What We Think -- "Feed"

After I explained to Darren why yet another book irritated me, even reading a passage to two to bolster my case, I announced, "I am not this author's target audience."

Darren replied, "I don't think you're most authors' target audience."

Not entirely true. Take M. T. Anderson's Feed, for example.

Feed is set in some distant American future, so of course it's a dystopia. In this story, at least three generations have been implanted with a microchip -- "the feed" -- at birth. The chip is basically an internet connection, satellite TV package, and online shopping all integrated into your mental and physical processes. As the actual physical earth disintegrates from consumerism and neglect, humans are lulled into oblivion by the bright and noisy world of the feed in their heads. Think Wall-E without the cute robot.

The narrator is Titus, an older teen whose life is a perpetual attempt to stave off boredom. Titus and his friends have lost the capacity to express themselves except with the same eight or nine words (half of which are obscenities). They're slaves to the feed and never question what it tells them. Titus, however, shows some glimmerings of original thought. When he meets pretty, intelligent Violet, who actively fights the feed, he's fascinated by her. Eventually, however, he's torn between the easy life of non-thought, and Violet's more frightening life of courage and originality. The story is dramatic -- but just believable -- extrapolation of how we are conditioned by today's "feed."

It's not just the story that makes this book a good read, though. As anyone who has slogged through my reviews and rants knows, the writing itself has to speak to me. I savor the way the author introduces his world to me. He never grabs me by the arm and parades me through the wonders he has created. Instead, he drops enough references and casual explanations that you gradually grasp what Titus sees when he wakes up every morning. For instance, the family is eating supper, which ends with a tiff (Titus's parents are as immature and uninformed as Titus himself). Dad gets up, picks up the plates, and "throws them into the thing, the incinerator." Mom, meanwhile, "crumples up the disposable table and chairs." Those two sentences rearrange your entire perception of a family dinner, and speak volumes about the society they live in.

One personal perk was that for much of her life, Violet didn't attend "School (TM)." (Even the educational system is trademarked.) She was homeschooled. Homeschoolers running against the current and fighting conformity and non-thought? Obviously a very perceptive author.

It's not a happy book, although it is entertaining. Also, if you're bothered by profanity, you won't like the dialogue. I find it justified given the setting.

I first read this book about two years ago. You know how you fall in love with a book, and then pick it up again a year later, and wonder what fascinated you so much about it? That hasn't been the case with Feed. Every time I read it, I like it. I think I'm even willing to "go all the way" with it, and buy it.

-- SJ