Eastern Standard Tribe

Eastern Standard Tribe is Cory Doctorow's second novel and the book where his interest in how the texture of the present is shifting under us became fully visible. The premise is that in a near future where instant global communication is the norm, people have formed Tribes around time zones because the people they actually want to be awake with are not necessarily the people they live next to. Art, the protagonist, is an Eastern Standard Tribe operative working in London.

The novel opens with Art in a psychiatric hospital in Boston and works backward to explain how he got there. The framing is part of the book's point: how much of contemporary belonging is voluntary, how much of it is performed, and how much of it depends on which set of people you have chosen to share a sleep cycle with.

The plot machinery is competent rather than spectacular. The conceptual work is the draw. Four stars. Recommended to readers who liked Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and want more of the early-Doctorow voice.