Feed by M. T. Anderson

Feed

Feed (2002) is a dystopian novel for young adults. Titus is a rich kid who spends his Spring Break on the Moon with a few friends. He’s trying to enjoy himself, but it is not so easy. Then he meets Violet, a girl who is there on her own and they “click”.

They (and all other people Titus knows) have “Feeds” which are a sort-of computers inside the brain. Titus can look up any information he wants (like we do with Google) just by thinking about it. However, the Corporations have added commercials to the Feednet, which means that whenever Titus thinks of something he likes, he gets told how great the item is, where he can buy it, and the irresistable offers that are on at the moment.

People get the Feed information coming in at all times so they are totally influenced by it. Violet also has a Feed, but is not so brain-washed by it, and actually questions the world she lives in. Unfortunately, she doesn’t quite fit in with Titus’ friends which makes outings, such as parties, a little awkward. (Note that at parties, people may have their Feeds transmit the same music as everyone else, or totally different music if they feel like it).

When things get really difficult for Violet, Titus becomes more and more absent from her life. He doesn’t know quite how to deal with the situation.

I thought the author was very creative with the world he created, especially the Feed. In other ways, it was like some other dystopian novels. For instance, it has omni-potent Corporations, that more or less rule the world. There is no real government involvement with anything. State school has been abolished a long time ago. Instead, Titus goes to School™. Furthermore, the world is, like in many other dystopian worlds, disintegrating because of the way humans have treated it.

The story was fun and very believable. To me, Titus was a typical teenager, doing things teenagers enjoy and opting out when it didn’t suit him anymore. What I liked even better were the ideas that the author put in the book. The most memorable was: a local wood was taken down to make space for an air factory. Brilliant!

Because the story was maybe a little too simple for me in terms of writing style, I give it 4.5/5. Had I been of YA age, I would probably have awarded it a 5.5/5!