Feed by M.T. Anderson

 

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck” 

 Title: Feed

Author: M.T. Anderson

Publication Date: 2002

ISBN #: 0763662623

Number of Pages: 299

Trend: Trend: Science Fiction, Dystopian, technology

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Anderson, M.T. (2002). Feed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Pres

Summary: This book is set in the future where everyone has implants in their brain that make them able to access the Feed—which is basically a combination of internet, email, call, text, programming, and more—with only a thought. There is also a constant stream of ads popping up, and customizing themselves for the consumers based on search and purchase history. Titus and his group of friends visit the Moon for a weekend because they felt like there was nothing to do back on Earth. While there, they meet a girl named Violet who seems different then the rest of them, her casual manner and free spirit attitude appeal to them. One night when they all go to a club, an anti-feed terrorist hacks into their feed. They wake up in a hospital and no longer have the feed. During the time it takes to repair the feed Titus and Violet start dating. Things go well for a time, when Violet says she is going to start revolting against the feed. Since the advertisements track everything, the feed customizes the ads to each individual, Violet starts accessing all random ads she can find. She tries to get Titus to do it too. Violet starts feeling strange a little while afterwards and feels like someone is accessing her feed in her sleep.

She soon finds out that there is something wrong with her feed and she is dying due to the fact that her feed was implanted later in her life rather than at birth, and the hacker’s effect on her feed. Her body will begin to slowly shut down. Titus begins spending more time with her, taking her to his friend’s house, but she has a metal breakdown there and is rushed to the hospital. Violet continues to deteriorate and Titus grows more distant. She is loosing her memory so she begins recording messages with everything she can think of before she forgets it, and sends them to Titus, but he deletes them. She asks Titus to take her to the mountains for the weekend, and while there they have a fight and break up. He gets a message from her father later saying that she is asking to see him, but when he gets there she is in a coma, and her father blames Titus and wanted him to see Titus did to her. He shared memories with Titus of Violets days of deterioration as she loses control of all her body functions. The book ends with Titus going to visit her again and tells her every story he can find on the feed, while the advertisements repeat over and over again, “Everything must go.” Though that is the basic story arch, many things happen in the background of the story. The planet is in decay, and everyone lives in dome shaped neighborhood that they drive to and from in their flying cars through tubes. Lakes and other bodies of water are acidic. Sexual re-production is not longer viable, so woman must become pregnant using in-vitro fertilization. People’s skin begins to show lesions due to the environment they live in, to the point where the lesions are fashionable.

Anderson also drops in hints of a war that is taking place, but everyone is so all consumed by their individual lives that it is all in the background. Titus family life is deteriorating as well, his little brother is so involved with his feed and watching children’s programming that he no longer speaks to anyone. His father is obviously having an affair, and his mother works is some area of design that Titus knows nothing about. The family is so disconnected that Titus really is not sure what either of his parents do for a living.

Curricular connections: This book deals with a dystopian future that is happening in front of teenager’s eyes and they do not even realize it is happening. A good topic to cover from this book is the effect of technology on society. Also environmental impact is addressed in this book as well. In the library I would put this book on display in a science fiction section, but I am not sure if I would recommend it to just any teen looking for science fiction. I found it to be a very difficult to read.

Review Sources: Frances Bradburn of Booklist’s review was subtly a negative review, the only negative review that I found. The writer of the review was bothered by the cynical descriptions that were given to the characters, “very disturbing books [that] plays on every negative teen stereotype.” The writer ends the review stating, “As a cautionary tale, the story works; it is less successful as YA literature,” and I think I have to agree with her wholeheartedly. Lauren Adams of Hornbooks really touches on many of the important aspects of the book, especially the fact that “there is no climactic uprisings, no heroic transformation,” and I think that a lot of teens reading this book would be turned off by that aspect, but Adams does not say this in her review. Her review is very concise and would probably be a good companion to reading the book since she explores aspects of the book that might not have made sense to the reader the first time around.

Personal response: I cannot say that I liked this book because I did not, but I cannot say that it does not have its own merit in the premise of the story. The book brings up some intriguing points and need to be evaluated as technology becomes more necessary in our lives.