Geek Syndicate
troduced as a genius, but when this story begins he is an underage runaway who arrives in London with no knowledge and no friends. It seems to me that everything comes tom him a bit too easily. Within a short time of arriving in London he finds himself in a gang of equally talented, cool and smart friends. They dine on the best free food and spend all day perfecting coffee. He meets his dream girl and they quickly fall in love. When Trent needs something, such as a new bit of technology, or a way to avoid being kicked out of the squat, someone turns up at the most opportune moment with the solution. Whenever he screws up, everyone forgives him. At one point, he gets nervous and leaves a meeting just before it is raided by the police meaning that unlike all his friends, Trent avoids arrest. And it’s fine. They all get out of jail quickly and noone minds he didn’t share their troubles. Whenever you expect 26 to berate Trent or point out his flaws, she just kisses him. There’s a lot of sexuality in the story and for a young adult book, again, it all comes too easy for Trent. He gets his first kiss with 26 and then they have sex. Soon after he discovers two of his friends are gay and that plot thread ends with everything being just fine. There is no struggle, especially considering most of the characters are a bunch of homeless misfits. Drugs are fine. Not having money is fine. Nothing Trent does ends badly. There is no sense of peril or real difficulty, so you know that in the end, despite all the barriers that Doctorow throws at him, he will succeed. To be fair, there is a bit of a downer coda, but even that, you feel, will work out ok in the end. Despite all that, I thoroughly enjoyed Pirate Cinema. It was fun. As I was reading it I knew its flaws and failings and I knew it would end well. I expect a lot of disenfranchised teens will enjoy it too, as well as existing fans of Doctorow. I doubt, however, it will appeal to anyone else. Nothing is genuinely earned by the characters and there is no honest counter-balance to the story.
Ian J. Simpson
Rating
G G G GG
124