Little Brother

I finished reading Little Brother this past weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the story very interesting and engaging and it was one of those books that I wanted to read again immediately after finishing it. I thought that the main character Marcus was created in a way that made it easy to relate to him. I felt sympathetic towards him throughout his struggles in the book. Even faced with extreme opposition, the U.S. government, he accomplishes something that no one could imagine a teenager capable of. I also appreciated how even though he accomplishes all of these amazing tasks, he still leads several aspects of a normal teenage life. These include going to school, having a girlfriend, and playing video games.

I did find comparing my high school with Marcus's somewhat disturbing though. We may not have had gate recognition soft ware, but we did have cameras that were constantly monitored for strange faces. We also had bars on all of our windows and were subject to constant car searches when we chose to use the schools provided parking lots. Finally, we were subject to a dress code. This made outsiders stick out like a sore thumb but also crushed our creativity and further suppressed our freedom. When I look at how close some schools are to becoming like the ones in Little Brother I worry about my 12 year old brothers high school future. Perhaps he will have a restricting computer and facial recognition software in the hallways.