Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

#475
Title: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2005
320 pages

This was a fine idea, sort of, that doesn't work. There are two intertwined stories. The more coherent and less interesting story is about providing free WiFi to a neighborhood. This part has the feel of leftovers from a related and more interesting idea in Eastern Standard Tribe. The second story, and far more interesting, is about a man who doesn't quite fit in despite his best efforts. His father is a mountain, his mother is a washing machine, and he and his several odd brothers (three of whom are a matryoshka, for example) are raised by golems. His tangles with his neighbors move the story forward to an okay though not stellar resolution. I am guessing that your reading experience would be enhanced by the amount of marijuana required to make you say, "His mother.... A washing machine.... His.... Oh, man!" However, this is merely a speculation on my part.