Cory Doctorow put this latest work up for free download as well as publishing it deadtree style. It confused me at times, though that was likely due to my reading it online in a browser window and having to find my place when I went back to read more. Also confusing — it’s a story about brothers who were named in alphabetical order, and their names change throughout the book, though they are always referred to by names beginning with the same letter; Allan will be Allen, Alby, or any other A name, Billy will be Bernard or some other B name, and so on. So combine this with never being quite sure you’ve gone back to the same place you left off, and the flashbacks that take the reader to some experience related to what’s going on in the ‘present’ of the book, and it got a little muddled in my head. If I reread it, I’ll move it into another format so I can set bookmarks, or buy the book – though that will put acquisition off until I am gainfully employed with a book budget.
If you enjoy the sort of fantasy in which improbabilities serve to shine light on reality (a mountain and a washing machine (”she kept our clothes clean”) can have children, and some of those children are not quite as human as the others) you might like this. It’s not so much about mountains and washing machines having kids as it is being different and trying to find a place in the world, which is really largely indifferent to those who don’t fit in a particular set of preconceived boxes. Book-hoarding and WiFi networking come into the mix too. The more violent elements of the plot reminded me somewhat of something you would see in Stephen King, but Doctorow is not King, and some of the motivation and emotional underpinnings become clear by the end of the story.