 | Novel, 2008)

Emperor Norton Award (2008)

Publisher's Weekly Best Book (Children's Fiction, 2008)

SF Site Editor's Choice (2008)

(show all 30 items)

Epigraph

Dedication

For Alice, who makes me whole

First words

I'm a senior at Cesar Chavez high in San Francisco's sunny Mission district, and that makes me one of the most surveilled people in the world.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Nielsen Hayden, Patrick

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars

Golden Duck Award

Little Brother (Doctorow novel)

▾Book descriptions

After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

The ultimate tale of teen rebellion -- one seventeen-year-old against the surveillance state. Big Brother is watching you. Who's watching back? Marcus is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works -- and how to work the system. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison, where they're mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state, where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Haiku summary

Add to Your books

Add to wishlist