The Lost Cause

[psocoptera]

The Lost Cause, Cory Doctorow, 2023 novel. I'm not sure why last-November-me was so sure I wanted to read this, but whatever that reason was, I was wrong. I mean, near-future cli-fi is relevant to my interests, and I think Doctorow sometimes says interesting stuff as a futurist, but nothing in this book spoke to me. Not realistic enough to be relevant, not particularly fun, I really didn't like the way Doctorow wrote about sex and romance (maybe that was the young-straight-dude POV (okay, character self-identifies as queer but thinks about the attractiveness of every female character but no men characters, I wouldn't debate the self-identification of a real-life person but I feel like this fictional guy was straight-coded by the text)). I don't know, I had a lot of petty complaints. People are constantly being swarmed and bitten by mosquitoes, to show how the LA-area climate has shifted, but nobody seems to be worrying about mosquito-borne illness. The food descriptions started to feel like I was being hit over the head with vegetarianism. Honestly I probably would be one of the bad guys in Doctorow's world, I would not be thrilled if the house next to mine was torn down and a four-story apartment building erected there overnight with no permits. (As it is, I'm not sure it's a coincidence that my basement never flooded before the house next to mine was torn down and replaced with a much larger house, and if my neighborhood loses an ongoing fight and the developers pave over our local wetland to build more housing, it could get so much worse. Sorry to be a NIMBY!)

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

The last time I tried to open a Doctorow book I was really annoyed by how written by a straight guy it was and had to close it again. It seems like he needs more first readers or something? The mosquito thing sounds like he's missing the obvious.

[glynhogen]

I haven't tried one of his books for a long time, for similar reasons. Plus a vague annoyance that he seems less interested in writing fiction than using fiction as a delivery device.

[psocoptera]

Well, I suppose I'm pleased to join the team of people who know this, for future already knowing of it. :)