Doctorow has considerable narrative skill and has populated his story with a host of very charming characters, young punks all, lovable scamps with talent and creativity and technical know-how (and, in more than a few cases, an impressive knowledge of property law, both intellectual and real). That's not to say it's a horrible novel it's not. Another fan might choose to edit out all of the teenage romance and cheerful 'we can do it' remodeling/repurposing/squat claiming stuff and just leave the expounding dialogues in place to educate everyone about the dangers of copyright maximalism and the move to privatize free expression and bring all media under corporate control.Īctually, as I consider it, I would probably enjoy reading either of those edits, at least more than I enjoyed reading this novel. I wonder how Doctorow, champion of remix culture, culture jamming, sharing, and all the other ideas that are illustrated in this book, would feel about such an edit, though? On the one hand, his work would be getting watered down, stripped of a lot of its political message and used as mere entertainment, and thus maybe undermining that message on the other, well, it would be a remix like any other. And however praiseworthy that agenda may be, a novel-length parable illustrating its importance is a bit much.īut! Fear not, for the bits where we don't feel the author sitting next to us and preaching at us (and let me just get it out there right now: I sing an enthusiastic tenor in every performance of the choir to whom Cory Doctorow is preaching) are pretty good, though in some ways that almost makes it worse - they're good enough to just make the reader ache for an edit of this book with maybe at least some of the finger-wagging cut out or cut down. Which is to say that in a lot of ways, the didactic agenda of this novel gets noticeably in the way of the story a little too often to make this a genuinely enjoyable read. With maybe a little of some sunny Oliver!-ish can-do musical extravaganza thrown in here and there. Well, let's say half After-School Special and half Steal This Book. There's something more than a little bit After School Special-ish about Pirate Cinema, I'm afraid. 'If it's just theft, then why do they need to get their laws passed in the dead of the night, without debate or discussion?' - 26 in Pirate Cinema

Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow