Novel: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Setting
The novel takes place in a near-future post-scarcity world where material needs are met and death has been largely tamed by reliable mind backups and restorations. Social standing, not money, drives access to privileges: a currency called "whuffie" measures reputation and attention, and it buys influence and comfort. Much of the action is concentrated in an eternal, meticulously maintained Walt Disney World, where retired attractions and living characters are preserved and curated as both labor and culture.
Everyday life feels casual and abundant, but the technologies and institutions that make that abundance possible create new forms of competition. People trade favors, memories, and social capital; creative and technical labor is prized and contested. The setting turns the familiar anxieties about status, legacy, and stewardship of culture into the central political struggles of the story.

Premise and plot
Jules, the novel's narrator, works as a fixer and curator in the Magic Kingdom, tinkering with animatronics and managing the park's folklore. When he is murdered and subsequently restored from a backup, he awakens to find his job, relationships, and reputation diminished. His position has been usurped and allies have turned against him, prompting him to investigate the assassination and reclaim his life.
The narrative follows Jules as he schemes, negotiates, and sometimes sabotages to restore his whuffie and uncover who ordered the hit. He traces alliances among rival factions within the park and beyond, encountering ethics and betrayals that reveal how fragile social bonds are when reputation is the primary currency. The mystery of his death unspools against a backdrop of policy debates over how the park should be run, who owns cultural artifacts, and what counts as legitimate stewardship.

Characters and conflict
Jules is a wry, relatable first-person narrator whose affection for Disney lore and DIY tinkering humanizes a world of high-tech comforts. Supporting characters include friends and rivals whose loyalties shift as their whuffie rises or falls; some are passionate defenders of preservation, others are entrepreneurial pragmatists seeking to repurpose beloved attractions. Romances and friendships are complicated by the reputational calculus that governs intimacy and trust.
Conflict in the story is less about scarcity than about recognition and control. The battles are fought in media-savvy ways: public stunts, strategic revelations, and the manipulation of public sentiment. Jules's enemies are not cartoon villains but people who respond to incentives different from his own, and his choices force readers to weigh the costs of vengeance, the value of legacy, and the responsibilities of care.

Themes
The novel interrogates what freedom looks like when scarcity is gone but social hierarchies persist. Reputation becomes a form of power that can be wielded as ruthlessly as cash once was. Questions about intellectual property, communal stewardship, and the commodification of culture thread through the personal drama, asking whether preservation can be separated from ownership.
Doctorow also probes mortality and identity in a society that can routinely restore minds from backups. Resurrection complicates accountability, alters grief, and reframes what it means to lose something. The book suggests that abundant resources do not eliminate human pettiness, political maneuvering, or the hunger for recognition; they merely change the shape of ambition.

Style and impact
Told in a conversational, often humorous first-person voice, the novel mixes thriller pacing with speculative ideas. The prose is lean and chatty, driven by character and witty observation rather than technobabble. Doctorow uses the beloved, almost sacred setting of Disney World to probe serious philosophical and political questions in an accessible way.
The book's imaginative premises and sharp critique of reputation economies have made it a touchstone in contemporary sci‑fi discussions about post-scarcity futures, digital rights, and social media–driven status. It remains a lively, provocative exploration of what a utopia might look like once material wants vanish but human desires for respect, meaning, and control remain.