Imagine if you had the Internet implanted in your brain...
After I finished The Hunger Games for our Speculative Fiction week, I picked up Feed. Anyone read it? If you haven't, I suggest you do. It's a really interesting idea, though I will admit it had a very depressing ending.
Choice Book: Feed, M.T. Anderson
Summary
The novel takes place in the future in a society where nearly everyone has a version of the Internet implanted directly into their brains. The feed works much like a tailored Google search or like the function within Amazon that tells you what you might like based on past purchases. The society thrives on consumerism and constant stimulation. The main character, Titus, and his circle of friends don't seem to question the feed or their society. When Titus begins dating Violet, who didn't receive the feed until she was six, she challenges him to fight the feed.
Noted Themes
The novel can be seen as a critique of consumer culture. It's also a satire of our current society where people feel the need to be constantly connected. Anderson examines certain environmental issues and critiques the way that society has begun to pave over our natural spaces.
Reflection
While the setting is an imagined future, I think that it's meant to satirize what our world has already become. The quotes from the president sounded a lot like George W. Bush, for example. I think this text would make an awesome addition to classroom curriculum. I personally appreciated that the text did not have a nice, neat "Hollywood" ending, which would have seemed incongruent with the issues in the novel.
Student Reaction
I think that students might initially struggle with the strange language and vocabulary; however, the characters and plot are interesting enough that if readers push through the first couple of chapters, they should really enjoy the novel.
Grade
10th-12th
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