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Jun 03, 2011

Greg rated it:

In lieu of a review here is a rant inspired by Feed, using actual examples from real-life teens to illustrate the possible retardation of our culture and language. Enjoy.

This is a discussion from the Emo Girls/Boys r HOT!! group on Goodreads. I wanted to see what our youth really talk like. I figured I'd get them at their best, discussing politics. Here's a sampling:

I"M BLACK BITCH!! i'd b racest against ME!! no....Obama is just a fag...plain & simple!!

More...

55 comments like (57 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Flannery rated it:

While I’m sitting here writing this review, a Seattle Groupon advertisement is trying to get me to buy nachos with some amazingly tasty-looking picture in my sidebar. Now I really want some nachos. I just turned on the television and the advertisements while I’m perusing the OnDemand selections (because who can be bothered to watch television in real time these days?) made me want to watch The Fighter again. But I’m not going to! (I’m going to watch Clueless, duh) My mom told me today that Bath More...

14 comments like (33 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2010

karen rated it:

oops, i accidentally liked this book. i swear it was unintentional. i was all set to hate it, especially after greg's review (which to be fair, was less about hating the book and more about hating the people this book might be hoping to educate) the wariness i had about it being in kidcode teenspeak was unnecessary - it was like reading clockwork orange or irvine welsh or anything else in dialect. i thought it was going to be written in contemporary teentalk, which is retarded, but if it's made- More...

24 comments like (36 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2008

Meghan rated it:

Here's a fact: I don't like futuristic satire. I mean. It's always blah blah blah corporate this and blah blah blah takeover that and people are dumber and machines are everywhere and School (tm) and it all just feels to me like a line of cheap jokes being lobbed at basically what amounts to a society = wet paper towels, like, it doesn't take that much to punch through our faces anymore. And all of that stuff is in Feed, so, really the two of us were up against a wall together and one of us was More...

3 comments like (24 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2010

Annalisa rated it:

I started this book over a week ago and only got through the first page before all the "likes" turned me off. I took a break, read a few other books, and tried again. This time I got through two chapters before I closed the book and took a breath.
"I can't do this," I told myself. "I hate books that overuse our obnoxious vernacular. And the made-up words are annoying and stupid. I much preferred the made-up slang in A Clockwork Orange."
"So you're goi More...

5 comments like (22 people liked it)

May 12, 2011

Michael rated it:

You could be eating Taco Bell tacos right now! In fact, there's a Taco Bell nearby calling your name!

description

Just think of that taste as the steaming beef-like substance hits your tongue, with Taco Bell's savory blend of spices all ready to give you MOUTHGASM! With a side of those cinnamon twists, and a big, plastic quart of a dark, sugary substance, you're ready to have a tasty tasty meal! And you've earned it! Perhaps you should consider buying some when you finish reading More...

16 comments like (43 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Haboism rated it:

Feed is dark, satirical and surprisingly funny. Don't be fooled by the blurb, which makes it out to be post-apocalyptic horridness. In a sense, it is, but not in the way the blurb makes it sound.

The story is about Titus and Violet, and the Feed - an internet connection implanted in the brain at birth. Titus, the narrator, is as ineloquent and bizarre as the rest of the world, and yet his narrative is startlingly deep and pretty; but not half as deep and pretty as Violet, who is a won More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Bloodanna rated it:

While I did end up liking this book I was very close to banishing it to the back of my bookshelf.
This book is one that I found hard to get into, the beginning is slow and slightly tedious with the slang and the "Like, totally, man" quality of the narrators speech, it wasn't 'til about page 48 that I really started getting into it and even then it (in my opinion) wasn't very well-done. It seemed at times like the author was trying too hard to get his point across/to make you see t More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 20, 2011

Gavin rated it:

When I read the jacket blurb about this book I knew I was going to have a fun time with this story. Add to the fact that Anderson admits being influenced by none other than Mr. Thomas Pynchon, and this book had serious potential. (I have serious man crush on Pynchon, which is really gross if I stop to think about it. But I digress.)

And then I read the first page.

Okay, I understand the need to get a voice of a character and to tell a story in that voice, if applicab More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

Shawn rated it:

If this is how the world is going to end up, we need to divert all of our attention to space travel. We need to find a planet where we're not top dog, where our benevolent superiors make us behave, make creativity more important than creature comforts.

Alas - 'Feed' does not quite get us there. It's the reason we need to get there.

I can certainly see a time when we have chips in our head that stimulate our every sense and advertise non-stop. Technology keeps our stric More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Kristy rated it:

It must be the week for me to be reading weird books... first "Unwind" and now this....
I'm straddling the proverbial fence on this bad boy:
On the positive hand,
1.It was a unique story
But
Sometimes different doesn't equal good.
2. The story itself was interesting
but
the writing sucked and it was "MEG" hard to get into
3. It was a cool take on how technology can be beneficial, but in extreme quantities we are actually worse of More...

18 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

Kristin rated it:

This is a strange, twisted novel about how fucked up our future could be... there are no more computers, no more books, no more hands-on information... everything is downloaded right into your head... the feed.

"I don't know when they first had feeds. Like, maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that they had to use their hands and eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a br More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2009

Mykle rated it:

When I was sixteen, I caught an early matinee of The Man Who Fell To Earth. I was hungover after a night of serious teenage drinking, and that film made me decide to go straight-edge for the rest of my youth. It was such a cutting story, a hero's journey derailed by substance abuse, and it hit me at exactly the right moment.

Having just finished Feed by M. T. Anderson, I'm now wondering if I ought to pitch this whole Internet thing overboard as well. Put it down and run away scream More...

2 comments like (15 people liked it)

May 25, 2008

Yosafbridg rated it:

Titus’s world is so fast-paced that the girls must dash off to the bathroom, not only to touch-up their make-up, but also to change their hairstyles, just to stay current with the latest fashions. M.T. Anderson has envisioned a commercialized future in which the corporate world truly controls everything, including things like the (no-longer-quite) public education in School™ (indicated by the trademark symbol~they took over once the government could no longer afford or control it) and the enviro More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2008

Karyn rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2007

Patrick rated it:

First and Foremost, this book should be read by adults. It is great for young adults, in fact vital, but for adults it is also extremely important to read. The reason it is considered a young adult book is that in order to accurately portray the world correctly it is in a lingo that young adults would use and that adults would be too arrogant to want to read. Get over the vernacular and read it, the necessity of teen-speak should become apparent as you read.

This book provides a real More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2008

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

It's the future, the internet is beamed directly into your head, people live in domes because the air and water outside is so polluted, people are getting lesions on their skin and their hair is falling out, and all anyone thinks about is amusing their jaded selves and buying stuff. But don't bother visiting the moon, 'cause it's totally lame.

The one exception is Violet, but she was homeschooled, so she's pretty weird. But Titus kind of likes her anyway. Too bad her feed got so fried More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Osho rated it:

Dystopian cyberpunk for teens. This is the first of Anderson's I've read and it disposes me to read more (which is good, since I bought it in order to see if I wanted to take on his The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party). Anderson captures teenspeak, sometimes excruciatingly so, and teen preoccupations. This is a cautionary tale about capitalism, consumerism, the environment, and technology. It is not a typical teen novel and its ending is als More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Kevin rated it:

I hated this book. I felt patronized and belittled by his futile attempt to relate with me. This book has no content and the English was horrendous. My head started to hurt about half a page through. I am accustomed to reading books that have meaning and structured grammar. I don’t spend my time on Young Adult novels because I can’t relate to them. Feed did exactly that. It ostracized me. It is by far the worst book I have ever read. I really wish that I could have quit after the first chapter. More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 03, 2011

Liz rated it:

I gave this book three stars more for the world than for the story. I think that both the storyline and the world could have used some more development. The world however, is almost like a scary preview.

Almost everyone has the "Feed" inserted as a small child (perhaps as a baby?). Through the feed they can search dictionaries, encyclopedias and gather information. The feed is also a source of online shopping and constant "pop-up" adds. The feed learns what an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Tina rated it:

This book was recommended by one of my library school classmates. One of the topics we talk about quite often in classes is the future of information. How will it be stored and in what format? Are books on their way to extinction (this topic in particular is a favorite)? What is the best way to convey information to each other? One article we read discussed the idea that in the future we will not have text, we will only have images. The same article also discussed the idea of libraries storing n More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2009

Jean rated it:

The irony of seeing all the ads on goodreads to get me to this page is not escaping me.

Feed is a novel that needs to be experienced. Anderson projects a world where fast-paced internet consumerism has taken over society, where people have the internet basically wired into their bodies, directly feeding them a stream of advertisement based on their every random thought. It's cleverly done. Anderson beats the reader over the head with a devolved and annoying language (the people ar More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2008

Sandi rated it:

Feed is a much more complex novel than it appears to be. So much of the story is told by things left unsaid or details told in single sentences sandwiched in between unrelated paragraphs. The blurb on the back of the book is totally misleading. The girl, Violet, is not a rebel and she’s not out to change the world. She’s a lower middle-class teen. Her mother left and her father, a college professor, home schools her. The narrator, Titus, meets her on a spring break trip to the moon. Viole More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 29, 2008

Jen rated it:

So, I actually finished this book several days ago, and I've been processing what I think of it. The actual character dialogue - which makes up a significant portion of the book - drove me a little nuts because it sounded so utterly devoid of intelligence. At the same time, it also sounded like standing in the mall listening to teenagers talking all around you (which is apparently what Anderson did to try and generate authentic dialogue) - and that makes it more than a little scary. The book More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 03, 2009

Misty rated it:

I read this book as the first in what I intended to be a "best of sci-fi summer," and though I don't know if I will stick to that, this was a good first book. It is interesting in its use of language, which is not dumbed-down per se, but is simplified to the logical conclusion, full of all those trendy little shortenings of words that keep bastardizing language until it conveys nothing (there is a quote in there somewhere, I think from Jane Austen or Margaret Atwood -- I know, how dif More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2007

Carrie rated it:

A satire set in the future, Feed tells the story of a society where computers are implented directly into one's body when you are young - if your family can afford it. It puts a constant feed of information into your brain. You listen to music, watch tv, look for information, shop, play games - all in your head. You can chat with your friends through the feed. When you go to the mall, the feed sends you ads based on the stores and items you are near. Language and knowledge are not as broad since More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Panio rated it:

I brought this along with me on vacation, thinking it would be a fun, distracting entertainment. I completely underestimated it. FEED is fun and entertaining, but it is a whole lot more as well. Inventive, intelligent, fearless, provocative, and darkly humorous. It's a thoughtful and brilliant satire that puts most of the dystopic YA novels coming out these days to shame. The voice is dead-on and the author's ear for dialogue is impeccable. Looking forward to reading more of M.T. Anderson's work More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2007

Shari rated it:

I don't like science fiction or fantasy. So I am always on the lookout for such books that I can tolerate. FEED filled the bill. I have been taught that good science fiction is science eventuality. I can easily accept that we are on the express lane to FEED. How many children can't ride in the car for even short distances without watching a video or playing a video game? How may teenagers and young adults are always plugged into their IPods and My Space page? I read that there is rehab to get pe More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Rebekah rated it:

At birth, most wealthy American children receive the feed, a brain implant which allows them to chat, shop, surf the web, and watch TV within their minds. Anderson's sinister novel provides a grim, but believable, look at the potential future of social media technology.The teens in the dystopic world are so distracted by their feeds that they have no knowledge about their world, which is overpopulated and corrupt. Owned by massive corporations, the feed constantly tempts people into buying usel More...

0 comments like

Aug 04, 2011

Helga added it

The best science fiction, in my opinion, is the kind that takes familiar material and extrapolates it in intriguing and even disturbing ways. You get to the end and have the uncomfortable realization that what you just read could actually happen. Feed was written before the advent of Web 2.0, before Twitter and Facebook, and just as MySpace, Friendster, and LinkedIn were getting off the ground. Despite this, it manages to remain amazingly current. The book, a young adult novel, is author M.T. An More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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