Feed, MT Anderson
Published February 23rd 2004 by Candlewick Press
Paperback, 308 pages
Source: Borrowed for 2015 Roofbeam Reader TBR Challenge (Thank you Steph!)
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon – a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires.
I have pretty nearly accepted that I’m going to fail at this 2015 TBR Challenge but I am going to go down fighting – er, reading. I decided to get back into the Challenge with M.T. Anderson’s Feed which was highly recommended by my coworker .
To quote my almost 5 year-old – This book was not my favorite. We begin with Titus and his friends headed the moon – basically for something for the teenagers to do over Spring Break. There’s no real introduction to Titus and his time period, you’re just there traveling with him. The language is crazy, and while I did understand it all by the end of the book it definitely bothered me as I started.
Spoilers ahead: This line from the description “And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desire,” made me think this was a book about fighting the feed and letting go of the manipulations of the brain. There is a constant media stream running through Titus’ brain. Where to shop, what music to listen to, what does happiness look like – all these questions are answered by the corporations who can access his thoughts. Yes – Violet had the intent to rebel with her own mind, but there was no grand revolution like I expected. That was totally a let down for me. I wanted change in the end and I definitely didn’t get it. These people were visibly rotting and just going with it – WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM?!
My sister read Feed last year and compared it with Feed (Newsflesh #1) written by Seanan McGuire if you want another opinion. I’ll stick with McGuire and take my Feed with a side of zombies anyday.
Next I think I’m going to either finally read the Hitchhiker’s Guide or try some retired Holmes in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.
Are you doing the TBR challenge? Or like me already making your 2016 list?
Gun In Act One 
I bought this book at a used book sale with my daughter in mind. She hasn’t read it yet – I wonder what she’ll think. (I don’t think she is very impressed with the cover.)
Can’t blame her! Not my favorite cover either 🙂 Very very different kind of read.
Different… that makes me want to read it!
I can’t say that I have heard of this one. It does sound disappointing. I wonder though if the reason for the lack of change is because the story is meant as a warning – that our society is one step away from media streaming directly to our brains and we need to stop it before it happens. Perhaps?