Book Reviews of Feed

Consider what your life would be like if you could access the Internet directly from your brain. No need to learn to spell - just access the dictionary directly. But the "feed" to the brain is controlled by advertisers. This book describes just what the first generation of teenagers might be like who have a "feed". The book is on the dark side but provactive considering a new generation growing up with the Internet.

I really enjoyed this book. It accuratley portrays how stupid people can be, and how caught up in crazy trends teens can be. It was very creative, and a short, quick read. I reccomend this book!

This book was a interesting story set in the future. It was sad to see to the level we had sank ecologically. The unique language takes a bit to get used to, but the overall moral of the story was a good one.

The blurb on the back reads: "'We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.' So says Titus, a teenager whose ability to read, write, and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his 'feed,' a transmitter implanted directly into his brain... But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what's happening to the world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear. A girl who decides to fight the feed."
The book was good; a lot of my friends really enjoyed it. I personally found the prospect engrossing, yet frightening. A quick read that really reminds the reader what could happen if we're not careful.

You drive to work as cars speed by you, the vast majority of their drivers texting their friends or reading their work emails on their PDAs to get a jump start on a busy workday. The radio never plays much music anymore and you're forced to listen to commercial after commercial as you breeze down a highway that is peppered with a variety of electronic billboards. You arrive at work, sit in your cubicle, and waste a vast majority of your day surfing the web; reading the latest news headlines (Global Warming, Corporate greed, Warring Nations, etc), updating your Facebook status, and searching for great bargains on those hot new must have items that you really don't need. Your day ends, you drive home, eat dinner, and enjoy some TV before bed (Damn those incessant commercials!). As soon as your head hits the pillow your alarm goes off. Repeat. This is the world we live in.

Fast forward to an undetermined year in the future where Titus, the main character in "Feed", lives. A world ravaged by global warming and pollution. A world in which humans are fitted with "feeds" that attach to their brains and keep them connected to the Web 24/7. A world in which humans can "chat" with their friends via their feeds without every having to open their mouth and mutter a syllable. A world in which humans no longer know how to read (why would you need to when you're force fed everything through your feed?) and the thought of writing anything is considered outlandish by the masses.

Crazy right? That was my initial thought as I began to read this book however the deeper I got into it the more startled I was by the similarities to our present day. Think about it - When is the last time you've sat down and wrote a letter to someone with a pen & paper? As cell phones advance haven't you been talking to people over the phone less and less...to the point where actually talking to someone can seem a bit tiresome when texting is do darn simple? Can you remember the last day that you didn't once log online or use your cell phone? And on that horrendous day did you feel completely disconnected from everything?

I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical about "Feed" before starting to read it. Many reviews on here have noted readers' frustration with the jargon used in this book. Yes, the book is told through the eyes of a teenager, and yes some of the jargon can be a bit confusing at first, but the simple use of context clues resolves this concern. Additionally I don't typically read Young Adult books (I'm 30...sigh) but I believe the subject matter is pertinent and translates well for us old-timers. So put down your iPhone, turn off Fox News, log out of Twitter, and give "Feed" a chance.

I really enjoyed this book. I had read it once before and decided to give it another go and I found that I liked it as much as I did the first time! The book can be a little difficult to read in parts as sometimes they talk in a futuristic type of talk, and because their "feeds" are sometimes randomly interjected in their normal thought patters. I like that this occurs because it really shows that the feeds are actually a part of them.
Five Stars

Amazing book! It's written in the first person from the point of view of an uneducated teenage technophile, which will take some getting used to, but it's worth wrapping your mind around. This near-apocalyptic version of a capitalist superpower bent on instant gratification seems almost inevitable.

This book is an excellent young adult novel. The writing style takes some getting used to at first because it is narrated by the voice of a teenager in a dystopian future, so the voice is a bit annoying: lots of "like," "um," and obscure slang. However, this is an intentionally disjointed voice because it is meant to demonstrate the deterioration of minds in this hypothetical future. Fascinating read, very thought-provoking. Not to plot-spoil, but the ending is both tragic and poignant. Read it along with your teenager and then talk about it together.

This book features a great concept--a future America where people have a computer chip implanted in their brain as a baby that allows them to shop, watch movies, listen to music, and privately chat to others. Titus is a typical teenager of this future, so caught up in his feed that he doesn't notice or even care when he does notice all the environmental problems and social unrest in the world. The book proceeds to show what happens when he starts dating Violet, a girl who does notice. Unfortunately, Titus instead of growing and changing just continues to do things to Violet that are progressively more and more jerky. He seems to lack most human emotion or empathy. Violet makes him uncomfortable, and he just wants to return to his feed cocoon. Perhaps that is Anderson's point--that the feed and consumerism dehumanize--but it read as a bit too sympathetic to a character as douchey as Titus for my true liking.

Check out my full review.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The relationship between the two main characters felt very, very real. I liked that the POV character was portrayed as a regular teenage boy, with all that implies...he's a decent guy, but no prince on a white horse. It is unusual to find a book that seems to capture human foibles so honestly.

Multiple award winning sci-fi/fantasy.