Call number
Genres
Publication
New York : Tor Books, 2006
Pages
315
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Alan is a middle-aged entrepreneur in contemporary Toronto who has devoted himself to fixing up a house in a bohemian neighborhood. This naturally brings him in contact with the house full of students and layabouts next door, including a young woman who, in a moment of stress, reveals to him that she has wings�??wings, moreover, that grow back after each attempt to cut them off. Alan understands. He himself has a secret or two. His father is a mountain, his mother is a washing machine, and among his brothers are a set of Russian nesting dolls. Now two of the three nesting dolls, Edward and Frederick, are on his doorstep�??well on their way to starvation because their innermost member, George, has vanished. It appears that yet another brother, Davey, whom Alan and his other siblings killed years ago, may have returned ... bent on revenge. Under such circumstances it seems only reasonable for Alan to involve himself with a visionary scheme to blanket Toronto with free wireless Internet connectivity, a conspiracy spearheaded by a brilliant technopunk who builds miracles of hardware from parts scavenged from the city's dumpsters. But Alan's past won't leave him alone�??and Davey is only one of the powers gunning for him and all his frie… (more)
Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 2006)
Sunburst Award (Shortlist — 2006)
SF Site Reader's Choice (2005)
Locus Recommended Reading (2005)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2005-07-01
Physical description
315 p.; 8.6 inches
ISBN
0765312808 / 9780765312808
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member aethercowboy
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
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).
Show More
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).
Show Less
LibraryThing member xicanti
Alan, a retired man with a bizarre family, gets caught up in a scheme to blanket Toronto with free wireless internet.
I wasn't too sure what to expect, going in. I'd heard that Doctorow's work was very, very strange, and this is true. I've been trying to think of a more politically correct way to
(Their names also change by the minute. It's the first letter that's important here, not the stuff that comes after it. Alan becomes Art becomes Avi becomes Allen, and so on and so forth).
But - and there's always a but, isn't there? - oddly enough, I didn't get quite so much out of the human elements, (which were all bizarrely fantastical and fantastically bizarre), as the technostuff. Don't get me wrong, Alan and his family are beautifully rendered, and their strange interactions make for some compelling reading, but the science fictiony portions of the novel were the most fun. Art and his friend Kurt are determined to change the face of interpersonal communication, and I loved watching them work it all out. I initially found it a little confusing, (non-scientist, me), but I quickly caught on. I really looked forward to these scenes; they were by far my favourites.
That's not to say that Alan's personal struggles aren't compelling. They certainly are. He tries so, so hard to be normal, but he can never quite manage it. He wakes his young neighbors up at eight in the morning. He covers the walls of his home with bookcases - even the stairwells, the bathroom and the kitchen. He turns his observations of human nature into long, rambling lectures on business and technology and moral responsibility. He's downright weird. And yet, it's difficult not to like him. You want him to succeed; you want him to figure it out, at long last. And you always, always want to learn more about him and his strange, unconventional family.
All in all, this was a very good book. I had a great time with it, and it's given me a lot to mull over. But I find, oddly enough, that I have no desire to read it again. It was a great one-night stand, and I do wish I'd read it in a class so I could discuss some of the themes at greater length, but I don't want to get involved with it on a long-term basis. I feel all right about passing my copy on to someone else.
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
I wasn't too sure what to expect, going in. I'd heard that Doctorow's work was very, very strange, and this is true. I've been trying to think of a more politically correct way to
Show More
say it, but I've failed: this is some weird-ass sh*t. But it's good weird-ass sh*t; it's weird-ass sh*t with a lot of heart. Argus and his family are inhuman in body, but they're very human in soul.(Their names also change by the minute. It's the first letter that's important here, not the stuff that comes after it. Alan becomes Art becomes Avi becomes Allen, and so on and so forth).
But - and there's always a but, isn't there? - oddly enough, I didn't get quite so much out of the human elements, (which were all bizarrely fantastical and fantastically bizarre), as the technostuff. Don't get me wrong, Alan and his family are beautifully rendered, and their strange interactions make for some compelling reading, but the science fictiony portions of the novel were the most fun. Art and his friend Kurt are determined to change the face of interpersonal communication, and I loved watching them work it all out. I initially found it a little confusing, (non-scientist, me), but I quickly caught on. I really looked forward to these scenes; they were by far my favourites.
That's not to say that Alan's personal struggles aren't compelling. They certainly are. He tries so, so hard to be normal, but he can never quite manage it. He wakes his young neighbors up at eight in the morning. He covers the walls of his home with bookcases - even the stairwells, the bathroom and the kitchen. He turns his observations of human nature into long, rambling lectures on business and technology and moral responsibility. He's downright weird. And yet, it's difficult not to like him. You want him to succeed; you want him to figure it out, at long last. And you always, always want to learn more about him and his strange, unconventional family.
All in all, this was a very good book. I had a great time with it, and it's given me a lot to mull over. But I find, oddly enough, that I have no desire to read it again. It was a great one-night stand, and I do wish I'd read it in a class so I could discuss some of the themes at greater length, but I don't want to get involved with it on a long-term basis. I feel all right about passing my copy on to someone else.
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
Even after my disappointment with Eastern Standard Tribe, this still looked really interesting, and this time I wasn't disappointed.
Alan (Andy, Adrian) is the son of a mountain and a washing machine, and he has seven brothers. Alan (Alex, Andreas) is the oldest, and also the one who can pass for
His illusions of normality are about to take a nasty hit.
On the one hand, he's getting sucked into a new project, making free wireless internet access available to the neighborhood, the city, and eventually the world. On the other hand, his brothers, Ed, Fred, and George come to visit, with the news that Doug, whom they thought was safely dead, is back and coming after them. And on the third hand, the kids next door aren't as normal as they look, either. As his brothers start dying and Doug starts collecting allies, Alan clings to his version of normality and pitches free wireless internet access to Bell Canada and tiny city merchants and anarchist bookstore operators, and tries to convince the girl next door that wings aren't a handicap. (Silly Alan; Mimi wants to be normal, too!)
All of this could be a recipe for a disaster of a book, and occasionally it does seem to almost spin out of Doctorow's control—but not quite. Somehow it all gels. These characters are fleshed out and interesting, and the story, alternating in time between Alan's strange childhood and his not-quite-normal middle age, is fully developed and absorbing. I'm never going to be Cory Doctorow's biggest fan, but I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys quirky fantasy.
Alan (Andy, Adrian) is the son of a mountain and a washing machine, and he has seven brothers. Alan (Alex, Andreas) is the oldest, and also the one who can pass for
Show More
human the most easily and comfortably. In fact, only gradually do we learn that there's anything unusual about him at all, except for his parentage and his casual attitude about what name he gives people—as long as it starts with "A". Billy (Bob, Ben) can see the future, Carlo is an island, Doug (Danny,) was a perfectly human-appearing monster until his brothers killed him (which hasn't slowed down his career much), and Ed, Fred, and George are nesting dolls. Alan got his early-childhood care and education from the golems provided by his father, the mountain, and then discovered school and the library. After a childhood attempting to raise his brothers (except for Carlo) with decent educations and the ability to blend in to human society, and after a truly horrific experience ending in the death of Doug, Alan takes off on his own. When we meet him, he's a middle-aged, semi-retired entrepreneur living in Toronto, renovating the house he just bought and getting acquainted with the college-age neighbors next door.His illusions of normality are about to take a nasty hit.
On the one hand, he's getting sucked into a new project, making free wireless internet access available to the neighborhood, the city, and eventually the world. On the other hand, his brothers, Ed, Fred, and George come to visit, with the news that Doug, whom they thought was safely dead, is back and coming after them. And on the third hand, the kids next door aren't as normal as they look, either. As his brothers start dying and Doug starts collecting allies, Alan clings to his version of normality and pitches free wireless internet access to Bell Canada and tiny city merchants and anarchist bookstore operators, and tries to convince the girl next door that wings aren't a handicap. (Silly Alan; Mimi wants to be normal, too!)
All of this could be a recipe for a disaster of a book, and occasionally it does seem to almost spin out of Doctorow's control—but not quite. Somehow it all gels. These characters are fleshed out and interesting, and the story, alternating in time between Alan's strange childhood and his not-quite-normal middle age, is fully developed and absorbing. I'm never going to be Cory Doctorow's biggest fan, but I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys quirky fantasy.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JenneB
A guy whose father is a mountain and whose mother is a washing machine (and no, this is not metaphorical, that's really what they are, and one of his brothers really is an island and not in the John Donne way) gets involved with a winged girl and tries to bring wireless connectivity to Toronto
I am not making this up.
Show More
while battling his murderous dead brother.I am not making this up.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rphbamf
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
A Grimm fairy tale, wrapped n a William Gibson cyber-punk. A bread crumb in a shot of
Absinthe. Two things that you don’t think will mix well together until you try it, and find out that you were right after all.
You don’t wonder how
But, it is an interesting story. I was hooked on the plot, even though I knew it would end with a fizzle. Even though I really didn’t see a point in the "mountain characters’" names changing from one sentence to the next, based only around a first letter (Alan becomes Adam becomes Abby becomes Arthur).
The sexy descriptions of winged-girl Mimi, however, were nice. Her tits almost seemed like characters of their own by the end.
2.5 on LibraryThing
A Grimm fairy tale, wrapped n a William Gibson cyber-punk. A bread crumb in a shot of
Absinthe. Two things that you don’t think will mix well together until you try it, and find out that you were right after all.
You don’t wonder how
Show More
things in this book hook-up, but why. A main character whose father is a mountain, mother is a washing machine. Seriously. And it takes place in Canada, of all places.But, it is an interesting story. I was hooked on the plot, even though I knew it would end with a fizzle. Even though I really didn’t see a point in the "mountain characters’" names changing from one sentence to the next, based only around a first letter (Alan becomes Adam becomes Abby becomes Arthur).
The sexy descriptions of winged-girl Mimi, however, were nice. Her tits almost seemed like characters of their own by the end.
2.5 on LibraryThing
Show Less
LibraryThing member Sarah_Buckley
This is the strangest book. It tells the story of Alan (among other "A" names) whose parents are a mountain and a washing machine respectively, and whose brothers are an island, and psychic, and a zombie respectively. It tells of his life trying to fit in, and also something about a mission to give
I really liked it, although I will say that the connectivity issue can get pretty preachy at times but not enough to really bother me or take away from my enjoyment of the story. Another disappointing story thread is the one with his brothers. It sets up a mystery that it resolves in about two sentences at the very end of the book. It's never really explained why it was all so important, and it just gets brushed away like it was nothing.
So in conclusion, this book is super confusing at times with story threads that go nowhere and resolve in seconds...and I really enjoyed myself while reading it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants something different and unique.
Show More
free wireless to all the people of the Market, oh and his brothers are disappearing, and he also has troubles with his neighbors.....and he wants to write a story. There is many other smaller plot points and it can get confusing.I really liked it, although I will say that the connectivity issue can get pretty preachy at times but not enough to really bother me or take away from my enjoyment of the story. Another disappointing story thread is the one with his brothers. It sets up a mystery that it resolves in about two sentences at the very end of the book. It's never really explained why it was all so important, and it just gets brushed away like it was nothing.
So in conclusion, this book is super confusing at times with story threads that go nowhere and resolve in seconds...and I really enjoyed myself while reading it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants something different and unique.
Show Less
LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: Alan (or Andy, or Adam; his parents were never too particular about names, which is understandable, given that his father is a mountain and his mother is a washing machine) is trying to live a normal life. He's renovating a house in Toronto, working on writing a novel, and doing his best
Review: If it wasn't already abundantly clear from the summary: this book was weird. Sometimes gloriously weird, sometimes confusingly weird, sometimes annoyingly weird, but always, always, just unrelentingly weird. Now, I'm a fantasy reader, so I'm fairly comfortable with fiction in which the unnatural coexisting with the natural, and the abnormal with the normal, but I prefer it if the strangeness and the weirdness in my books at least follows its own internal logic. And in the case of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, it seemed like sometimes the various absurdities fit together, and sometimes not, but even when they made their own kind of sense, I could never fully get a handle on what that sense was. I read most of the book feeling like there was something that I was missing, something I wasn't getting, something that I was waiting for that would make the entire thing click into place.
However, despite never quite being able to grasp what the book was trying to say, it still told a pretty engaging story. For all his and his family's weirdness, Alan's a sympathetic protagonist, and the theme of being an outsider, unsure what to do to fit in with the "normal" people around you is something that I think most people can relate to. Once I threw my hands up and stopped trying to make all of the pieces fit, it was very easy to get caught up in the flow of the story of Alan's upbringing and his family. For that reason, however, I found that Doctorow's tech-heavy digressions - the same sort that served the story so well in Little Brother - were much less organic to the main plot and therefore really distracting here. I guess I didn't see their point, how they added to and fit with the rest of the story... but then I felt like I didn't quite understand so much of this book that maybe I shouldn't single them out.
Overall, it's really hard to pin down how I feel about this book, probably because it's so hard to pin down exactly what this book is. It's very original, for sure. And very strange. And potentially just totally over my head. 3 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Oooh, tough one. It reminded me a little of Geek Love (the family of not-quite-regular siblings), and a little of Perdido Street Station (the way it took the normal perceptions of the way story elements worked and turned them sideways), but neither of those is a read-alike on any larger scale. Recommended for those who like their fiction well off the beaten path, I guess.
Show More
to make friends - although his two primary friends are a dumpster-diving tech geek with plans to provide free wireless internet to the entire city, and his next-door neighbor, who has wings that she lets her boyfriend cut off every time they grow too large to be hidden. Things are going pretty well for Alex until three of his brothers, Eddie, Fred, and Grant, the Russian nesting dolls, show up on his doorstep... followed by their brother Davey - the same Darren who the brothers had killed many years ago - who resurfaces in Arthur's life, intent on his murderous revenge.Review: If it wasn't already abundantly clear from the summary: this book was weird. Sometimes gloriously weird, sometimes confusingly weird, sometimes annoyingly weird, but always, always, just unrelentingly weird. Now, I'm a fantasy reader, so I'm fairly comfortable with fiction in which the unnatural coexisting with the natural, and the abnormal with the normal, but I prefer it if the strangeness and the weirdness in my books at least follows its own internal logic. And in the case of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, it seemed like sometimes the various absurdities fit together, and sometimes not, but even when they made their own kind of sense, I could never fully get a handle on what that sense was. I read most of the book feeling like there was something that I was missing, something I wasn't getting, something that I was waiting for that would make the entire thing click into place.
However, despite never quite being able to grasp what the book was trying to say, it still told a pretty engaging story. For all his and his family's weirdness, Alan's a sympathetic protagonist, and the theme of being an outsider, unsure what to do to fit in with the "normal" people around you is something that I think most people can relate to. Once I threw my hands up and stopped trying to make all of the pieces fit, it was very easy to get caught up in the flow of the story of Alan's upbringing and his family. For that reason, however, I found that Doctorow's tech-heavy digressions - the same sort that served the story so well in Little Brother - were much less organic to the main plot and therefore really distracting here. I guess I didn't see their point, how they added to and fit with the rest of the story... but then I felt like I didn't quite understand so much of this book that maybe I shouldn't single them out.
Overall, it's really hard to pin down how I feel about this book, probably because it's so hard to pin down exactly what this book is. It's very original, for sure. And very strange. And potentially just totally over my head. 3 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Oooh, tough one. It reminded me a little of Geek Love (the family of not-quite-regular siblings), and a little of Perdido Street Station (the way it took the normal perceptions of the way story elements worked and turned them sideways), but neither of those is a read-alike on any larger scale. Recommended for those who like their fiction well off the beaten path, I guess.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JohnMunsch
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
On the whole, I liked it, I
Show More
liked parts of it a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member JonathanGorman
It was a little hard to get into at first, but I ended up really liking it. The "magical" parts of it remind me quite a bit of Bradbury's October Country, with a touch of Dunsany thrown in. Quite a bit different than some of Doctorow's other novels which feel a bit more like Stross with some
The characters themselves have a certain realism that is hard to describe.
There were one or two rough transitions, which made me consider going to 4 and a 1/2 stars. To be honest though, recapturing the Bradbury magic meant a lot to me.
Show More
political issues thrown in. A few of those here.The characters themselves have a certain realism that is hard to describe.
There were one or two rough transitions, which made me consider going to 4 and a 1/2 stars. To be honest though, recapturing the Bradbury magic meant a lot to me.
Show Less
LibraryThing member glitrbug
Ok, I admit it. I bought it for the cover. Seriously, how cool is it??? I also loved the bit on the back that reads " He himself has a secret or two. His father is a mountain, his mother is a washing machine, and among his brothers are a set of Russian nesting dolls" . How could that not pique your
It's a great story about coping with a disfunctional family, realizing that everyone has family weirdness, loving your eccentric friends, letting down your guard and doing your best to leave the world a better place. I loved that the characters all had their good sides and their issues (except for Davy/Daniel/Doug) and I loved that it was so darn entertaining while it gave me something to think about.
Great art on the cover and an outstanding read. Can it get any better?
Show More
interest? It's a great story about coping with a disfunctional family, realizing that everyone has family weirdness, loving your eccentric friends, letting down your guard and doing your best to leave the world a better place. I loved that the characters all had their good sides and their issues (except for Davy/Daniel/Doug) and I loved that it was so darn entertaining while it gave me something to think about.
Great art on the cover and an outstanding read. Can it get any better?
Show Less
LibraryThing member kmgallo
Original, Interesting and Great Imagery throughout the book
LibraryThing member anglemark
I don't even know where to start to untangle this one in my head, to peel of the layers and storylines to understand what it's about. Really good, though!
LibraryThing member tyroeternal
I spent the first half of this book thoroughly confused, unable to put the book down. The second half of the book I was still confused, but coming to terms with the way things were.
Had I known it was some sort of alternate reality from the start it would have been much easier to follow, but I doubt
Not quite like any of the other Doctorow stories I have read, but good nevertheless. Engrossing writing, entertaining storyline, and an enjoyable addition of correctly used technology to round it all off.
Had I known it was some sort of alternate reality from the start it would have been much easier to follow, but I doubt
Show More
it would have been so enjoyable. The jumps in timeline and the strange nature of the story had me following along with A(lan), trying to understand him as he tried to understand himself.Not quite like any of the other Doctorow stories I have read, but good nevertheless. Engrossing writing, entertaining storyline, and an enjoyable addition of correctly used technology to round it all off.
Show Less
LibraryThing member punkgardener
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
Show More
can be found in becoming strong enough to stop hiding who one is. Show Less
LibraryThing member 2seven
In the spirit of Haruki Murakami, Doctorow creates an alternate reality where his characters subsist, unfazed, in the most preposterous of circumstances. Contemporary fantasy, magical realism, technological fiction? "Someone Comes to Town..." is not easily labeled which might be frustrating for a
"Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" is, by far, my favorite of Doctorow's novels to date. I look forward to his upcoming projects.
Show More
fan of Doctorow's more topical tech and sci-fi work. Still, Doctorow continues to successfully push the boundaries of contemporary science fiction and fantasy genres."Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" is, by far, my favorite of Doctorow's novels to date. I look forward to his upcoming projects.
Show Less
LibraryThing member stephaniechase
I really liked the character of Alan... but the book is just plain weird.
LibraryThing member monado
This book is a winner with me on several counts. The characters are interesting. The main character wants to figure out what makes people "tick," and so do I. The use of language is scintillating: his neologisms make sense and uses unfamiliar phrasing to bring his scenes to life. I was tickled to
Show More
find one of my little jokes, "automagically," tucked away in a description of how technology works. The book is set mainly in Toronto with specific and seemingly accurate descriptions—I can't swear to every back alley or rooftop or the aroma of the kosher bakery but I can recognize streets, businesses, and personal styles. To someone who knows the city, that makes his descriptions more vivid. He actually notices smells. He talks about linking Toronto in a wireless network at a time when Toronto is being linked in a wireless network, albeit a more formal one. He's aware of business and economic realities as many SF authors aren't. He ventures out of Toronto to the hinterland of Kapuskasing in Northern Ontario. Finally, he teaches me things I don't know. Show Less
LibraryThing member SimonW11
Umm lets see the narrators is a business man who has taken a year or to out two write a book and develop a free public access WiFi network. His father is a mountain his mother a washing machine while his dead brother is killing the living ones who live inside each other like Russian dolls. but
Show More
there is something odd about his neighbours. Is there a point? I don't know but I doubt it. Show Less
LibraryThing member bethlakshmi
I enjoyed reading a new author, but I'm not sure I'd read more. The book was very innovative, with some interestingly strange characters and a good system for fitting fantastic creatures into the "real" world.
My objection is that the book can be dark but not in a way that is either sexy or
Also, the author choose to make several major characters with ambiguous names - the names change throughout the book, and you have to get used to reading for the first initial, not the whole name. This was possible due to the limited cast of characters, but it puts added effort on the reader.
For the grossness and the naming weirdnes, I expected a bigger payoff in the ending, and I didn't get it.
My objection is that the book can be dark but not in a way that is either sexy or
Show More
thrilling. There's some fairly gross bits that are in keeping with the characters, but gross enough that it wasn't so fun to read while eating or just before bedtime - my two favorite reading times.Also, the author choose to make several major characters with ambiguous names - the names change throughout the book, and you have to get used to reading for the first initial, not the whole name. This was possible due to the limited cast of characters, but it puts added effort on the reader.
For the grossness and the naming weirdnes, I expected a bigger payoff in the ending, and I didn't get it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member steevc
A strange mix of geek fiction and fantasy. Read over a long period on my phone
LibraryThing member g026r
A Doctorow-written piece that didn't make me want to claw my eyes out. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. It's just a pity the ending feels so sudden and forced. (The fact it ties in so heavily to Doctorow's techno-fetishism shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but that could be
On the minus side: it still feels like he came up with an idea he wished to push and then tried to build a story around it, and there are several low points where the plot disappears into stereotypical Doctorow-ranting. Also, is it impossible for him to write a character who eats, uses, or wears something without him feeling the need to tell us the brand of the item and where it was purchased? Overall, it still feels like he's trying too hard to convince people of both his hipness and intelligence.
On the plus side: his overuse and abuse of made-up words and the English language in general (along with his Disney-obsession) is far less prevalent in this book than in some of his other writings.
Show More
overlooked if it weren't for how jarringly abrupt it is.)On the minus side: it still feels like he came up with an idea he wished to push and then tried to build a story around it, and there are several low points where the plot disappears into stereotypical Doctorow-ranting. Also, is it impossible for him to write a character who eats, uses, or wears something without him feeling the need to tell us the brand of the item and where it was purchased? Overall, it still feels like he's trying too hard to convince people of both his hipness and intelligence.
On the plus side: his overuse and abuse of made-up words and the English language in general (along with his Disney-obsession) is far less prevalent in this book than in some of his other writings.
Show Less
LibraryThing member clong
This is only the second work of Doctorow’s for me (the other having been the very funny short story “I, Rowboat”). It strikes me as a book that would evoke strong opinions, pro and con. Put me squarely in the pro column.
It is an ambitious book, not quite like anything I’ve ever read before.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is clearly a book about identify, a book about how we are all the same and how we are each different. And perhaps about how you are defined by the company that your keep. It is at times quite funny, at times quite scary, and often absurd. In the end it delivers a powerful and affirming message, something along the lines of “be true to our commonality and be true to our differences and avoid those who aren’t either.”
There are things about the book that didn’t entirely work for me. The changing names thing was more annoying than effective (although in retrospect it clearly fit squarely into the identity theme of the book). Alan’s brothers (except for Davey) never felt fully fleshed out as distinct characters, which made the climax somewhat less effective than it could have been. The short, choppy narrative segments at times left you confused about which of the various storylines you were dropping in on.
Overall, a book where the pluses far outweigh the minuses. I will definitely plan to read more from Cory Doctorow.
It is an ambitious book, not quite like anything I’ve ever read before.
Show More
Doctorow demonstrates a facility for juxtaposing the fantastic with the everyday in a way vaguely reminiscent of one my all-time favorites, Cordwainer Smith. The protagonist Alan is an original character on several levels (not the least of which is his unusual family tree). This is not a book that I would consider Cyberpunk, more Urban Fantasy with healthy doses of Lovecraft.Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is clearly a book about identify, a book about how we are all the same and how we are each different. And perhaps about how you are defined by the company that your keep. It is at times quite funny, at times quite scary, and often absurd. In the end it delivers a powerful and affirming message, something along the lines of “be true to our commonality and be true to our differences and avoid those who aren’t either.”
There are things about the book that didn’t entirely work for me. The changing names thing was more annoying than effective (although in retrospect it clearly fit squarely into the identity theme of the book). Alan’s brothers (except for Davey) never felt fully fleshed out as distinct characters, which made the climax somewhat less effective than it could have been. The short, choppy narrative segments at times left you confused about which of the various storylines you were dropping in on.
Overall, a book where the pluses far outweigh the minuses. I will definitely plan to read more from Cory Doctorow.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hobreads
Bad. I imagine the author had a bad trip after watching A Clockwork Orange and decided to write a story in the style of Neil Gaiman (including a Dave McKean-like cover) using Mad Libs for inspiration. Pity, because I rather enjoyed Doctorow's "Little Brother".
LibraryThing member Sarahfine
One of the more original fantasy/scifi books I've read, "Someone" is boldly and unapologetically off the beaten path. Alan and his brothers are a strange breed, born of a mountain and a washing machine. Three of the brothers fit inside of each other like nesting dolls, one is prophetic, one an
Show More
island, and one a sadistic killer. In addition, they have the unsettling narrative quality of constantly changing names, albeit staying with the same consonant (Alan changes to Adam/August/Austin etc.) These circumstances may seem gimmicky, but they somehow interweave to emphasize the other-worldly nature of the family. If the exploration of Alan's lineage isn't intriguing enough, Doctorow adds fratricide, a girl with wings, and Alan's harrowing race to protect his family from his destroyer brother. A side plot about creating internet access points feels unrelated, but eventually feels like another of Alan's efforts to reach his goal of blending with humanity. A twist ending creates a burning need to reexamine the book from another perspective. An experimental, yet ultimately satisfying read. Show Less
LibraryThing member octoberdad
Hmm, Cory seems to be suffering from diminishing returns. I loved "Down and Out..."; "Eastern Standard Tribe" was pretty good; but this novel kinda blew. I just never got around to caring about either of the two plot threads - the struggle to bring free wi-fi to the citizens of Toronto and the
Show More
attempt to reconcile flaws of the main character's disfunctionally supernatural family. That said, the writing is good, and Cory excels as usual in his ability to paint cool pictures. Show Less