Feed

by M.T. Anderson
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 5 discs
read by David Aaron Baker
genre: dystopian SciFi

I hated this book. It's a magnificent piece of writing. (And I adore David Aaron Baker's interp! He also does the Odd Thomas books. I think I'll see if I can find books read by him, no matter the topic or author.) One of my colleagues looked at me as though I was crazy when I shared my love-hate for this book. Another colleague nodded in understanding. It reminded me of when I was a teenager reading The Lord of the Flies for the first time. Completely sucked in to the story, talking to the characters, traumatized by the events. Feed is also a powerful story, but I didn't "like" it much.

Set in the not-so-very-distant future, Titus is a typical rich American kid. The moon "sucks" and he's pumped to get his own "up-car." Violet has had a very different upbringing, with parents who resisted getting their own feeds and didn't want her to have the implant, either. When her feed was installed, she was older than most children are and her parents bought a budget model. Not good. Intimately affecting people's brains, tracking their interests, controlling their body's systems, the Feed also floods their minds with advertising.

Awesome, horrible book. I took a look at the print version in my library, but I think the audio brings it to life (especially the sensory overload) so much more effectively. Worth a read!

Added 2/6/14:
I did a re-read (of the print version) to get ready for 8th grade book club. It was a little too coarse for my students - one didn't finish it. I had warned them about the swearing, but this wasn't the right book for the readers! I am still impressed by how thought-provoking this book is . . . how much is already true? Could this happen in the future? I marked a lot of pages!

page 8/9 - "You put the 'supper' back in 'suppuration.' . . . and the subsequent reactions by characters.

39 -  "I missed the feed. I don't know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. . . . . "

This entire page! I should just scan and post it! He goes on to talk about the educational advantages and how everyone is smart because they can look things up right away. ". . . like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit."

54 - "She asked me, 'Do you know how to read?' I nodded. 'I can read. A little. I kind of protested it in school TM (trademark). On the grounds that the silent 'E' is stupid.' 'This is the language called BASIC,' she said."  Just the issue of literacy and what it means to humanity . . . this book really, really resonates with me!

58 - the way the author intersperses "the feed" with the storyline . . . it's amazing how invasive the feed's messages are in these characters' lives. And it's amazing how much like real life with kids and cell phones this really is.

I honestly haven't figured out the role / purpose of the news briefs on world events (which most of the characters are either unaware of or unconcerned about). Only Violet is paying attention. These are the pages I marked with those scenes:  70, 98, 126, 151, 191 (Titus and Violet talking about it), 214, and 223 (when Titus is finally starting to understand).

80 - Violet and Titus at the mall, trying to skew the statistical analysis of their shopping profiles. It absolutely creeps me out how realistic this is! I hate being "sold to" based on past purchases.

90/91 - commentary on education and no one being willing to pay for it!!! "Now that school TM is run by the corporations, it's pretty brag, because it teaches us how the world can be used, like mainly how to use our feeds."

103 - conversation between Violet and Titus' dad about the trees being cut down to build an oxygen factory . . .

116 - the filet mignon farm . . . I actually found this part kind of funny, but also sad if you look at how a lot of food is mass-produced.

133 - Titus deciding to act *exactly* like his father when he is angry. Kids really do learn from our behavior!

192 - Titus' mind is on other things when the news in his upcar includes ". . . the physical and biological integrity of the earth relies at this point upon the dismantling of American-based corporate entities, whatever the cost."

200 - to me, the most heartbreaking moment in the story. "I deleted everything she had sent me."

211 - on their vacation getaway, the romance doesn't happen because Titus says, "I keep picturing you dead already."

219 - Titus starting to realize that commercialism and materialism aren't getting him anywhere.

221 - Violet's dad sharing his struggle with getting the feed for his daughter.