Feed

Summary:  Feed is a futuristic book about Titus and his friends who go on Spring Break to the moon during the 25th century.  During this time, 3/4ths of the population have a device implanted into their brains connecting them to a continuous "feed" of advertising promoting consumerism and information that corporations want you to hear, see and feel.  During a dance party, Titus and his friends are hacked and lose their "feed."  The teens are bothered by the silence.  The "feed" gave them constant access to anything and everything but it is driven by corporations who are taking over the thinking for everyone, without even realizing. Eventually the teen's feeds are restored but everything has changed for Titus because of his new friend, Violet. Violet didn't get her feed until she was about 7 and there are complications which are causing the feed to kill her slowly.  Titus begins to see the "feed" differently after this "silent" period. He and Violet begin to fight to save their individuality and resist the consumerism. They start developing crazy consumer profiles by asking for information on items and then not buying them to "trick" the feednet.  When Violet's body starts to shut down FeedTech won't help her because of the inconsistent profile. They fight and break up.

Violet's father lets Titus know that Violet is fading. Titus goes to see her at the end and begins telling her the broken stories he remembers, even after he deleted all the memories that she sent to him. When she has just 4.6% of life left, Titus starts telling her the story of them.  He believes that as long as someone remembers you then you live forever. But in the end, "Everything Must Go." 

Anderson, M. (2002). Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Commentary:  The strengths of this book are that these young characters draws you in what seems to be good teenage fun and access to everything that teenagers can and are distracted by. The "feed" is multi-tasking at it's greatest, receiving multiple feeds all at once. This book remembers me a lot of The Knife of Never Letting Go and the "noise" that all the men hear all the time, it's never quiet. Just like the feed is never quiet.  They are even being fed information in their dreams.

Connections:  I would consider this book a Modern (soft) Science Fiction novel based on a teenager's life in the 25th century.  The time seems really far off and may have seemed pretty far off when the author wrote the book 15 years ago but now in 2017, a lot of this is real. Google, facebook and instagram all learn your preferences by what you are searching for.  Our "feeds" are inundated with advertisements of what our previous searches have been.  Our cars can parallel park themselves.  We don't have "upcars" but we have Uber, pretty close.  We can skype and facetime with relatives on another continent, maybe not the moon.  It's kind of scary how close to home this hits, especially the references how it is implanted into their brains.  My 5 year old could use my iphone before she even learned to read but my 20 year old didn't get a "smartphone" til she was in high school.  She had a flip flop with a sliding keyboard, so old-fashioned.  So you might consider her one of those who received her "feed" later.

Link to the M.T. Anderson's page.

Link to the author's review of Feed.

Book Trailers

Interview with M. T. Anderson.

From the 2010 National Book Festival.