Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Feb 25, 2009 Geoff Carter rated it 2 of 5 stars

Messy, unfocused. Characters are poorly-formed and unlikeable. Doctorow starts out with several intriguing conceits -- eternal life though computer-style backups and clones, the evolution of themed environments, hard currency replaced by popular esteem -- but he can't decide which one he finds most intriguing, and he even loses those prime notions a few times through needless tangents.

Doctorow obviously loves the cyberpunk novels of Neal Stephenson (which are themselves a tangle of ideas and tan...more

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Aug 12, 2008 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, canadian-lit

One of the many complaints I hear about Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is that it is "shallow." Readers see a shallowness in character, a shallowness in the work they choose, a shallowness in story depth, and a shallowness in the story's morality.

I don't see it myself.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom may seem shallow, but there is a great deal of depth to be found if one approaches the book with a willingness to overcome the prejudices and perspectives of our current cultur...more One of the many complaints I hear about Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is that it is "shallow." Readers see a shallowness in character, a shallowness in the work they choose, a shallowness in story depth, and a shallowness in the story's morality.

I don't see it myself.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom may seem shallow, but there is a great deal of depth to be found if one approaches the book with a willingness to overcome the prejudices and perspectives of our current culture, to project oneself into the mindset and morality of the future world Doctorow has created.

I won't go into the story itself with any detail, as I don't want to spoil anything, but Doctorow's finest achievement in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is the way he explores the question of morality. In a world where death and disease are over, where scarcity is barely remembered, it becomes clear that morality, even our morality today, is formed and shaped by mortality -- or the lack thereof.

The only real immorality in Down and Out seems to be the destruction of another's work. Only the tangible creations of an individual or a team ("ad-hoc") have value. Adultery, theft, destruction and even murder have no real negative value. They may reduce a person's prestige ("Whuffie") for a short time, but it is not difficult for the "victim" of any of these crimes to remain close friends or become close friends with his or her "victimizers" once he or she is "rebooted."

What this suggests for ourselves is fascinating: that morality itself is based on our mortality. The shortness of our lives, the moment of death that we all face, is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and wrong. I am sure some would say, "So what? That doesn't change anything. Wrong is wrong. Bad is bad. Evil is evil." Perhaps. But perhaps not, and what makes Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom a victory for me is that it makes me wonder about the perhaps not.

Anything that makes us consider our morality rather than just blindly accepting what has been passed down to us is a good thing, as far as I am concerned.

And so that leaves me with one nagging question: how can a book that expects us to make considerations about mortality and morality really be considered shallow? Very simply, it can't be.(less)

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Aug 02, 2008 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, science-fiction

Cory Doctorow's novella spins a tale set in the "Bitchun society" - a time in the future where death has been cured and money has been replaced by a system of respect/popularity points that's immediately accessible since everyone somehow has the internet in their heads now.

The "Magic Kingdom" referenced in the title is THE Magic Kingdom - the story takes place in Disney World, which has taken on an elevated importance in a world where people no longer have jobs or, essentially, purpose.

It's sho...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Joel rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Cory Doctorow

Recommended to Joel by: Cory Doctorow

Shelves: audiobooks, sci-fi-fantasy, 2009

Even though I find him massively annoying in the way I always find professional bloggers annoying (read: if I am honest with myself, it probably has mostly to do with jealousy), I have to admit, I think it is pretty cool that Cory Doctorow gives away all of his books for free (the smug bastard).

I listened to a surprisingly well-produced amateur audiobook of this one about a year ago (you can probably still grab it free from... wherever it was I found it. Podiobooks.com?) and even though I didn'...more Even though I find him massively annoying in the way I always find professional bloggers annoying (read: if I am honest with myself, it probably has mostly to do with jealousy), I have to admit, I think it is pretty cool that Cory Doctorow gives away all of his books for free (the smug bastard).

I listened to a surprisingly well-produced amateur audiobook of this one about a year ago (you can probably still grab it free from... wherever it was I found it. Podiobooks.com?) and even though I didn't love it, I do think of it from time to time, to the degree that I am considering foisting it upon my real world book club, because I think it would be really easy to find stuff to say about it. I mean, I want to talk about Battlestar Galactica and Tron too, but we should probably try to focus a little on the book.

So anyway, as you might expect from someone who makes a living being adored on the internet, here Cory Doctorow has engineered a world where everyone is immortal (thanks to digital memory backups that can be downloaded into clone bodies) and connected to social networks all the time (literally, via implants in their brains and eyes!). If your society is going to eliminate death, you better well have all the other animal needs taken care of, and this one seems to: there is no hunger, pollution isn't an issue, and traditional concepts of wealth-through-accumulation-of-things are a thing of the past (note the book is unclear on whether this is the case everywhere; maybe, say, Ghana has been allowed to just quietly go about its business).

Instead of money, status is determined through a true social currency: others' esteem, a system Doctorow has given the stupid but memorable name "whuffie." Like an extreme extension of re-tweets, you earn more whuffie if people look at you as an influencer, an innovator: someone worth knowing. Do something dumb and they can take their whuffie back. Like Homer says, in Doctorow's world, first you get the sugar, then you get the whuffie, then you get the women (note: I know this isn't really a Simpsons quote, shut up).

So this is the interesting idea at the core of this book, which is really just an extended demonstration of the concept adorned with additional sci-fi ideas (digital immortality!) in a fun setting, namely (obviously) Disney World, where the rather unlikeable main character works as an "Imagineer," perfecting the "guest experience" of decades old theme park attractions while remaining slavishly faithful to their nostalgic qualities. This should be super fun for me, because I am a nerd who has read blogs (blogs!) about the development of Disney attractions.

But even though the book is very short, I kind of got sick of it after a while. The characters are all pretty unlikeable (no whuffie from me!), and once the whole social/economic system has been thoroughly explained and explored, there's not a lot to go on, despite the effort to turn tweaks to The Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents into a high-stakes political game (memo to Imagineers: The HOP is where people go to cool off; consider relaunching it as The Hall of Naps). I mean, there are multiple murders and it is still rather dull, mostly because they don't really factor (and Doctorow pretty much sidesteps the whole theological angle, though he's probably right that people wouldn't worry about that too much once they realized they could actually live forever -- I want to know what happens next too, after all).

Still, it explores some fun ideas. And it's free and available for download now! I mean, so is everything else, but at least you don't have to steal this one.(less)

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Aug 11, 2008 John added it

In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, times sure seem to have changed from today. Something called "Free Energy" has basically eliminated scarcity, while the ability to make computer backups of the self and download them into cloned bodies has eliminated death (and, for that matter, revolutionized medicine, since all defects can be fixed by downloading to a new body). Without scarcity, both work and money have become more or less obsolete, and been replaced by Whuffie, which meas...more In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, times sure seem to have changed from today. Something called "Free Energy" has basically eliminated scarcity, while the ability to make computer backups of the self and download them into cloned bodies has eliminated death (and, for that matter, revolutionized medicine, since all defects can be fixed by downloading to a new body). Without scarcity, both work and money have become more or less obsolete, and been replaced by Whuffie, which measures how much respect other people have for you, whether from the everyday acts of kindness or jerkishness or from whatever kind of fame and celebrity one can chase down, and this Whuffie is used to determine access to the few luxuries that are still scarce (a table at the best restaurants or the best housing). And people are plugged into the internet 24/7--not in a virtual reality way, but more like today's internet shot into our brains at the speed of thought. People do... pretty much whatever they want.

For Julius, who's over 100 and in his third body, this finally means living and working at Disney World. The real dramas are played out in a magical land of unreality, where different groups compete to make their area of the park the best. It's a petty world, in many ways, which presumably is part of the point; nonetheless, on display are timeless emotions and struggles.

The writing remains nicely understated, hinting and implying as much as it tells, which I think works to the author's advantage, bringing the reader into a more active engagement. Doctorow strikes a balance between revealing this world of the future, exploring the characters and their relationships, and spinning a good tale. Despite the obvious differences between our world and the novel's, there exist equally-obvious parallels that offer food for thought.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and it was a quick read. As a bonus, Doctorow made this novel available as a free E-book, which can be downloaded free here. I found it to be worth the price and then some.(less)

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Jan 30, 2009 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars

A posthuman novel set at Disney World? Wow, this book was written for me! It's been about a century or so since a cure for death and the end of scarcity, and backups of people are downloaded into clones if they die. The narrator Julius works at Walt Disney World as part of an ad-hoc committee that controls Liberty Square. The Disney cast actually makes their own management decisions! Woohoo, no hierarchy in the Disney workplace. Maybe that only excites me because I used to work there and found i...more

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Oct 09, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars

(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Okay, so it's finally time; time for me to finally make my way through the complete works of cutting-edge science-fiction author Cory Doctorow. After all, he's one of the four editors of my favorite website of all time, the profoundly unique pop-culture journal Boing Boing; and Doctorow's also a big champion of the exact political issues CCLaP cares about as well, including copyright...more (The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Okay, so it's finally time; time for me to finally make my way through the complete works of cutting-edge science-fiction author Cory Doctorow. After all, he's one of the four editors of my favorite website of all time, the profoundly unique pop-culture journal Boing Boing; and Doctorow's also a big champion of the exact political issues CCLaP cares about as well, including copyright reform, the elimination of so-called "Digital Rights Management" (or DRM) malware, the importance of do-it-yourself artists and the like. And besides, Doctorow also puts his money where his mouth is; that he's arguably* the most famous artist yet to offer digital versions of his projects for free download, meaning that a person can technically read his entire body of work without spending a dime, if one wants. All of these things mean that I should've become a completist of Doctorow a long time ago, and am in fact a little ashamed that I'm not; then add the fact that this thirtysomething's ouevre is not yet that large to begin with (only three novels, two story collections, and one book of essays), and I now really have no excuse.

I've decided, then, to tackle Doctorow's work in the order it was written; and that brings us at first to his explosive debut novel, 2003's "gonzo sci-fi" tale Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which has been heralded by not only critics but also peers and fans since almost the first day of its release. And indeed, now that I've read it myself, I understand why; because it turns out that Doctorow is not just a great cultural essayist, not only a dedicated technology activist, but in fact a legitimate creative genius as well, able to craft a story out of the dense tendrils of theoretical science and economics that nonetheless has a huge humanistic heart at the core of it, not to mention a pretty large amount of sincerely laugh-out-loud humor too. To start with, for example, the novel is set in a far-future society where scarcity is no longer a survival issue; where a form of free energy has been discovered and is now in use, where replicator-type machines can now create food and clothing from scratch, where even death has been eliminated through the dual perfection of both cloning and the digitization of consciousness. (So in other words, in the world of Down and Out, people can have their entire brain and all its memories "backed up" regularly to a computer system, which is then "uploaded" into a new body whenever the old one dies.)

Among many other profound changes to society, this has led to...(less)

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Nov 27, 2007 Simon rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Bookclubs; Utopians/Dystopians; Anyone who actually believes the Singularity is Near....

Here we are, living and dying (again) in Orange County, FLA.

Thought provoking cocktail party fodder. I disliked Doctorow’s mitten-fisted writing, banal hippie-dippy characters (Beatles references included); however, the points I found interesting don’t concern the people as much as the technology.

Don't bother to savor the words. Read it quickly for the premise, then debate the promise of "TomorrowLand."

Essentially a problematic book that I disliked in execution, but highly discussable.

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Jun 02, 2008 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm torn when it comes to Cory Doctorow. In one sense, I am totally into the fact that the guy is obviously a student of 80's cyberpunk and computer technology in general. However, when I read this book, something didn't seem right about the whole thing. The best analogy I can come up with is working hard all day and thinking about eating steak for dinner, but then coming home to find out that you're getting a McDonald's cheeseburger. The technology and the ideas are there, but the story did not...more

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Jul 24, 2008 Sandi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sandi by: SciFi and Fantasy Book Club August Theme Book

Shelves: sci-fi, 2008

As a native Southern Californian who has been to Disneyland a minimum of once per year since before birth, how could I pass up a book that combines science fiction with Disney?

I was really torn between giving this three stars or four. It scores high for creativity. It's got a very tight plot and some interesting ideas. It takes place at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I've been there once, but it's so much like Disneyland that all the ride references made sense even if the geography changed. It's...more

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Mar 15, 2008 Talia rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I enjoyed about this book was the fascinating picture of the future. Apparently in the future, there has been a cure for death, and people can be altered to look any age. Their brains are also like computers, where memory needs to be backed up in case of death so the body can be regenerated. Also, brain/computers are interlinked on a type of network, so someone can mentally “call” someone else’s brain to talk. I really liked reading about the setting of the story, but sadly, the story itsel...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars

In a lot of science fiction, plot and characters are merely vehicles for the author's vision of his world. Philip K. Dick is not remembered for his creation of Bob Arctor, for instance, but for his postulation of a existence where identity is as fluid and changeable as the clothes you wear.

Cory Doctorow's world in the Magic Kingdom made a lasting impression on me, though i remember his characters less than his world. This is not to say that plot or characters are weak in any way, but that the w...more In a lot of science fiction, plot and characters are merely vehicles for the author's vision of his world. Philip K. Dick is not remembered for his creation of Bob Arctor, for instance, but for his postulation of a existence where identity is as fluid and changeable as the clothes you wear.

Cory Doctorow's world in the Magic Kingdom made a lasting impression on me, though i remember his characters less than his world. This is not to say that plot or characters are weak in any way, but that the world that they inhabit is as bizarre and psychedelic as any I've come across.

Doctorow is well-known as a blogger, one of the founders of boingboing.net, a popular site that evolved from a print publication of the zine era. It makes sense that he would postulate a future where the internet has expanded beyond the boundaries of cyberspace into reality. In "Kingdom," everyone is telepathically hardwired to the network, with all that that entails. Money is obsolete, having been sublimated into "whuffie," or communal respect. Whuffie is referenceable on-line, instantaneously to anyone everywhere, and seems roughly equivalent to the current notion of page-hits. If you lead a respectable life, you live richly and doors open everywhere for you. The opposite holds true also, of course...

Another advantage of an always-on network is the ability to "back yourself up." Everyone is on auto-save, their thoughts and memories regularly encoded to remote servers. One's genetic code is also stored online, so in the event of say, a boating accident, one can be cloned and replaced, inserted into a copy their own body, set to any age they choose, creepily enough. 1 up.

The story is set in Disney World, now a hallowed temple to entertainment, which is so necessary for these now-immortal, atheistic humans. Working there entails an apparently religious devotion to the duty of making the place as diverting as possible, with fierce competition between the teams maintaining each ride. The rides themselves are still the classics: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents...
There is a murder at Disney World, which kicks the story into gear, allowing Doctorow to explore the possibilites of this world, which is just topsy-turvy enough to seem uncomfortably like ours. Good, weird stuff.(less)

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Apr 29, 2013 soul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Може би поради дозите динамика и пряка реч, леко в повече за моя вкус, не успях изцяло да потъна в тази версия на Света на Дисни. Но на по-заклетите от мен фенове на жанра тя ще се хареса със сигурност.
Продължавам да не разбирам защо още си няма издател на хартия, при положение, че книжарниците непрекъснато са заливани с всевъзможни тъпи, скучни, сладникави и даже вредни книги.

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Dec 15, 2007 Justin rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the future, when we have cured damn near every disease and licked practically every problem society has thrown our way, the only battles worth fighting are fought over our culture: do we preserve it, reminding future generation that some things are worth holding on to, or do we plow ahead, looking only to the future? Those are some of the questions this book asks, when a handful of groups fight a cold war against each other over the future of Disneyland.

The book is also damn funny and invent...more

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Mar 29, 2007 aaron rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another gimmick that is fun for a chapter. The central theme that it is a society which pays you with digital social rating you can spend rather then money is unique, but it is this very concept that create the most blatant holes in the story. What makes it so special is what somewhat destroys the story simultaneously.

One thing going for it is that is visual treat. If you’re a fan of Disneyland or other theme parks, I think you will appreciate the comedy and behind the scenes and it's look theme...more

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May 13, 2013 Tom rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought the general premise was interesting, and I was invested in learning more about this world that Doctorow had created, but I also think he wrote himself into a corner with that premise. By eliminating death as a real consequence and then using a murder (plus the threat of more murders) as the catalyst for the plot, he stripped the narrative tension away. One of the first things I learned was that death is a minor inconvenience, so then the murder didn't really mean much to me, no matter...more

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$Radiantfracture$

May 12, 2013 Radiantfracture rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's a weird, weird, weird Cory Doctorow story set in a theme park, and it haunts and confounds me, but this isn't it.

This novel seems strongly dated for me to the late 90s / early 00s era of science fiction, with its giddy techno-utopianism*, dodgy immortality, and jubilant transhumanism. At least there's no singularity.

This book has all the strengths and weaknesses of that subgenre--my understanding is that it was written as an example and an homage. Cool ideas are piled one on top of the o...more

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Apr 13, 2013 J rated it 2 of 5 stars

Interesting world, forgettable characters, meandering middle with a decent ending.

I really struggled to finish this book, it was most as bad as his short story "True Names". This is my least favorite of his works with only "True Names" being worse.

The setup of the world and the story were enough to get me invested, but the middle part of this book just about killed it for me. The flash backs add little and whole parts of this book could have been cut. Some times it was difficult to tell when a f...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Steve Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

If scarcity and death were eliminated, what would people do with their time? Doctorow hints at (and occasionally provides some detail about) a lot of things people might do, but he focuses on the people who spend their time running Disney World. In Doctorow's world, everybody's wired and backed up, death is a temporary inconvenience and reputation is literally a form of currency (imagine if your Facebook Edge Rank or number of Twitter followers doubled as your bank account and affected how peopl...more

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Dec 05, 2012 D.L. Morrese rated it 3 of 5 stars

Title: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: TOR, Copyright 2003
Genre: Science Fiction
A digital edition of this book is available free from Cory Doctorow’s Website (http://craphound.com/down/download.php) and from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8086).

• Involuntary death has been vanquished. If you’re ill, injured, or simply sick of yourself the way you are, your consciousness can be uploaded from your last backup into a new, cloned, body, which can...more Title: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: TOR, Copyright 2003
Genre: Science Fiction
A digital edition of this book is available free from Cory Doctorow’s Website (http://craphound.com/down/download.php) and from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8086).

• Involuntary death has been vanquished. If you’re ill, injured, or simply sick of yourself the way you are, your consciousness can be uploaded from your last backup into a new, cloned, body, which can be customized with a seemingly large array of modifications.
• Money no longer exists. In its place is a more accurate measurement of a person’s true worth -- whuffie, which somehow quantifies reputation, popularity, appreciation, sympathy, admiration... the feelings people hold toward others for what they have done.
• Scarcity is a thing of the past. There are enough resources for all to live, even those without much whuffie, although they won’t be welcomed in as many places (like hotels and restaurants).
• The idea of personal property has been replaced. In this future, you use what you need, provided your whuffie proves you’re entitled to.
• Ad hoc groups run or manage whatever needs a human touch, which earns them whuffie, especially if they do it well. The activities of government, companies, and institutions of all kinds are now overseen by ad hocs, which can be replaced by others, if people believe they will do a better job.

It’s an interesting vision of the future, and the story is set in and especially wonderful part of this seeming utopia, Disney World -- specifically on two of the attractions in the Liberty Square section of the Magic Kingdom -- The Hall of Presidents and The Haunted Mansion. (It helps to understand the setting if you are more than casually acquainted with Disney World.)

The various portions of the parks are overseen by ad hocs, and two are in competition over control of Liberty Square. Each has a different vision for the attractions. One wants to keep them traditional and one wants to provide a more intimate experience by tapping directly into the interfaces all people have in their brains.
This provides the imaginative setting for a serviceable tale of competition between two groups with different visions. The one thing that kept me from enjoying the book much is that everyone in it is a jerk. They aren’t even especially funny or interesting jerks. The main character, Julius, is a pathetic individual who proves himself ethically and intellectually weak after he is traumatized by his murder. (He recovers in a new body.) His best friend seems to be an okay guy, until we find out... well, that would be a spoiler. Let’s just say that he’s not as good a friend as he first appears. And the others, well, I doubt that I’d give them much whuffie.

The less than admirable characters may be intentional. Doctorow may be presenting the hypothesis that even in a utopian environment, people will be no better than they must be. I’m not sure I agree, but I’m not about to rant about it. My issue with the novel is that I found nothing about the characters to make me care about what happened to them. Their successes or failures had equal emotional impact. I was mildly curious, but I did not really care how the story ended.

I will say that this is worth reading for the setting and the ideas it presents. If, however, you require characters with some emotional appeal, this probably is not for you.
(less)

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Sep 09, 2012 Julie H. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Without doubt, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has at its core a particularly clever premise. It's set in a future world where the Bitchun Society has overcome reality as we know it via promoting an alternative to death. In short, the living periodically upload their memories and, upon death, those who have authorized it can be reuploaded to a clone. (Sadly, the logistics of the clone part--clone of what, exactly?--were never explained.) Moreover, if folks want to just "tune out" for a while,...more Without doubt, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has at its core a particularly clever premise. It's set in a future world where the Bitchun Society has overcome reality as we know it via promoting an alternative to death. In short, the living periodically upload their memories and, upon death, those who have authorized it can be reuploaded to a clone. (Sadly, the logistics of the clone part--clone of what, exactly?--were never explained.) Moreover, if folks want to just "tune out" for a while, they can have their data placed in futuristic storage (virtual canopic jars a la Lil's parents?) for future download. This process is aptly named "deadheading."

All the great themes were here: what happens when people who will never die run out of experiences?; what happens to proxemics and "personal space" in an ever-crowded world/galaxy?; how do you retain friendships that could conceivably span multiple reanimations across multiple worlds (folks are still living on what might be Earth as well as "off world")?; if given the opportunity to present oneself at any age which one would you chose and why? (the Disneyland doctor manifesting as an older gentleman so as to be comforting to the ill or injured was brilliant in light of such actual Disney-related scholarship such as The Architecture of Reassurance); what are an individual's--let alone society's--obligations to prevent suicide? (This is by no means an exhaustive list.) My point, of course, is that while clever in concept, I didn't find that the writing actually did justice to these issues--most of which were raised here, just not as deftly handled as I'd have hoped. That's not to say that this wasn't a fun romp, because it most certainly was. And the commentary on Disney--and on the fans gone amok--was positvely inspired. But the resolution of the actual big questions, as related to our trio of main characters (i.e., Jules, Lil, and Dan) wasn't satisfying--that is, I'm not opposed to how things worked out, just that the characters' own rationale for much of it remains unclear.

To my mind, a much more thoughtful exploration of the sorts of "What ifs..." raised here are to be found in such works as Drew Magary's The Postmortal.(less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Chris Bauer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" by Cory Doctorow to be a very entertaining, thought provoking and fast read.

The primary storyline takes place in a future setting wherein humanity has essentially conquered death, disease, pestilence and a variety of other bad things. Force grown clones, memory backups, hyper-tech and body modifications have become the norm. Our prestige is measured in a universal current called Wuffie which tracks and measures our every interaction. Through the primar...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Allan Dyen-shapiro rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was familiar with some of Cory Doctorow's short stories and I had read his second novel, Eastern Standard Tribe. Most of what I liked about him was his manic absurdness mixed with hardcore computer geekspeak to the point of including lines of code. It was highly creative for the early part of the Millenium. His short stories, especially Ownzored, required a sophisticated level of computer science knowledge and deeply rewarded those who knew what he was talking about.

I picked this up in the loc...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Adam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Thank god for Cory Doctorow. Thanks to him and his quest to Understand the Future one's reading device can be packed full of Corey Doctorow novels for free and guilt free.

And his novels are fun, light gooey balls of science fictional zanyness. Bonus!

That's not to say that these novels are actually good. Near as I can tell Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is an exercise in whether or not one can produce a compelling story where absolutely nothing is at stake.

I mean, the premise is that in the...more Thank god for Cory Doctorow. Thanks to him and his quest to Understand the Future one's reading device can be packed full of Corey Doctorow novels for free and guilt free.

And his novels are fun, light gooey balls of science fictional zanyness. Bonus!

That's not to say that these novels are actually good. Near as I can tell Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is an exercise in whether or not one can produce a compelling story where absolutely nothing is at stake.

I mean, the premise is that in the {not-too|extremely distant} future, death has been conquered, as has scarcity of resources. One backs up one's digital brain weekly, and should one meet death, one is simply restored from a backup. Likewise, one does not have to work for a living--food is free, instead the coin of the realm is the deploringly named whuffie: a weird hybrid of facebook ''likes'' and brownie points, where good deeds, hard work, or just generally being awesome are rewarded, aparently in proportion to how far out of your social network you've managed to advertise yourself.

The plot then, involves a plucky group of deathless characters trying to save The Haunted Castle exhibit at Disneyworld. Wait. what? Why do I care about that?

The book is highly engaging, and there's several levels of nested irony. This book released on a creative commons license and is about how great disneyworld is. Of course, Mickey Mouse isn't in it because Mickey Mouse will ALWAYS be under Disney's copywrite.
Likewise there's a wink and a nod to the fact that on one hand Disneyland is a magical place, where the details of the user's experience is given foremost attention, but on the other hand, lurking in the background are the secret disney police whose job it is to stamp out any rebellion before it starts. All in the name of preserving the good time of the paying customers, of course.

In fact, these are things I was interested in! I wish they'd been explored more fully. But again, ironically, I suspect it was the fear of ramifications of besmirching Disney's precious reputation, that caused the author to pull quite a few of his punches.

Despite the lack of grave consequences in a world without death, Mr. Doctorow convincingly creates a plot hook that is both convincing and compelling, and there are moments of brilliance as the duality of being an artist and a fan are explored, along with the conflicting desire to both conquer and appreciate the objects of our affection.

But ultimately, the setting (no one can die, everyone lives in fucking disneyworld) gets in the way of the gravitas of the ending and I am left wondering why I should care, and finding that I don't, much. (less)

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Apr 23, 2012 gilmae rated it 3 of 5 stars

Down and out in the magical kingdom

I reread this for a number of reasons. At one level, the shallowest, least important level, because I hadn't read any fiction for weeks, just long form journalism in my Instapaper queue. But also because I'd been wondering about fantasy equivalents of what cyberpunk was trying to achieve in sci fi, and was contrasting this post-cyberpunk novel to help fix in my head what cyberpunk was doing.

And also lastly because I read the Valve employee manual, and it remin...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Caci rated it 4 of 5 stars

Title: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Author: Cory Doctorow
Year of Publication: 2003
Publisher: Tor
Page count: 206

I have always enjoyed reading Cory Doctorow’s work. I eagerly pick up the things Doctorow has published, excited for the outlandish ideas and deadpan humor. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was no exception.

Despite Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom being a scant 200 pages, there is a lot of action packed into the book. We’re introduced to Bitchun, the society of the future. Bitchu...more Title: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Author: Cory Doctorow
Year of Publication: 2003
Publisher: Tor
Page count: 206

I have always enjoyed reading Cory Doctorow’s work. I eagerly pick up the things Doctorow has published, excited for the outlandish ideas and deadpan humor. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was no exception.

Despite Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom being a scant 200 pages, there is a lot of action packed into the book. We’re introduced to Bitchun, the society of the future. Bitchun, the utopian era where “whuffie” is the measure of respect which one can earn or lose based on everyday societal interactions and where death is not fatal, but merely annoying when faced with the loss of memory. Have you experienced murder, a maiming accident or perhaps have an ailing body? As long as you have enough “whuffie” you can just be downloaded into a new body and move on. Imagine the Fountain of Youth as an FTP site.

Jules is the main character and after many years of pursuing different activities, including multiple degrees and a stint or two in space, he’s settled down to live in Disney World. His day to day life consists of working as a cast member for the older, most loved, attractions in the Magic Kingdom, the Haunted Mansion and Hall of Presidents primarily. After a bit of intrigue and a dry, clinical explanation of his own murder Jules finds out that while he was recovering, the Disney World "Hall of Presidents" ride he's dedicated the past few years of his life to preserving has been taken over by a group who ruined it with all the Bitchun’s virtual bells and whistles. Jules charges towards the battle with a fervor and obsession most people in Bitchun no longer possess. He takes on plotting co-workers and eager fans of the rides to create something bigger and better than the “Hall of Presidents”. Unfortunately he leaves behind a wake of used friends and uninspired guests while mentally still reeling over his murder and gradually loosing all his “whuffie” to become one of the dregs of society.

Jules’ story is told with discreet complexity taking on not only cloning, the right to die and freedom of choice but also socialism, poverty, morality and celebrity in the same pages, while still maintaining the ability to have the reader feel for Jules and his plight.
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Feb 16, 2012 Anne Francia Chavez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, nebula-winners-and-nominees, free

First three chapters are great. Then it gets kinda boring. But totally love the idea of Whuffie!

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Oct 13, 2011 ***Dave Hill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: text

I’d not been impressed with the little snippets of this book that author Cory Doctorow had posted to BoingBong at various times, but Doyce swore that it was a truly keen read, especially for someone with an appreciation for Disney theme parks, so I gave it a whirl (read: he pressed his copy of the book into my hands and insisted I read it. Since I’ve done the same to him innumerable times, it seemed only fair …)

As it turns out, the reality is somewhere in-between the fascination that Doyce had a...more I’d not been impressed with the little snippets of this book that author Cory Doctorow had posted to BoingBong at various times, but Doyce swore that it was a truly keen read, especially for someone with an appreciation for Disney theme parks, so I gave it a whirl (read: he pressed his copy of the book into my hands and insisted I read it. Since I’ve done the same to him innumerable times, it seemed only fair …)

As it turns out, the reality is somewhere in-between the fascination that Doyce had and the general blah impression I’d had. There are some really keen bits in here, some gut-wrenching ones as well, but the framework as a whole is far less successful than the parts and concepts that went into it.

Book rankings in each section from 1 (bleah!) to 3 (yeah!).

Summary: [2] In a future where human conscience can be backed up and restored, and money has given way to computer-linked reputation indices, a fan/worker/ad-hoc owner of the last unaltered portion of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom fights both his own fears and those who would update a timeless classic.

Entertainment: [2] Lots of fascinating explorations of the ubiquitously connected world, extrapolations of what would happen if you could backup and restore the human mind, and exploration of what it would mean if “wealth” was the accurately recorded regard with which others hold you. The text is light and entertaining, the pace is quick, and the concepts fly hot and heavy, especially at the beginning.

That said, the plot is more than a bit sketchy, and everything seems to wrap up at the end with some bits that come out of the blue. Doctorow either isn’t sure how to wrap things up at the end, or he’s too busy with the setting and emotions to come up with convincing plot to conclude the affair.

Profundity: [2] Another theme in the book seems to be how easily someone who has it all can self-destruct, over and over. The book becomes positively painful at times. Indeed, the old saw about how success doesn’t bring happiness seems to be true even when there isn’t money involved.

Re-readability: [2] I may not be reading this one again any time soon, but I can see picking it up again sometime in the future. There are a lot of fun concepts here, all the moreso for (as Doyce noted) someone who loves the Disney parks, and even if the framework for those ideas is sometimes thin, I’ll want to revisit it sometime.(less)

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Oct 08, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, modern, society

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is what happens when a classic geek extrapolates the cyberpunk future of a reputation-based economy combined with the extrusion of an open source ethos into the management of everyday affairs, tosses in immortality and lean project management, and sets it all in the context of the semi-religious experience of Disney World.

A well-crafted amusement park ride of the Disney-variety leads you through a thrilling story in a matter of minutes. The rid

...more

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow is what happens when a classic geek extrapolates the cyberpunk future of a reputation-based economy combined with the extrusion of an open source ethos into the management of everyday affairs, tosses in immortality and lean project management, and sets it all in the context of the semi-religious experience of Disney World.

A well-crafted amusement park ride of the Disney-variety leads you through a thrilling story in a matter of minutes. The rider does not foresee the end of the ride; when it arrives, the rider disembarks enthused and ready to jump back into line. So it is with Down and Out; reading on the nook, where ignorance of page count is natural, I was stunned to look at the bottom of the screen and realize I was at the end. What a ride it had been! I wanted to exclaim out loud and rave about the book, but prudence restrained me from disturbing my fellow airline passengers.

I've been to Disney World twice in conscious memory, and I think once when too young to recall. Memories of Disney Land in the pre-K years also stir. That frequency outs me as a privileged middle class American. To those who haven't experienced Disney, I've been unsuccessful in explaining the awe and joy I still feel with respect to these parks. Explaining the mystique is like explaining Star Wars; those who didn't grow up with it rarely grok it. Doctorow's protagonist lets us in on one of the secrets: "The mark of a great ride is that it gets better the second time around, as the detail and flourishes start to impinge on your consciousness. The Mansion was full of little gimcracks and sly nods that snuck into your experience on each successive ride." In dialogue, in discourse, in contrasting experiences, the book makes a serious contribution to understanding the mythos without destroying it

Down and Out exudes love, joy, reverence for the cultural icon and the experience of Disney. And more imporantly – for the condition of being human. The characters are not paragons of virtue; they are human; no, they are more-than-human: immortal, altered, freed of many of today's physical and social constraints. But still they are human: petty, ambitious, caring, loving. For all of Julius's failings, I cared about him, my fictional friend who has started to realize the failings of the society he has embraced.

The book is only 208 pages, so give it a shot. See the present and the future in a different light. Consider the implications of technology for humanity while having a heck of a ride. Stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best Sci Fi around. Buy it, check it out at a library, or download Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom for free.

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Sep 27, 2011 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

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 actua...more 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.(less)

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