In Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, times sure seem to have changed from today. Something called "Free Energy" has basically eliminated scarcity, while the ability to make computer backups of the self and download them into cloned bodies has eliminated death (and, for that matter, revolutionized medicine, since all defects can be fixed by downloading to a new body). Without scarcity, both work and money have become more or less obsolete, and been replaced by Whuffie, which measures how much respect other people have for you, whether from the everyday acts of kindness or jerkishness or from whatever kind of fame and celebrity one can chase down, and this Whuffie is used to determine access to the few luxuries that are still scarce (a table at the best restaurants or the best housing). And people are plugged into the internet 24/7--not in a virtual reality way, but more like today's internet shot into our brains at the speed of thought. People do... pretty much whatever they want. 
 For Julius, who's over 100 and in his third body, this finally means living and working at Disney World. The real dramas are played out in a magical land of unreality, where different groups compete to make their area of the park the best. It's a petty world, in many ways, which presumably is part of the point; nonetheless, on display are timeless emotions and struggles. 
 The writing remains nicely understated, hinting and implying as much as it tells, which I think works to the author's advantage, bringing the reader into a more active engagement. Doctorow strikes a balance between revealing this world of the future, exploring the characters and their relationships, and spinning a good tale. Despite the obvious differences between our world and the novel's, there exist equally-obvious parallels that offer food for thought. 
 I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and it was a quick read. As a bonus, Doctorow made this novel available as a free E-book, which can be downloaded free here. I found it to be worth the price and then some.