false 5 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 05 02:36:54 -0800 2009 Wed Jul 01 16:11:45 -0700 2009 1 It's set in a near-future world where everyone has a "feed", a direct link to an internet-like network that constantly bombards everyone with advertising and allows them to "chat" each other anywhere anytime. Consumerism is cranked up to consequently insane level and the planet is even closer to being completely dead than we are now in reality. Against this backdrop some kids are trying to live life and make sense of things.

The book is very sad, very true, and very serious, but also hilarious. In a way I was disappointed to find out that it's classified as a "young adult" book, because it seems pretty grown-up to me. Sort of like Douglas Coupland, very satirical and biting and almost parable-like. But on the other hand maybe it being specifically in the young adult category will mean more young people will read it and learn something from it and think about the issues it discusses.

One amazing thing is that the book came out in 2002, before YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other brain-eating, time-wasting cyberjunk. This M.T. Anderson guy is pretty smart.

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