[.ca] Feed (ISBN 0763617261)

From Amazon.com:
This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy. Anderson gives us this world through the voice of a boy who, like everyone around him, is almost completely inarticulate, whose vocabulary, in a dead-on parody of the worst teenspeak, depends heavily on three words: "like," "thing," and the second most common English obscenity. He's even made this vapid kid a bit sympathetic, as a product of his society who dimly knows something is missing in his head. The details are bitterly funny--the idiotic but wildly popular sitcom called "Oh? Wow! Thing!", the girls who have to retire to the ladies room a couple of times an evening because hairstyles have changed, the hideous lesions on everyone that are not only accepted, but turned into a fashion statement. And the ultimate awfulness is that when we finally meet the boy's parents, they are just as inarticulate and empty-headed as he is, and their solution to their son's problem is to buy him an expensive car. Although there is a danger that at first teens may see the idea of brain-computers as cool, ultimately they will recognize this as a fascinating novel that says something important about their world. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell

All-too-accurate future distopia:
Titus and his friends are bored on their spring break, so they decide to take a trip to the moon. Through their feed, which is basically a hyped-up Schwarzenegger version of the internet that is lodged in their nervous system, they hear about a cool club. They go to the club and meet people with the best clothes, the best hair, and the dj's playing the best songs, all thanks to the feed, which unfailingly supplies all the latest trends and can even make recommendations for Titus based on his past purchases (much like amazon!). But at the club, something goes very wrong. A hacker working for the Coalition of Pity scams his way into Titus' and his friend's feed, knocking them unconscious. They have to be hospitalized and patched up, and off of the feed for days. Titus recovers, but his girlfriend Violet's feed has been so damaged, it could be fatal. M.T. Anderson has written a gripping tale of what life in the not-too-distant future could be like, if America and the west doesn't curb it's appetite for more and more. He writes what it could become like for a young person like Titus to grow up without actually thinking and feeling, but being "fed" by corporations everything he *thinks* he needs. This is one of the smartest and most important books I've read this year. If you ever worry about the repurcussions of consumer society, you should check out this book.

not crazy about the book:
eh. it was alright... however the problem with this book is that the main character doesn't begin to feel real or show emotions untill the last few pages of the book. when its tough to care for a character or at least find somehting to identify with its tough to enjoy a book.

Two-Dimensional, Unlikable Characters:
I'm always intrigued by dystopian literature and the society in this novel is frighteningly possible. How easily today's online technology could turn into this society's implanted technology! However, while I found the society intriguing I wasn't terribly fond of the book. Right from the first page, I found the profanity annoying. I have a hard time reading books that swear at me, especially when it has no real value. I also didn't like any of the main characters, they felt very two-dimensional. This is also a depressing story and while I don't mind (I even often enjoy a good depressing book!), combined with unlikable characters it left me thinking ... ho-hum, whatever.

Read the Book!!!:
I have read many books over my 17 years of life and I would have to say that Feed by M.T. Anderson is one that I would recommend to everyone. I do not write reviews, so to write this on my own accord should show how powerful this book really is. I was literally blow away by it. This is the first time I have read a book by M.T. Anderson and was delightfully surprised by the emotions this book can cause. It takes place in the future, how far away I am not sure, but still it brings to life teenage society to a very fine point. It is has first person narrative that was weird at first but one gets used to it fast. At the end of the book there is a reader's guide and a conversation with the author which I found very helpful to understand where the auther is coming from and the weight that this book has to our every day life. I will from now on look at advertising in a new light and beware of what it is truely trying to do. I found it meg cool and ironically funny so...read it and understand why!!!

Great read:
This was a very interesting book. When I first opened it up I was upset with the asinine colloquial that was presented to me. I thought the author was just poor or lazy, with his grammatical mishaps strewn about the pages. Then, as I got used to it, I came to believe that most of it was intentional, perhaps even reflecting the type of diction that WOULD be used in a book published in that time period due to the degeneration of language. Somewhat like the degeneration presented in George Orwell's 1984. Again, it is a very grim vision of our future. In some ways, despite the fantasy that seems to surround its surrealism, I cant help but feel it was somewhat realistic, and I wont deny thinking about it as I pass billboards pearched on hilltops and banner ads that float across my monitor, urging me to buy some new item and telling me what i need.