Feed

Reader reviewed by Jules

This book by M.T. Anderson was an interesting story with a deeper message. The concept was what the world and its inhabitants could potentially become people who rely on information that "feeds" into their heads and not worry about the effects, or who is listening in. The language is very strong but gives the tone a more realistic feel as though it truly is a teenager telling the story and not an older man. I feel that the ending was a little sour and I wish that the book could've been longer. At the same time though, perhaps the sour ending helped the overall theme and morale of the book become stronger. A good and short read for pre-teens and teenagers.

Reader reviewed by Misty

I read this book as the first in what I intended to be a "best of
sci-fi summer," and though I don't know if I will stick to that, this
was a good first book. It is interesting in its use of language, which
is not dumbed-down per se, but is simplified to the logical conclusion,
full of all those trendy little shortenings of words that keep
bastardizing language until it conveys nothing (there is a quote in
there somewhere, I think from Jane Austen or Margaret Atwood -- I know,
how different could they be -- about the point of language being to
obfuscate, not convey, but that is beside the point). This book is all
bout consumerism taken to extremes, and the lives that creates. The
book lulls you with the language and the fast pace, and then Anderson
drops these little jems in your lap that make you stop and really
think, which is admirable in any book let alone a YA. Really well done
and accessible once you get the language down, and worth it if only for
the conversations it will provoke. And because I am a quote-freak, here
is one of the shorter ones I loved from this book:



"The only thing worse than the thought it may all come tumbling down is the thought that we may go on like this forever."

Reader reviewed by mearley

The "feed" is a constant stream of text messages, advertisements, news, and entertainment plugged directly into the brain of every American.  Titus and his friends just accept the feed as a way of life, but then he meets Violet who did not get the feed until later in life.  She tries to come up with ways to trick the feed or avoid its messages.  This has tragic consequences.  In the background of the story is a vague idea of the collapse of society--rumors of war, mysterious skin lesions--but the feed keeps everyone self-centered enough that they only care about their own lives and their own feed.  Excellent dystopian novel for mature teens.

Reader reviewed by Brenda

Titus and his friends are typical middle class teens sometime in the far future. They go to School (TM) which is owned by the big corporations. But mostly they listen to their feed, a smart Internet connection directly connected into their brains. The feed knows what they like, it knows what they want and it knows the coolest thing of the moment. The feed markets products to them constantly and also allows them to have private chats with anyone else any time. Then one night Titus meets Violet, a girl a little off the grid. She didn't get a feed until she was 7 and mistrusts the marketing. Amusingly, her father is a professor of dead languages, like Fortran and Basic. Then one night a hacker protester infects their feeds and they learn
something about life without the feed.

This book reminded me a lot of Fahrenheit 451, where a guy who totally buys into the system meets a girl who doesn't and it changes his life. However there's no burning of books in this book. It's more about how the constant chase of what's cool can cover up deeper problems in a society.

Much of the book is in a future teen jargon, but it's easy to figure out once you get used to it. I like books about alternate societies so I enjoyed this book, but I think it could have had a little more to say. The language is lovely, also like Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451