feed by M.T. Anderson
This dystopian novel asks the uncomfortable questions about the role of technology in our lives.
Amazon's summary:
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.
Amazon's Review:
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
Amazon's summary:
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.
Amazon's Review:
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
About the author
It is a good thing that I started this novel before researching the author, because the unique background of M.T. Anderson would have scared me away from this incredible book.
Born in 1968 in Massachusetts, Anderson knew early on that he wanted to be a writer. In high school he dabbled with many different writing forms, including comic books and computer code. But the transition from high school to college was not an easy one and almost ended his writing career before it even started. After high school, he spent a year in England at a boarding school studying English literature. He came back to the United States to start at Harvard, but dropped out after a year and bounced around between different part-time jobs while writing on the side. Two years later he headed back to England and enrolled at Cambridge University where he studied English Literature.
With his degree in hand, he worked as an editor and literary reviewer in New England until his first novel was published. That lead him to Syracuse University where he completed his MFA in Creative Writing. From there, it was off to teaching and full-time writing.
The thing that sets Anderson apart from other authors is his need to make readers think differently about the things around them. On his website, he tells the story of building random piles of blocks in kindergarden. When the teacher questioned him on what he was trying to build, he said ruins. It was this unique view of the world that is evident in his works.
Anderson has a varied portfolio of work. Over the years, he has written children's picture books, young adult novels and adult literature. While there doesn't seem to be a common theme running through them, critiques tend to look at his obsessive researching of the setting of his novels and credit him with creating realistic characters, backgrounds and situations based on factual information. Even in feed, which is set in the future, he has created an entirely new slang vocabulary for the teen characters to use.
Bibliography (via Wikipedia and M.T. Anderson's website):
Novels
Born in 1968 in Massachusetts, Anderson knew early on that he wanted to be a writer. In high school he dabbled with many different writing forms, including comic books and computer code. But the transition from high school to college was not an easy one and almost ended his writing career before it even started. After high school, he spent a year in England at a boarding school studying English literature. He came back to the United States to start at Harvard, but dropped out after a year and bounced around between different part-time jobs while writing on the side. Two years later he headed back to England and enrolled at Cambridge University where he studied English Literature.
With his degree in hand, he worked as an editor and literary reviewer in New England until his first novel was published. That lead him to Syracuse University where he completed his MFA in Creative Writing. From there, it was off to teaching and full-time writing.
The thing that sets Anderson apart from other authors is his need to make readers think differently about the things around them. On his website, he tells the story of building random piles of blocks in kindergarden. When the teacher questioned him on what he was trying to build, he said ruins. It was this unique view of the world that is evident in his works.
Anderson has a varied portfolio of work. Over the years, he has written children's picture books, young adult novels and adult literature. While there doesn't seem to be a common theme running through them, critiques tend to look at his obsessive researching of the setting of his novels and credit him with creating realistic characters, backgrounds and situations based on factual information. Even in feed, which is set in the future, he has created an entirely new slang vocabulary for the teen characters to use.
Bibliography (via Wikipedia and M.T. Anderson's website):
Novels
- Thirsty (1997)
- Burger Wuss (1999)
- Feed (2002)
- The Game of Sunken Places (2004)
- Whales on Stilts (2005 first in series)
- The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (2006)
- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party (2006)
- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (2008)
- Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware (2009)
- The Suburb Beyond the Stars (2010)
- Agent Q, or, The Smell of Danger (2010).
- The Empire of Gut and Bone (2011).
- Zombie Mommy (2011).
- "Barcarole for Paper and Bones", Shelf Life: Stories by the Book, edited by Gary Paulsen. (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
- "A Brief Guide to the Ghosts of Great Britain" (memoir), Open Your Eyes: Extraordinary Experiences in Faraway Places, edited by Jill Davis. (Viking, 2003). Reprinted in the September/October 2005 issue of the young adult literature magazine Cicada.
- "The Mud and Fever Dialogues", Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, edited by Megan McCafferty. (Three Rivers Press, 2004).
- "Watch and Wake", Gothic: Ten Original Dark Tales, edited by Deborah Noyes. (Candlewick, 2004).
- "My Maturity, In Flames", Guys Write for Guys Read, edited by Jon Scieszka. (Viking, 2005).
- Handel, Who Knew What He Liked (2001), illustrated by Kevin Hawkes — biography of George Frideric Handel
- Strange Mr. Satie (2003)
- Me, All Alone, at the End of the World (2004)
- The Serpent Came to Gloucester (2005)
My first impression of feed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/FatherJack/Heads/DSCN0006.jpg
For full disclosure, I have to admit that listened to this story while I was driving around.
Also, for full disclosure, I have to admit that this is the second time I listened to this, although the first time I only about 20 minutes in before I shut it off.
The first time I picked this up, it was on a whim. I was browsing through the Young Adult second of audiobooks, looking for Ally Condie's Matched. I started feed and was not captured at all by it. The language used by the teen characters was very realistic, full of slang and "like, like" and "uhhh" and "you know" and a lot of f-bombs. But a month later, a teacher in my Twitter PLN mentioned the story and the message, so I picked it back up with a fresh mind, and I am glad I did.
At first, I thought this was going to be a vapid story about teens and their search for love. It starts off with a group of friends traveling to the moon for a vacation. They have a string of plans that include dancing and drinking and enjoying themselves, but those plans take a dramatic turn when a hacker breaks into their feed. This is where the book opens up and develops it intriguing message about technology and its role in our society.
I don't want to sound cliche here, but it is true that you only have one chance to make a good first impression. My first impression of this book was negative and it pushed me away from what ended up being a really engaging reading experience. I am not sure, but I think I will try to read another of Anderson's book, but this time with an open mind and allow it the chance it deserves.
Also, for full disclosure, I have to admit that this is the second time I listened to this, although the first time I only about 20 minutes in before I shut it off.
The first time I picked this up, it was on a whim. I was browsing through the Young Adult second of audiobooks, looking for Ally Condie's Matched. I started feed and was not captured at all by it. The language used by the teen characters was very realistic, full of slang and "like, like" and "uhhh" and "you know" and a lot of f-bombs. But a month later, a teacher in my Twitter PLN mentioned the story and the message, so I picked it back up with a fresh mind, and I am glad I did.
At first, I thought this was going to be a vapid story about teens and their search for love. It starts off with a group of friends traveling to the moon for a vacation. They have a string of plans that include dancing and drinking and enjoying themselves, but those plans take a dramatic turn when a hacker breaks into their feed. This is where the book opens up and develops it intriguing message about technology and its role in our society.
I don't want to sound cliche here, but it is true that you only have one chance to make a good first impression. My first impression of this book was negative and it pushed me away from what ended up being a really engaging reading experience. I am not sure, but I think I will try to read another of Anderson's book, but this time with an open mind and allow it the chance it deserves.
Critical Acclaim for feed
I am thinking that this book is one that is going to have to be pulled out every decade or so and reread. Originally published in 2002, it must have had a bizarre message, but a dozen years later, it seems more and more plausible. And it is that timelessness, even prophetic quality, that I think makes it so important of a novel.
Others obviously saw the same enduring message and long-term worth of this story. When it was first printed in 2002, it was a National Book Club Finalist. In 2009, the Young Adult Library Services Association, a trade group that supports librarians, added it to their list "Best Books for Teens", calling it "iconic" and "am important commentary on society." Several major newspapers, including the New York Times, the L.A. Times and the Boston Globe named it to various book lists.
The reviews for this novel have generally been positive and many have tried to make their own statement about how intrusive advertising and messaging is. On the goodreads website, several consumer reviews have tried their hand at witty comments, like saying they wanted to review this but were too busy trying to find a Taco Bell or surfing Amazon. Overall, readers from the general public have rated the book 3.55 out 4 with over 26,000 reviews.
DigBoston, a arts review website, took a look at the book on its 10 year anniversary. Author Tony McMillian called it "chilling in the way only a well crafter and darkly writ satire can be." He went on to say that the book drew him in, making him laugh at the characters and the ridiculousness of a constant stream of advertising beamed directly into you brain, but then you realize that you are laughing to cover up the fact that it is true. He also draws a comparison between Anderson's style and that of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.
Other reviewers have called it "disturbing" and "dark". As a whole, it falls in the dystopian genre which is so popular these days, with books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. These reviews have focused on the message, but do point out the style that Anderson uses, trying to imitiate the language and delivery of the teen characters.
Others obviously saw the same enduring message and long-term worth of this story. When it was first printed in 2002, it was a National Book Club Finalist. In 2009, the Young Adult Library Services Association, a trade group that supports librarians, added it to their list "Best Books for Teens", calling it "iconic" and "am important commentary on society." Several major newspapers, including the New York Times, the L.A. Times and the Boston Globe named it to various book lists.
The reviews for this novel have generally been positive and many have tried to make their own statement about how intrusive advertising and messaging is. On the goodreads website, several consumer reviews have tried their hand at witty comments, like saying they wanted to review this but were too busy trying to find a Taco Bell or surfing Amazon. Overall, readers from the general public have rated the book 3.55 out 4 with over 26,000 reviews.
DigBoston, a arts review website, took a look at the book on its 10 year anniversary. Author Tony McMillian called it "chilling in the way only a well crafter and darkly writ satire can be." He went on to say that the book drew him in, making him laugh at the characters and the ridiculousness of a constant stream of advertising beamed directly into you brain, but then you realize that you are laughing to cover up the fact that it is true. He also draws a comparison between Anderson's style and that of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.
Other reviewers have called it "disturbing" and "dark". As a whole, it falls in the dystopian genre which is so popular these days, with books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. These reviews have focused on the message, but do point out the style that Anderson uses, trying to imitiate the language and delivery of the teen characters.
Symbolism in feed
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I often wonder if authors intensionally set out to use their work as a symbolic or metaphoric look at something. But there is no doubt of that in feed. Based on the storyline, the conflicts presented and interviews M.T. Anderson has done after its publication, this story is clearly a commentary on how technology has taken over our society and it fundamentally changing us.
To show the absolute reach of technology in our society, Anderson's dystopian world is populated primarily by people who are hyper-connected by choice. That connection provides the mega corporations than run society access to consumers as well as a wealth of data on them.
These corporations and their direct link to people's brains is symbolic of advertising today. While we are not fed advertising directly into our brain, the comparison is apt. Today we are bombarded by messages and many are subversive, so subtle that we might not even know they are there. And in the novel, the feed provides instance promotions as a characters walk past stores; today's smartphones do the same with apps and GPS location tracking. My Starbucks app will notify me every time I am within walking distance of a location. This imagery might seem like hyperbole, but it is spot on.
To take the symbolism of the corporations another step, the book's society is run by giant corporations. The government, portrayed as inept and weak, sits on the sidelines while corporations run major functions of society, including education. As Orwellian as that might sound, how far from today's situation is it? Major legislation that works it way through Congress is influenced by business interests and the money they can provide to lobby for or against it. Many of today's educational reforms are promoted by groups that are primarily funded by wealthy businessmen who want to influence what the next generation of schools will look like and what skills students will graduate with.
One of the really telling comparisons in this story comes at the end when the main character's love interest is dying. Her feed hardware is substandard and was installed later in her life, both of which put her at risk for health problems. When those problems start to emerge, her entire life is endangered because of her connectivity. But the disturbing part of this is the fact that the feed is optional; people choose to have the hardware implanted and to connect themselves to the feed. This might seem like an extreme and exaggerated concept, but is it? The symbolism here is clear to the drive that we have today to own connected devises and the addictive nature of them. People choose to buy smartphones and they choose to sit in a restaurant with others and read their phone instead of talking to people.
Feed might seem like hyperbole, but many argue that it is a foreshadowing of events. The plot of the story is about a kid and how he is dealing with love, but the symbolic message is a warning of what could happen if the government is not in firm control of technology and those that run it.
To show the absolute reach of technology in our society, Anderson's dystopian world is populated primarily by people who are hyper-connected by choice. That connection provides the mega corporations than run society access to consumers as well as a wealth of data on them.
These corporations and their direct link to people's brains is symbolic of advertising today. While we are not fed advertising directly into our brain, the comparison is apt. Today we are bombarded by messages and many are subversive, so subtle that we might not even know they are there. And in the novel, the feed provides instance promotions as a characters walk past stores; today's smartphones do the same with apps and GPS location tracking. My Starbucks app will notify me every time I am within walking distance of a location. This imagery might seem like hyperbole, but it is spot on.
To take the symbolism of the corporations another step, the book's society is run by giant corporations. The government, portrayed as inept and weak, sits on the sidelines while corporations run major functions of society, including education. As Orwellian as that might sound, how far from today's situation is it? Major legislation that works it way through Congress is influenced by business interests and the money they can provide to lobby for or against it. Many of today's educational reforms are promoted by groups that are primarily funded by wealthy businessmen who want to influence what the next generation of schools will look like and what skills students will graduate with.
One of the really telling comparisons in this story comes at the end when the main character's love interest is dying. Her feed hardware is substandard and was installed later in her life, both of which put her at risk for health problems. When those problems start to emerge, her entire life is endangered because of her connectivity. But the disturbing part of this is the fact that the feed is optional; people choose to have the hardware implanted and to connect themselves to the feed. This might seem like an extreme and exaggerated concept, but is it? The symbolism here is clear to the drive that we have today to own connected devises and the addictive nature of them. People choose to buy smartphones and they choose to sit in a restaurant with others and read their phone instead of talking to people.
Feed might seem like hyperbole, but many argue that it is a foreshadowing of events. The plot of the story is about a kid and how he is dealing with love, but the symbolic message is a warning of what could happen if the government is not in firm control of technology and those that run it.
Character Analysis
Titus, the main character, is meant to be the typical teen, and he is, for the most part. This complex character, though, could easily be misconstrued if you tried to contain him into only that mold.
Titus and his friends are attacked by a hacker while on a vacation trip the moon, but only after he meets a girl that he ends up falling in love with. While they are recovering from the hacker attack, this girl's odd and non-conformist attitude makes her irresistible to Titus. They start a relationship that is at first uncomfortable and full of teen posturing, but very typical for most average teens. Titus, for instance, is kept at arm's length from Violet's home and father because he is embarrassed of him and her lower social status. As those walls come down, though, the two fall more in love and their relationship becomes tighter.
Then Violet gets sick when her feed hardware starts to malfunction. Now, Titus is faced with the decision of how to deal with her deteriorating condition, and he ends up picking the selfish path. At first, he is supportive and loving, trying to be there for her and helping her along, but as things start their slow slide downwards, Titus starts to avoid her and push her to the side. This abandonment ends with a confrontation with her father in which Titus is forced to face the consequences of his actions.
Titus and his friends are attacked by a hacker while on a vacation trip the moon, but only after he meets a girl that he ends up falling in love with. While they are recovering from the hacker attack, this girl's odd and non-conformist attitude makes her irresistible to Titus. They start a relationship that is at first uncomfortable and full of teen posturing, but very typical for most average teens. Titus, for instance, is kept at arm's length from Violet's home and father because he is embarrassed of him and her lower social status. As those walls come down, though, the two fall more in love and their relationship becomes tighter.
Then Violet gets sick when her feed hardware starts to malfunction. Now, Titus is faced with the decision of how to deal with her deteriorating condition, and he ends up picking the selfish path. At first, he is supportive and loving, trying to be there for her and helping her along, but as things start their slow slide downwards, Titus starts to avoid her and push her to the side. This abandonment ends with a confrontation with her father in which Titus is forced to face the consequences of his actions.