Feed

In a futuristic America, technology and electronics have been merged with the human mind and body, allowing people to have access to the 'Feednet', a computer network to which Americans are connected to by an implanted chip called 'Feed'. Life is not as it used to be; Corporations are free to monitor the citizen's thoughts, that are also interrupted with constant pop-up adds, and the environment has changed drastically since before the overflow of technology to the point that you now need an artificial sun to shine over your house.

While on the moon during the Sping break with his friends, Titus meets Violet, a strange girl that needs to 'live a bit', having been home schooled all her life. They invites her to party with them, and during the party, their feeds are hacked by a member of the anti-feed organization, and Titus and his friends find themselves in the hospital. From there starts Titus' friendship with Violet, and the collision of their different point of view on life.

Violet is the kind of girl who worries about technology's effect on the environment and society and she therefore tries to inform Titus about the world's desperate situation. Having been brought up by parents who never used the implanted feeds, and having gotten hers at an advanced age, Violet tries to resist to the corporation's influence and manipulation. Titus, on the other side, is a boy like any other, who has never tried to properly understand the way the world works.

After having left the hospital, everyone ends up being fine except for Violet, whose feed becomes dysfunctional causing paralysis to her body and the lost of her most basic functions. Having no money for her feed's reparation, Violet fears the worst and turns to Titus. In the short time she has left, she tries to do everything. One of the things she wishes to do is also to enlighten Titus on America's present situation and to what end it is nearing. Yet, will she succeeded in making him see the truth before it is too late?

Beryl's Review:

This book presents things raw. Anderson doesn't waste pages for explanations. Things are as they are, and they don't need to be explained, and it's up to the reader to follow the flow of the story. This particular trait had me confused at first, but it was a very refreshing not to have to stop to read a detailed study of this futuristic America. I just loved how the story went on through out the entire book without halt.

Violet's and Titus' relationship is just so amazingly realistic. This is no lovely and cheesy romance, and you see how flawed it is while still being true at the same time. What makes it even more great is Titus' and Violet's distinctive personalities that collide, resulting of most of those flaws. But then again, isn't it true that the difference between two people is what brings them closer?

This book offers great criticisms on our own world through a tragic story, and is obviously meant to make people think about the planet's future. It is no fantasy. It is a compelling and real look on the future and of what might happen if we don't watch out, featuring characters, just as Violet who fight for the preservation of awareness, opinions and history of the past, and Titus, who are lost in technology's and electronics' influence and who have their opinions and decisions controlled by someone else than themselves.

I literately flied through this book. It was a quick and deep read, dramatic and tragic, seen through eyes that see a society on the brim of collapse. A must read for teens. Warning of coarse language.

-Beryl

Feed by M.T. Anderson
Rating: 9/10

Aithen's Review:

I cannot agree less with Beryl : Feed was meg big, Unit.

But please permit me to give you my own opinion on this great book.

The opening was good. It had me hooked: the way the kids talked, their lifestyle, their vacations on the moon. The moon. Yes, they are having fun on Earth’s natural satellite. It drew me in instantly, shutting me off from the outside world. I only put the book down once, and because I had duties to perform. After that, I completely spaced out from the world and read.

The storyline is incredible. About halfway through, I thought it was amazing. Three-quarters through, it had me bawling and I still thought it was amazing. And until the end, I didn’t stop thinking about how amazing it was. Is was an extremely pessimistic vision of our future, maybe too pessimistic. Each tiny revelation about the America of our future hurt me deep down inside. I felt like I had to do something. The story itself was great. Original, different from most end-of-the-world scenarios I’ve already read. Even if sometimes the plot was rather predictable, it was easily pulled off.

Titus and his friends seemed like the superficial dorks anyone would be if they were bombarded with publicities as permanently as the teens are. Constantly searching for the latest trends, trying their best to be cool, looking at all the neat soaps. They sound completely idiotic, like anyone that has an encyclopaedia encrypted in their brain. Since they have everything they’ll ever want to know already fed directly to their brain, there is no need to learn to read, or write, or even speak like someone half-intelligent. Violet is so different, thanks to her education. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to bear the normal teen’s gibberish during the whole book, thankfully Violet was like an island of sanity for me.

The concept isn’t new, of course. Humankind going steadily towards its death, all the while being manipulated by big corporative companies has been done more than once. But the way it was created, the problems with the feed, the lesions, the heart-breaking mess it was and the utter stupidity of the main character made it very different.

The whole book is just one big cliff-hanger. So often, information isn’t given at all, since the Titus himself doesn’t have much knowledge about the outside world. This kind of made me mad, since I am the kind of person who loves to know everything. I couldn’t wait to know what happened, and as I previously said, it was impossible for me to put the book down, even for an instant.

My overall appreciation? It was so sad. So pretty. So incredibly scary.
Titus was a jerk in the end, probably too much so for my liking. Then again, that was how he was raised, so at least it was a logical reaction.
I cried a little in the end. A lot, actually. I felt broken on the inside. I was bawling my broken heart out. For the world lost, for the dying people, for everything.
I loved the book, even though it hurt so much to read it. So many dark predictions about our future. The extreme darkness of the overall tone might wake us up to the truths we need to see: our world is slowly dying because of us and our greed for money, fame, popularity, things, useless things, heaps of things, mountains of useless things.
Not my favourite book (I’m too much of a happy bunny to fully appreciate such pessimism), but definitely one of the best books I’ve read so far.

Also : stupid capitalist society. To the extreme, capitalism definitely kills.

-Aithen

Feed by M. T. Anderson
Rating : 8,8