Common Sense Media Review
Satire with a nice bite -- for mature teens.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 25 parent reviews
Based on 45 kid reviews
Kids say this book has a unique premise and explores important themes about technology and consumerism, yet it often misses the mark due to excessive profanity and a lack of character development. While some readers appreciate its satirical approach and deeper messages, others find the content inappropriate for younger audiences and criticize its execution as poorly written and confusing.
- unique premise
- excessive profanity
- lack of character development
- important themes
- inappropriate content
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
Titus is a teenager in a future world in which almost everyone has an implanted computer chip, the feed, which links their brains to the web, with its instant messaging, online ordering, entertainment programming, and a constant barrage of advertising tailored to his or her personal tastes, momentary desires, and current locations. But even if this is your idea of utopia, not everything is rosy: Mysterious lesions are appearing in everyone's skin, hackers can get into your feed, and America isn't getting along so well with the rest of the world. None of this matters much to Titus and his friends until he meets a girl named Violet, who has been homeschooled -- as opposed to going to School(tm) -- and got her feed late. Now she's making Titus uncomfortably aware of what's going on outside his own circle ... and what's going wrong with her malfunctioning feed.
Is It Any Good?
In this viciously satiric novel, M.T. Anderson has imagined today's trends extended into the future. Among the many pleasures in FEED is the slang the author invents for his characters -- different, but understandable, with obvious connections to present-day teen-speak. "Like" has, alas, remained, but "unit" has replaced "dude," a pretty girl is "youch" (if she's really pretty, she's "meg youch"), and so on.
Like many authors of this type of novel, Anderson trowels his point on a bit thickly at the end. But, then, no one ever accused Huxley or Orwell of being subtle, either. And in the meantime, it's a fun ride that will get teens thinking. The satire has a nice bite, and it's all just a bit too plausible for comfort.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how corporations and the media influence us. Do you think that we allow ourselves to be marketed to too much? What can we do to fight it?
What other media have you see/read/played that deals with the future? Are the stories always dark like this one? Why is it important to read books set in the future?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Science Fiction
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Candlewick Press
- Publication date : September 23, 2002
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 14
- Number of pages : 236
- Last updated : January 13, 2020
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