BOOK REVIEW: Pirate Cinema
Title: Pirate Cinema
Author: Cory Doctorow
In Trent McCauley's England, downloading copyrighted material comes with a three strike law. If you get caught pirating three times, your entire household loses the internet for a year. Trent knows this, but doesn't believe that it will happen to him. And when it does, Trent's family life begins to implode. His father can no longer do his work, his sister can't pass in her assignments, and his mother cannot collect her disability checks. Wracked with guilt, Trent runs away from home, ending up living off the streets in London. Trent soon finds himself pulled into a group of friends that help him out, and make him second guess the copyright laws that destroyed his family.
I read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother a little over a year ago, and really enjoyed it. As a result, when I saw that Pirate Cinema was one of the books involved in the humble ebook bundle, it was one of the main reasons I decided to pick it up. Much like Little Brother, Pirate Cinema is a near-future dystopia that stars a cast of smart, young people who aren't afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Admittedly, I didn't find Pirate Cinema to be as strong of a book as Little Brother, for reasons I'll get into below, but it's still a thoroughly enjoyable read that shines a light on an issue that deeply impacts the young adult audience that is likely to be drawn to this type of book.
Although I enjoyed Pirate Cinema on a whole, there are a few things about it that didn't mesh that well with me. I found Doctorow's depiction of youth homelessness, complete with super friendly homeless friends, working electricity, internet, running water, and later, a landlord that was happy to have them squat in one of his buildings for almost free, to be a little idealized. On a related note, Trent never seemed to go through as much trouble as he should. Trent is constantly telling the audience things like “everything was going great! What I didn't know was that they were about to get a lot worse.” This would set me up for a turn for the worse that never really ended up happening. Yes, some crappy things happen to Trent's friends, but never really to Trent himself. I don't need my protagonists to suffer all of the time, but don't set me up for maximum suffering if you're not going to deliver! Also, it's worth mentioning that this is not the most nuanced discussion of copyright law. I felt like with Little Brother, you could sort of understand why so many people were okay giving up their freedoms due to fear. With Pirate Cinema, no effort is made to understand why the other side might think that way, which is disappointing.
Given my nitpicks above, I don't want people to think that I didn't like this book. I actually found a lot to enjoy about it. With young adult books, too often the romance can lead to melodrama, but with Pirate Cinema it ends up being surprisingly realistic. Also, much like Little Brother, Doctorow doesn't talk down to his young audience when it comes to the tech stuff. Some of it flew over my head, but the sections that focused on technology felt very grounded in reality. Pirate Cinema is also unabashedly pro-library, and pro-thrift shop (called charity shops here), two things that are very near and dear to my heart. How I could I not enjoy the book?
Final Thoughts: When compared to Little Brother, Pirate Cinema admittedly comes up a little bit short. At the same time, it's a wicked fast read that makes the discussion of copyright law interesting and accessible to a teenage audience. If you've enjoyed previous books by Doctorow, I would recommend picking this one up as well. Four Stars.
Author: Cory Doctorow
In Trent McCauley's England, downloading copyrighted material comes with a three strike law. If you get caught pirating three times, your entire household loses the internet for a year. Trent knows this, but doesn't believe that it will happen to him. And when it does, Trent's family life begins to implode. His father can no longer do his work, his sister can't pass in her assignments, and his mother cannot collect her disability checks. Wracked with guilt, Trent runs away from home, ending up living off the streets in London. Trent soon finds himself pulled into a group of friends that help him out, and make him second guess the copyright laws that destroyed his family.
I read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother a little over a year ago, and really enjoyed it. As a result, when I saw that Pirate Cinema was one of the books involved in the humble ebook bundle, it was one of the main reasons I decided to pick it up. Much like Little Brother, Pirate Cinema is a near-future dystopia that stars a cast of smart, young people who aren't afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Admittedly, I didn't find Pirate Cinema to be as strong of a book as Little Brother, for reasons I'll get into below, but it's still a thoroughly enjoyable read that shines a light on an issue that deeply impacts the young adult audience that is likely to be drawn to this type of book.
Although I enjoyed Pirate Cinema on a whole, there are a few things about it that didn't mesh that well with me. I found Doctorow's depiction of youth homelessness, complete with super friendly homeless friends, working electricity, internet, running water, and later, a landlord that was happy to have them squat in one of his buildings for almost free, to be a little idealized. On a related note, Trent never seemed to go through as much trouble as he should. Trent is constantly telling the audience things like “everything was going great! What I didn't know was that they were about to get a lot worse.” This would set me up for a turn for the worse that never really ended up happening. Yes, some crappy things happen to Trent's friends, but never really to Trent himself. I don't need my protagonists to suffer all of the time, but don't set me up for maximum suffering if you're not going to deliver! Also, it's worth mentioning that this is not the most nuanced discussion of copyright law. I felt like with Little Brother, you could sort of understand why so many people were okay giving up their freedoms due to fear. With Pirate Cinema, no effort is made to understand why the other side might think that way, which is disappointing.
Given my nitpicks above, I don't want people to think that I didn't like this book. I actually found a lot to enjoy about it. With young adult books, too often the romance can lead to melodrama, but with Pirate Cinema it ends up being surprisingly realistic. Also, much like Little Brother, Doctorow doesn't talk down to his young audience when it comes to the tech stuff. Some of it flew over my head, but the sections that focused on technology felt very grounded in reality. Pirate Cinema is also unabashedly pro-library, and pro-thrift shop (called charity shops here), two things that are very near and dear to my heart. How I could I not enjoy the book?
Final Thoughts: When compared to Little Brother, Pirate Cinema admittedly comes up a little bit short. At the same time, it's a wicked fast read that makes the discussion of copyright law interesting and accessible to a teenage audience. If you've enjoyed previous books by Doctorow, I would recommend picking this one up as well. Four Stars.