Reviews

Feed by M.T. Anderson

marzipan951's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

avalete's review against another edition

3.0

The teenage slang in this one made me feel old. As with most good “what if?” stories though, the satirization of technology shines through. Especially with the protagonist being a teen, there’s a constant stress of wanting to fit in and “be normal” while also being aware of how powerless the individual is in the face of a wholly consumerist state. Overall this was a good book, the prose made it difficult at times but that added to its charm.

ellenmorgan's review against another edition

2.0

2.5

ckeithjohnson's review against another edition

4.0

This was good in the way dystopia is supposed to be good. The writing is atrocious, on purpose. The world is exceptionally similar to ours. I will not be able to go into tomorrow looking at Facebook and Instagram in the same way. That's good. Was it an easy read? No it was slow and the dialogue was difficult to get through (it was repetitious and said a whole lot of nothing most of the time) but the point was clear and crisp and challenging.

kate4ez's review against another edition

4.0

This book feels scarily accurate and horribly prescient about the end of America for a book from 2002. This is a story where the president alienates the rest of the world; the natural world is destroyed for profit; people die because they lack money to pay for treatment. Whole towns die, skin and hair fall out, natural reproduction is impossible, and these events barely register in the constant barrage of advertisements and entertainment. Everything in this story feels very plausible.

I listened to this book on Audio, and one part hit me so hard I stopped the playback:

“It’s the end. It’s the end of the civilization. We’re going down.

I just hope my kids don’t live to see the last days. The things burning and people living in cellars.

The only thing worse than the thought it may all come tumbling down is the thought that we may go on like this forever.”

I have had similar thoughts about my own kids.

mar1amreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

roschelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book made me reflect on our society, so I think it is worth reading. It got difficult to read at times because of the way Titus narrates. His speaking/narration style added to the story but also made me feel like I was losing brain cells, which is definitely the intention. It got kinda tough in some parts though. 

I struggled getting through all the lesion talk 🤢

jojodoug55's review against another edition

4.0

A poignant novel ahead of its time. Though I read it over 12 years ago, I still think about this book. It has quite the lasting impact on the reader as its story remains so true and relevant even in today's day and age.

theodarling's review against another edition

dark funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Almost hits harder in 2024 in my 30s than it did half my lifetime ago. Feed was definitely meg formative the first time around; I feel like I owe Anderson some sort of affectionate debt for the enormous influence this book had on my fledgling personality and value system. Still deeply enjoyable so many years later, although I feel like my younger self would be disappointed at the extent to which I've gradually integrated with the feed over time! I'm sorry about that, younger me, and I am working to undo the damage. ❤️ 

heathercottledillon's review against another edition

3.0

It took me a while to get into this book due to all the slang words Anderson made up. It makes sense that in the future people will talk differently than we do, but having so much futuristic jargon this story still bugged me because I had to focus more on figuring out what words meant instead of the story itself. Still, I did really get sucked in after a few chapters. I didn't particularly care for most of the characters because I thought they were selfish and didn't seem to grow or change their attitudes as much as they should have. However, I did like Violet. She's caught between her poor upbringing and her new rich friends in a world where the digital divide is bigger than ever. In the story, about 30% of Americans don't have feeds. Violet's family had almost no chance of getting out of poverty because her parents couldn't compete for good jobs when the majority of people had instant access to information that they did not have. This definitely got me thinking about our society and how the gap between the rich and the poor is growing, and how technology affects this. The story also made me think about the effect of technology on Americans in general: decreased attention spans; the constant need to be engaged with a digital device; isolation due to lack of human contact; and more. And, of course, consumerism is a big issue here. The ability of the feed to categorize individuals' desires and do such effective targeted marketing is pretty creepy, and it creates a nation of people who almost blindly consume whatever the feed puts in their minds. Another scenario that serves as a warning about the rapid pace at which new technology is developing and how adoringly it is embraced. In sum, I didn't care for the actual plot of "Feed" very much, but because the setting held my interest and gave me lots of food for thought, I thought it was definitely worth reading.