A book set in a world of the future where brain implants are put in at birth, endlessly feeding in advertisements.
I was born into a world where the telephone was still wired and had a circular dial to ring up someone. As I grew up, I had to get used to cordless phones and eventually cellular phones. Today, I cannot help being amazed as I, along with a million billion others around this planet, walk around with pocket-sized telephones! And now there is an increasing tendency to not hold the phone at all. The hands-free Bluetooth revolution has already become quite popular. The children of today are born into this world of instantaneous communication and satellite navigation. Wonder where the phone will go next? I for one would not be surprised if the phone, along with all its gimmicks, enters our sanctum sanctorum, the brain.…
Article comments
26 - Mike
Book was very interesting however, in many ways it is a rip-off of Zamyatin's "We", perhaps the first, great, dystopian novel.
27 - Mike
I am a 57-yr old geezer who was given Feed by a 70+ yr old retired school principal who thought it was great. Age can actually be an advantage when it comes to thinking out of the box because, like Violet, we were not connected to the feed until we were older.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who was telling me about the latest genocide du jour in the world and I realized that really, I knew very little about it. Last night as I watched the world news I realized that I knew nothing about those things because I was on a different feed than my friend. I flashed back to the novel and recalled how Violet knew about the black goo (oil? The gulf oil spill?) and mall riots but, other characters knew nothing about those events. What feed are you on?
For me, the novel seemed to be more about corporate mind control than being about futuristic teenagers. Did you ever order a Net-Flix movie or a book from Amazon? Often, you will be pestered by some computer that suggests, “If you liked ---, then you might like---” followed by a series of pop-ups trying to sell you something based on information gathered by corporations about what you have purchased in the past. We are constantly being fed and told what we like. Perhaps because I was hooked up to the feed later than you, I can see it better.
I thought about all the various feeds in our lives, the T.V’s, and those smaller pocket-sized feeds that we press to our heads only a few inches from our brains. It’s not too far from becoming part of our brains. Everything that goes through those corporate owned and sponsored feeds and into our heads is metabolized in our bodies, primarily by the brain and, don’t think that it hasn’t changed your brain chemistry.
At this point in your lives, disconnecting from the feed might just kill you as it did Violet, it has become part of your brain. Isn’t it safer just to let others do your thinking for you? Remember, things didn’t go well for Violet when she started to think out of the box, her friends talked about her behind her back, then she bumped into some crazy free thinker who short circuited her feed, changed her thinking, and, well it was all down hill from there. Don’t worry, if you start to exhibit symptoms of free thinking, someone from Tec will try to fix the ‘problem’ and squelch you. Hopefully, you will be repaired because they can’t have the likes of you shorting out the system.
28 - Nikki
This book is like a reality punch in the stomach. MR Anderson portrays what is already occuring in our world (the major details like politics and youth being oblivious to global issues and our dependance on technology.) and it sort of makes you realize what your living in and the horrifying end that you are setting for either ur or future generations. At first I thought that Titus was being a "meany" to violet but I guessing understand.
oh and I was shocked that this was 14+
29 - Ces
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has posted! I am currently working on a unit plan for Feed for 11th/12th graders. I am almost ready to start my student teaching and had read this book in my young adult literature class and WOW. Likewise with the comments about swearing... most, but not all students do swear this much. I have spent countless hours observing, monitoring hallways, and sitting in the lunchroom to hear it. So believe it or not, not all your little angels are in fact angels. Their virgin ears have heard it at some point. To the comments on it's outrageous with the advertising...hello we are constantly bombarded with ads and let's be real, they aren't exactly portraying the greatest of images (skinny, sexy, etc.). Who cares if it sounds unrealistic? It is science fiction! And I, obviously, think it would be a great change from the stale "English Cannon" that bores most students to death. :)
30 - sam
i liked the book. im doing a book report on it right now.
31 - bky
this book is amazing. it is my favorite and i can see it being reality in the near future. and to those people who say the launguage is too obsecne and uncalled for or w.e...well grow up. and also FUCK. that is all. great book
32 - Silver
I read this book for English this year (I am 14), and I loathed it. For a long time I was not entirely sure why I hated it so much, but now I realize it's because the parallels between Feed and the real world are painfully obvious. I already have a phobia of paralysis, and some of Violet's experiences drove me to tears.
I can understand why people like it. It's a satirical book - politicians, especially the president (who calls another political leader a "sh!t head" and then says it was to praise the fertility of his thoughts) are mocked openly. Like someone has said already, the profanity is there only because they don't know what to say, much like some people at my school.
Everything is censored. Your thoughts and desires are read. When Titus is looking at Violet in one of the earlier chapters, he's thinking about how beautiful she is - and her spine is... her spine is...
When the feed suggested "supple", I put down the book for some time because it frightened me so much.