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on May 8, 2017
I highly recommend Cory Doctrow's novel, Walkaway. Yes, the characters in Walkaway are not deeply developed. And, yes, jargon and slang infiltrates the dialogue like kudzu unfurling in a temperate forest baked by climate-change. However, Doctrow's amazingly successful world building made it easy for me to get past those issues. This novel is a member of a rare species, a Must Read that is also fun to read.
The world that Doctrow creates in Walkaway is one of the most difficult to pull off, I think. It is a world very close in time to our own, and very like our own. The science and technology we read about is not unobtainable, and although the airships used by Walkaways to flyaway bring Steampunk to mind, this is not a Steampunk world. Socially and economically, the world in Walkaway follows paths already in place in "our" world.
There is much commentary in Walkaway, on topics ranging from political to economic to social. The commentary is primary embedded in character dialogue, and that approach works about 85% of the time. Admittedly, there are points when spoken ideologic observations work against the development of an character into someone we can believe in and care about. In my opinion, this drawback does not affect the overall success of the novel.
Of course it is difficult to write about the conversations that occur in Walkaway without treading into Spoiler Territory. However, I think most readers will find that novel contains thoughtful observations that go beyond, and push the reader to think beyond, introductory level concepts. For example, (and this will not be a spoiler), when a member of the 1% and a Walkaway debate the value of charitable non-profit foundations set up by the wealthy... the usual glowing accolades accorded to selfless wealthy individuals who "give away" so much money are refuted by the Walkaway. These foundations are not created out of the goodness of your heart, she asserts. They are created so the rich, like you, can stay in control of where their money goes, running the world like it is another of their private cooperations. Expressing this viewpoint, I think, calls for a certain fearlessness. Walkaway contains the fearless expression of many such observations.
Of note, I admit to being inclined personally toward a "Bernie" viewpoint, and lean far away from Trump's ideology. So I embraced most of the observations and comments I read in Walkaway. However, readers with different viewpoints may well react to the novel with less delight than I did. I hope, however, that the majority of readers will take on, and finish the novel, even if the urge strikes to walk away.
The world that Doctrow creates in Walkaway is one of the most difficult to pull off, I think. It is a world very close in time to our own, and very like our own. The science and technology we read about is not unobtainable, and although the airships used by Walkaways to flyaway bring Steampunk to mind, this is not a Steampunk world. Socially and economically, the world in Walkaway follows paths already in place in "our" world.
There is much commentary in Walkaway, on topics ranging from political to economic to social. The commentary is primary embedded in character dialogue, and that approach works about 85% of the time. Admittedly, there are points when spoken ideologic observations work against the development of an character into someone we can believe in and care about. In my opinion, this drawback does not affect the overall success of the novel.
Of course it is difficult to write about the conversations that occur in Walkaway without treading into Spoiler Territory. However, I think most readers will find that novel contains thoughtful observations that go beyond, and push the reader to think beyond, introductory level concepts. For example, (and this will not be a spoiler), when a member of the 1% and a Walkaway debate the value of charitable non-profit foundations set up by the wealthy... the usual glowing accolades accorded to selfless wealthy individuals who "give away" so much money are refuted by the Walkaway. These foundations are not created out of the goodness of your heart, she asserts. They are created so the rich, like you, can stay in control of where their money goes, running the world like it is another of their private cooperations. Expressing this viewpoint, I think, calls for a certain fearlessness. Walkaway contains the fearless expression of many such observations.
Of note, I admit to being inclined personally toward a "Bernie" viewpoint, and lean far away from Trump's ideology. So I embraced most of the observations and comments I read in Walkaway. However, readers with different viewpoints may well react to the novel with less delight than I did. I hope, however, that the majority of readers will take on, and finish the novel, even if the urge strikes to walk away.
on May 14, 2017
Meh.
Good points:
• It is not a dystopia. It is not a utopia. It is two, two topias in one!
• No nanites. Thank god!
• Final third of the novel
• Walkaways are a new and interesting character class
• For Doctrow fans (like me) it is fun to see him idea-check previous short stories and novels
• I got 27 new business ideas
Bad Points
• The text is primarily a delivery system for buzzwords, soon-to-be-buzzwords, and totally invented buzzwords. They come so fast, furious, and unrelenting, that the novel should be stamped with a motion sickness warning (I was frequently a little nauseous). What he lacks in quality, he makes up in quantity.
• The first 2/3 of the novel. No excitement and none of the characters wormed their way in.
• 3D printers take on some of the magical role usually reserved for nanites.
• Instead of evil military commanders with one dimension, we get evil capitalists with one dimension.
For me, Walkaway was a cross between a chat channel for Anonymous, where the cool kids invent slang to keep the noobs guessing, and a philosophy textbook. In fact, if it is any one thing, it is a philosophy parable. See the Capitalists? Bad Capitalists. Morally bankrupt Capitalists. See the people who just want to share? Good Abundance people. Morally evolved Abundance people.
For me, Walkaway was better than The Rapture of the Nerds but not as good as Makers.
Good points:
• It is not a dystopia. It is not a utopia. It is two, two topias in one!
• No nanites. Thank god!
• Final third of the novel
• Walkaways are a new and interesting character class
• For Doctrow fans (like me) it is fun to see him idea-check previous short stories and novels
• I got 27 new business ideas
Bad Points
• The text is primarily a delivery system for buzzwords, soon-to-be-buzzwords, and totally invented buzzwords. They come so fast, furious, and unrelenting, that the novel should be stamped with a motion sickness warning (I was frequently a little nauseous). What he lacks in quality, he makes up in quantity.
• The first 2/3 of the novel. No excitement and none of the characters wormed their way in.
• 3D printers take on some of the magical role usually reserved for nanites.
• Instead of evil military commanders with one dimension, we get evil capitalists with one dimension.
For me, Walkaway was a cross between a chat channel for Anonymous, where the cool kids invent slang to keep the noobs guessing, and a philosophy textbook. In fact, if it is any one thing, it is a philosophy parable. See the Capitalists? Bad Capitalists. Morally bankrupt Capitalists. See the people who just want to share? Good Abundance people. Morally evolved Abundance people.
For me, Walkaway was better than The Rapture of the Nerds but not as good as Makers.
on May 22, 2017
Current Doctorow seems to have an argument with Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Doctorow, and actually puts all the arguments of the meritocracy he proposed in DOMK in the mouth of a guy who has a good heart but is kind of an jerk. For those of you who read and/or remember DOMK it's about the people who keep Disney World running because they love Disney World. More specifically there's an elaborate points system where people give each other points for doing cool things, and people with more points have more say in what to do next. This all sounded cool back in 2003 (when DOMK was published), before we had likes, social media, and gamification, and we realized it was a skinner box trap that would lead to the horrible dystopia of Black Mirror's "Nosedive" instead of Doctorow's meritocracy. Doctorow now seems to agree.
In Walkaway he tries to say that we live in an embarrassment of riches and that the 0.01% fool us into believing we need jobs and money to get stuff when if we just walk away and make things that are cool because they are cool, then we'll all have enough to eat, a place to live, and fulfilling activities to occupy our lives. Once you build something cool, someone is bound to want it, so you just walk away again and build something else. 3D printers are ubiquitous, as are plans for things to make because of the net (handwave). Of course, the 0.01% don't like people walking away, and paint them as terrorists, criminals, and all around bad people. Lots of walk away people die, but the others just keep walking away into harsher environments like a terribly contaminated asbestos and chemical spill site where the walkaways are printing their own space suits and practicing (kind of) to become Martians.
Oh, and the big breakthrough is that the walkaways discover how to record consciousness, effectively making people immortal as long as you have the server capacity and storage to run them. This pisses off the 0.01% to no end, because if that technology is available to everyone then they can't become immortal oligarchs ruling mankind forever.
Huge grains of salt are needed here, because Doctorow's people seem to be perfect communists, and I'm pretty sure those don't exist. Doctorow has substituted "people will do it because of points" with "people will do it because they'll see it's the right thing to do."
For all that he's writing about near-future dystopias, he's really an optimist.
In Walkaway he tries to say that we live in an embarrassment of riches and that the 0.01% fool us into believing we need jobs and money to get stuff when if we just walk away and make things that are cool because they are cool, then we'll all have enough to eat, a place to live, and fulfilling activities to occupy our lives. Once you build something cool, someone is bound to want it, so you just walk away again and build something else. 3D printers are ubiquitous, as are plans for things to make because of the net (handwave). Of course, the 0.01% don't like people walking away, and paint them as terrorists, criminals, and all around bad people. Lots of walk away people die, but the others just keep walking away into harsher environments like a terribly contaminated asbestos and chemical spill site where the walkaways are printing their own space suits and practicing (kind of) to become Martians.
Oh, and the big breakthrough is that the walkaways discover how to record consciousness, effectively making people immortal as long as you have the server capacity and storage to run them. This pisses off the 0.01% to no end, because if that technology is available to everyone then they can't become immortal oligarchs ruling mankind forever.
Huge grains of salt are needed here, because Doctorow's people seem to be perfect communists, and I'm pretty sure those don't exist. Doctorow has substituted "people will do it because of points" with "people will do it because they'll see it's the right thing to do."
For all that he's writing about near-future dystopias, he's really an optimist.
on May 6, 2017
Doctorow fast forwards our present, extrapolating to what seems like a highly likely version of the future. The underlying but never subtle messages contained in this and his other books continually give me pause and force me to reflect on the socio economic structures that we let bind our lives.
Not a book to pick up lightly it contains profound and life changing concepts. Make sure you are prepared for that.
Not a book to pick up lightly it contains profound and life changing concepts. Make sure you are prepared for that.
on May 28, 2017
A very interesting look at a post-scarcity future. The story isn't fully refined, but still provides a strong narrative full of interesting concepts.
I highly recommend for futurist readers.
I highly recommend for futurist readers.
on May 3, 2017
The book is interesting in the way many parts are in two sides at once. The whole plot is a dystopia (the default) and an utopia (the walkways). The society seems real and totally made up at the same time, and so does the tech.
It also feels a bit as propaganda against capitalism in many ways, and I'm not sure at all that the pure gift economy could work. Feels like the carefully calculated one with scores that Charles Stross proposed on some of his older novels would be much more likely to work.
Still, as most Doctorow novels, it is very unusual and well worth reading.
It also feels a bit as propaganda against capitalism in many ways, and I'm not sure at all that the pure gift economy could work. Feels like the carefully calculated one with scores that Charles Stross proposed on some of his older novels would be much more likely to work.
Still, as most Doctorow novels, it is very unusual and well worth reading.
on May 9, 2017
A little Bit of Station Eleven, a little bit of Ursula LeGuin's Those who walk away from Omphalos. I enjoyed an optimistic dystopia although the end wrapped up a bit too neatly.
on May 14, 2017
Walkaway embiggens the smallest reader. It looks at our future, with the same sort of hopefulness as Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.
Also, get the audiobook, the narration makes it totally worth it.
Also, get the audiobook, the narration makes it totally worth it.
on April 28, 2017
Cory Doctorow's Walkaway is a tour de force. I discovered his books four years ago and am constantly blown away by his ability to use his stories to show us the future. In Walkaway, the world is rapidly deteriorating due to the concentration of capital by a few powerful families. When one of the daughters of a powerful "zotta" joins the Walkaway movement, her father will stop at nothing to get her back.
