BookTalk
When was the last time you left your house without your phone?
I’ll turn around halfway to work if I don’t have mine. I feel so disconnected if I don’t have it.
This chilling novel imagines a society dominated by the “Feed” a next-generation Internet/television/smartphone hybrid that is hardwired directly into the brain. Teen narrator Titus never questions his world, in which parents select their babies’ attributes in the conceptionarium, corporations dominate the information stream, and kids learn to employ the Feed more efficiently in School. But everything changes when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break. There, Titus meets home-schooled Violet, who thinks for herself, searches out the truth, and asserts that “Everything we’ve grown up with, the stories on the Feed, the games, all of that it’s all streamlining our personalities so we’re easier to sell to.” Violet is not afraid to question things and is determined to fight the Feed…for a tragic reason she keeps to herself. Titus finds himself falling for Violet and awakening to the scary reality of his world. This satire offers a thought-provoking and scathing accusation that may prod readers to examine the more sinister possibilities of corporate and media-dominated culture.
Review
The scariest thing about this novel is how close to our reality it comes. Written in 2002 this story becomes ever more apt as the years pass. The citizens of Anderson’s world have a Feed inserted in their brain as babies creating a constant connection to society, practically from birth. Invasive as this may have sounded almost 10 years ago, we’d all have to admit that our own society is just as connected…if not in such a physical way.
In the book everything from entertainment, to social interaction, to sex is performed through the Feed. Not too different from the prevalence of YouTube, Facebook, or sexting. I’m sure there are people in our own society who would sign up in a heartbeat if someone offered to rid them of that pesky, and often lost item, ‘the cell phone’ for a more permanent direct connection. This novel hits hard the theme of corporate dominated culture. Showing how as a society we’re all trained to want the latest and best trends whether they be technological or a new hair style. The obsession with following these trends serving to limit our own free thought and creativity.
Anderson also includes an environmental aspect. The Earth of this novel is dying. Oceans have become inhospitable to life, women can no longer conceive naturally turning instead to in-vitro fertilization, and clouds can no longer form in our atmosphere. Again, the parallels of today’s world are scarily similar. While the environment is a secondary theme in this book it makes for great discussion given the Green trend that has formed in recent years.
What drives the reveal of these themes is the romance between Titus and Violet. Because of this Titus ends up dealing not only with the ramifications of his first true relationship but his own burgeoning awareness of the society he’s been trained to follow. He’ll deal with the loss of friendships and the weight that knowledge and adulthood bring. Titus does not end this story as a finished person. Instead the end only serves to bring Titus to his beginning as someone ready to fight the Feed.
Worry not, this book was published before the advent of the YA-series-explosion. It’s actually…gasp…a stand-alone novel, and a very good one at that. Again, the timelessness of this tale lies in it’s ever more accurate portrayal of our society. Take away the space-age setting and the physicality of the Feed and you’ll see a story too chillingly close to our own for comfort.
Rating: 9/10
Sara O
thelibrarianreads 