In the second half of the book, things truly became fictional for me. By this, I mean that I could no longer take the book seriously as having the potential to be real. Every message and every appeal to emotions made by the book felt like I was reading a romantic adventure novel- you know, the one's where the protagonist, against all odds, comes out on top after having a life experience to live happily ever after. The book illustrates webblies around the world unifying and working together to fight for their rights both as humans and as workers, many willing to die for their cause. A handful of our beloved characters die- poor webblies- including Big Sister Nor but then again, even Bruce Willis had to die in Armageddon, right? The world is worth it... But no, in all seriousness, the ending of the book was a huge letdown with the remaining handful of protagonists- who by this point were either heroes or of a superhuman status- coming together with one of the main antagonists, Colin Prikkel, in India to grab lunch together- as Professor Nakamura said, we weren't assigned this book for it's excellent writing and literary value.
To be honest, I read and finished this book after purchasing the paperback edition at the beginning of the semester so it had been quite a while since I've made the read. However, the messages the book attempted to convey are still very much present somewhere in the back of my mind. On one hand, Cory Doctorow seems to want his audience to understand the power of the internet and its ability to connect the world under one singular communal identity. With this assumption in place, he then seems to want us to believe that this power can be used for any single individual to change the world if they put their mind to it. I can definitely agree with the former point and understand the world of potential that the internet provides for its users to come together but, whether it's the cynic in me or whether I'm jaded from years of living in a capitalistic country where the masses are spoonfed the same crap day after day- nonstop advertisements, bogus politics, false hope, etc.- the latter argument is ridiculous. Yes, the internet gives any single user what would have been considered a few decades ago, superhuman abilities but to say that all people who face injustice are willing and ready to become activists at the call of a few "powerful" internet usernames... Anyways, I did enjoy the book and look forward to reading some of Cory Doctorow's other publications. The novel was informative, fun, and easy to read and so I leave you with a question much like that posed by the Professor in our last class period: What did you take away from reading this book? Did it give you some substantial food for thought or did you take it as sheer entertainment?
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