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Summary
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother, Cory Doctorow, comes Pirate Cinema, a new tale of a brilliant hacker runaway who finds himself standing up to tyranny.
Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household's access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.
Trent's too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke.
Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven't entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people's minds....
Author Notes
Writer and activist Cory Doctorow was born in Toronto, Canada on July 17, 1971. In 1999 he co-founded a free software company called Opencola and served as Canadian Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. For four years he worked as European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and in 2007 won its Pioneer Award. His first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, won a Locus Award for Best First Novel. His short story collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More won a Sunburst Award, and his bestselling novel Little Brother received the 2009 Prometheus Award, a Sunburst Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Doctorow also writes nonfiction books and articles, and he co-edits the blog Boing Boing.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Trent McCauley, 16, makes films. The problem is that his films are composed of bits and pieces of other copyrighted material. He's a thief of intellectual property and in this near-future Great Britain, the consequences for this sort of action are severe. He leaves home for London after his online piracy has caused his entire family to lose their vital Internet connection for a year. He soon meets Jem, who shows him the ropes of being homeless, and in no time they are sharing a posh flop with Trent's new mates. Back online, he makes films that are a smash hit on the underground scene where he rechristens himself "Cecil B. DeVil." He falls in love with beautiful and brilliant 26, who opens his eyes to the political ramifications of his filmmaking. Soon Cecil and his entire crew are in a political and artistic fight to dismantle legislation criminalizing their type of creativity, legislation written by film studios and passed by the studios' Parliament lackeys. This amazing book combines young love, terrific humor, great British slang, and crazy parties with astute commentary on intellectual property and emerging modes of creativity. Doctorow's characters are well-defined individuals, all with some facet, quirk, or activity to give them color. Language-arts and civics teachers could co-teach the heck out of this novel, and debaters will find a goldmine of monologues. It's funny, thought-provoking, and glorious.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Doctorow's novel set in the not too distant future, 16-year-old Trent McCauley gets his family in big trouble due to his unrepentant Internet piracy. With things going badly at home and the family banned from the Internet, Trent opts to run away to London, where he learns to live on the streets. In this audio edition, narrator Bruce Mann-whose native British accent is ideal for the story-does his best to embody Trent but turns in a middling performance. Though his interpretations of the supporting characters, particularly Trent's mother, are believable and understated, the majority of his reading sounds forced and unnatural. At times it sounds as if he's reading rather than performing. Mann seems unable to really let himself get lost within the story, and because of his reading listeners will suffer the same fate. Ages 12-up. A Tor hardcover. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Trent illegally downloads old movies, recuts them, and creates new ones. When his family is banned from using the Internet for one year because of his actions, Trent runs away and joins up with other artists and activists to fight oppressive copyright laws. Despite a colorful cast, the meandering plot periodically slows to a crawl, but those interested in the subject will persevere. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The near future's oppressive copyright laws criminalize creativity in the name of protecting it. Trent McCauley has an irrepressible drive to create, carefully splicing bits and pieces of movies together into entirely new films. However, he gets his footage through illegal downloading, and when he's caught, his family loses their Internet for a year, nearly ruining them. His mother can't get her benefits, his father loses his job, and his academic sister is cut off from her homework, all in the name of miniscule amounts of corporate profit. Guilt-stricken, Trent runs away to London, where he's taken under the wing of streetwise Jem Dodger, learning Dumpster diving, squatting and panhandling. After Trent builds a family of fellow outcast kids, his creative urge leads him into an underground subculture of pirate-created movies in makeshift venues. There, he meets 26 and creates the persona Cecil B. DeVil. Pulled by 26 into the politics of copyright and the lobbyist money that purchases laws, Cecil becomes a creative figurehead for reform against escalating laws that aggressively jail kids. Doctorow (For the Win, 2010, etc.) isn't subtle with his stances; characters often seem to be giving campaign speeches. Fortunately, those rich characters are well-rounded enough and the laws close enough to already proposed measures that the agenda detracts minimally from the novel's success as a story. For computer-savvy kids who like to think. (Science fiction. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Incorporating all the urgency of Little Brother (2008) and the gravity of For the Win (2010), Doctorow's series starter is his most cogent, energizing call to arms to date, an old-fashioned (but forward-thinking) counterculture rabble-rouser that will have dissidents of all ages dying to stick it to the Man. In Doctorow's favorite setting the all-too-near future Trent, 16, aka Cecil B. DeVil, likes to take copyrighted movie footage and through some truly epic mousing remix it to startling new effect. It's illegal, of course, and after his editing gets his family's Internet access revoked to calamitous results, Trent escapes to London, where he joins up with the Oliver Twist-like Jammie Dodgers, a mischievous gang of life hackers who have turned squatting into an art. Meanwhile, the Theft of Intellectual Property Bill passes, leading to minors being thrown into prison for copyright theft and spurring Trent and his pals to launch a series of secret film screenings that become an underground sensation. It's generally accepted that fussing with computers is a narrative buzzkill, yet Doctorow's unrivaled verisimilitude makes every click as exciting as a band of underdog warriors storming a castle. It's not exactly Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book (1971), but with its delirious insights into everything from street art to urban exploring to dumpster diving to experimental cinema, it feels damn close. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Doctorow, coeditor of the insanely popular Boing Boing blog, has a massive loyal following, and all of them teen and adult alike will be clamoring for this one.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist