A review by barium_squirrel
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

3.0

This book features a man living in utopian society which has eliminated death, and money. It features the main character, who lives and works in a futuristic Disneyland, solving his own "murder" (he got better). Everything in this society is run by a type of popularity contest similar to the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive". The book explores the consequences of this system, and of the elimination of death, in an engaging and thought-provoking way. I wouldn't have thought it would be possible to have meaningful conflict in a utopian society, but Doctorow pulls it off. I'm probably going to read this book again, because I found the philosophical ideas interesting, and I wouldn't mind owning a copy.