2011 Book Review #92: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

[jethrien]

Title: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Author: Cory Doctorow
Genre: Science fiction
Thingummies: 4

Synopsis: In a post-scarcity, post-death world, Jules manages to get himself killed anyway in a turf dispute over who gets to rehab the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. It makes his life a little messy.

Thoughts: When I started to wrap my head around the world that Doctorow was laying out, I had trouble figuring out what would be the conflict of this book. It's pretty hard core science fiction, full of predictions of technologies and their social ramifications. If we no longer had to fear death or illness and no one went without shelter and food and copious entertainment, what kind of conflicts would be left? Whenever you have a utopia novel, it usually ends in either discovering that the utopia is actually a dystopia with a horrific underbelly or something catastrophic happening to destroy the utopia that was somehow making us less human because we weren't striving enough or something.

Doctorow has the courage to resist the obvious choices and instead go small.

This book does not feature sweeping sociological change. Very little has changed at all in the end, which is just fine because the Bitchun Society is actually pretty awesome. But that's not to say there's no conflict. Doctorow believes that people are fundamentally the same at the bottom. And so in this world with no war and almost no crime, where everyone has enough and the only thing that matters is how much respect you can accrue from the people around you, we get a story seething with jealousy, love, resentment, friendship, pettiness, betrayal, idealism, naivete, and heartbreak.

All over an amusement park ride.

Because Jules and his friends (and foes) are still the same as any of us. And now that no one has to worry about losing their healthcare or not making enough money for retirement, everyone is free to follow their dreams--which often do not mesh with other people's dreams. Endless lifetimes do not actually confer boundless wisdom, and people keep making the same mistakes as they ever have. Which is depressing and yet ultimately a kind of hopeful way to look at the world.

This is a first novel, and it shows. Some of the pacing's a bit uneven and it's a little rough around the edges. But it's boundlessly creative and deals with the ramifications of its innovations more thoroughly than most science fiction. Also, it's published with the Creative Commons license, so you can pick up a copy for free, which is well worth doing.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It's funny that I know Doctorow entirely from his publishing punditry stance and don't know a thing about anything he's written...

This sounds an awfully lot like how I'd think Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek would actually be. Even if no one wanted for anything, not everyone would be able to achieve their dream. Or have the person they loved love them back.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

But there's a certain satisfaction to removing a lot of the stupid obstacles. Conversely, there's a certain dismay. Because pretty much, if you don't get something you want, it's your fault. You have all the time in the world to find love, and the ability to modify your body to meet your own perfect ideal. You don't need funding to create your work of art that takes you ten years. You can do scientific research on a niggling little problem forever, if you want. So if you don't achieve your dreams, it's not because you were unlucky enough to be born poor or fat or ugly, it's because you did not work hard enough and persuade enough people that your idea was good. It's both more fair and in some ways more merciless.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

We need denial. There's a very strong human drive for it. I don't think removing the ability to shift blame to preserve your psyche is a good thing.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

We do need denial. But I think we'd just find new ways of creating it. I would certainly not turn down perfect health and a removal of scarcity to preserve it.