Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

by Cory Doctorow

Book Overview

The repackaged trade paperback of Cory Doctorow's miraculous novel of family history, Internet connectivity, and magical secrets--now with a new cover

Alan is a middle-aged entrepeneur who moves to a bohemian neighborhood of Toronto. Living next door is a young woman who reveals to him that she has wings--which grow back after each attempt to cut them off.

Alan understands. He himself has a secret or two. His father is a mountain,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250196469
• ISBN13: 9781250196460
• Release Date: May 2018
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A big step from your usual fantasy

I'm a huge fantasy fan. I love G.R.R. Martin, am getting into Jordan, and am halfway through Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. That said, I find it difficult to 'branch-out' sometimes into other genres, and even into 'lighter fantasy'. I picked this book up at the book store, flipped through it, found it mildly intriguing, and showed it to my girlfriend before putting it down and moving on. (This is fairly standard fare for me since it can take a full 6 months for me to commit to buying a book, but I also don't read too many things I don't like.) About 3 weeks later, its my birthday and what did my girlfriend get me? This book. (I had initially thought it would fit her taste more than mine, but I gave it a go.) It starts off fairly normal, a guy fixing up an old row home in Toronto, but quickly gets interesting with details of his past and the people he surrounds himself with. I found some of the back story a bit strange, but mostly just added to my intrigue, so I eagerly plugged on, (Curiously asking myself, 'Okay, where is the author going with this?'). The characters really come to life and become really memorable, mostly likable and realistic people (for the most part) that fill this book with a bit of magic. Their motivations are understandable given their personalities, and the way the story is woven I found myself utterly engrossed in a book, which is almost completely 'out of my element.' The book is intelligent and lightly specked with the author's own philosophies, but unlike many writer's Doctorow is able to do this without being heavy-handed in his approach. If you are looking for a quick, memorably enjoyable read with likable, quirky characters who like the rest of us just want to be normal, despite (and in some cases, in spite of) those traits about themselves that make them unique and beautiful. Give this book a try, I did, despite my initial indifference and am very thankful for one of the better birthday gifts in recent memory.

I couldn't stop reading

The first thing I read by Cory Doctorow was a short story called "Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers." I loved that story's confrontation between an anti-technology deep green society and a technocratic world. I haven't read much from the cyberpunk wing of the sci-fi genre but I get the idea that Doctorow enjoys playing with some of its conventions. He really seems to enjoy it in Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. The book weaves two stories together, one of them concerning the main character's involvement with a bunch of punks and anarchists working together on a free WiFi project. That sounds cyberpunky, but he subverts the usual conventions in a few key ways, one being that there isn't any discussion of a virtual world. It's set in the real world with elements of fantasy. Another is that the main character is not an anarchist or a punk. He doesn't have a mohawk, facial piercings, or tattoos. He also doesn't have a belly button. Because even though he seems to be an almost too-normal middle-aged man, the main character isn't even human. This brings us to the other main thread of the novel: the story of the main character's family. His name is Alan, but he'll answer to anything that starts with "A." Doctorow refers to him using several different "A" names. His father is a mountain and his mother is a washing machine. For Doctorow this isn't just a dry metaphor for fatherhood and motherhood, though it humorously works on that level. (The mountain stands in for the larger-than-life yet aloof father and the washing machine plays the part of the dependent wife-maid). An even greater achievement is how real Doctorow makes this ridiculous premise seem. (I almost cried for the mother who was unable to truly nurture her children). The story of Alan's family is filled with rich and recognizable feeling, despite the absolute fantasy of the surface. Alan's been trying to fit in his entire life, but it's impossible. He was born in a washing machine, grew up in a cave, and is being stalked by his dead zombie-brother! Normality is most definitely unattainable. I'm not going to give anything else away. I ate this book up and highly recommend it. If I had to compare it to something, I'd call it a sci-fi version of Geek Love. The only thing that sucks about the book is the cover. The character on the cover is supposed to be Mimi, a young winged woman who lives in the house next to Alan's. Doctorow specifically describes Mimi as fat and sexy and this gal on the cover is in no way fat. The cover is annoying and if I'd seen it I probably wouldn't have read it. It looks like a Francesca Lia Block book, and her covers always suck, particularly the headless naked torsos of Violet and Claire. So anyway, definitely don't judge this book by its cover. It's much better than Down and Out...

In the Spirit of Murakami

In the spirit of Haruki Murakami, Doctorow creates an alternate reality where his characters subsist, unfazed, in the most preposterous of circumstances. Contemporary fantasy, magical realism, technological fiction? "Someone Comes to Town..." is not easily labeled which might be frustrating for a fan of Doctorow's more topical tech and sci-fi work. Still, Doctorow continues to successfully push the boundaries of contemporary science fiction and fantasy genres. "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" is, by far, my favorite of Doctorow's novels to date. I look forward to his upcoming projects.

Literary SF -- not for mere linear readers

It is not often I read something where I find fresh, new and peculiar all mixed together so skillfully. This is experimental while still being something of a traditional coming-of-age story, creepy and moving, funny and tragic, all in one relatively tight plot. This is not a novel that everyone will like or enjoy since it requires a certain playfulness, and acceptance of quirkiness, to suspend disbelief and follow these characters. The setting is particularly well rendered, but so is the real-life counter-culture, and the extremely odd family of characters. Readers expecting strictly hard SF will probably not get it, but then that is surely not the intended audience. But this is a unique and heart-felt ride on a particularly ingenious and inventive roller coaster for a more literary hip reader.

whew

Wow, what an odd book. I don't normally read urban fantasy/magical realism, so I'm not that familiar with the genre. I think I liked Cory's first two novels better (so I wish I could give it 4 and a half, but 4 seems too low), but that may be because they were more familiar territory for me. But like those, I could hardly put this book down once I had started. Doctorow makes the improbable premise work somehow. This is a book I'll reread in a year or so, and probably get something entirely different out of it. Get the book - you won't regret it.