Feed Me

Sometimes when you read a book you just know you will have to read it again. That was the case for me with M.T. Anderson's book, Feed. I first read this book only a year ago in my last library school class (*sigh* I can't believe I'm feeling all nostalgic about library school-- well, for this particular class, anyway), Library Materials for Young Adults. I loved the books that I read for this class, but there are three that stand out as my favorites. The first I have already written about (see my very first post--yes, I'm too lazy to type the title and author), the second is the one I'm about to write about and the third was just an amazingly beautiful, heart-stopping book called The Book Thief that I may get around to writing about eventually.

Feed is my sci-fi selection. Some (yeah right-- as if there is a "some of you" reading this) of you know that I like sci-fi, but not necessarily the alien variety. In this book, there are no aliens, just people, living in a world that is different from our own, but not so different. That's the thing about good sci-fi--it has a tendency to hold a mirror up to our world and say to us "see, you're not so different from this and if you are not careful, this could be you." In re-reading this book, as I thought I would be writing about it, I actually took a few notes, but I am going to ignore them and just write willy nilly.

The book's teenage protagonist, Titus, lives in a world that centers around the feed. The feed is an entity (I guess you could call it that) that is implanted in the members of the population when they are (I believe) babies. It is there, talking to them, seducing them and encouraging them not to think. It is basically all about stimuli overload. For example, for those of you that are on Facebook, think about that particular feed and then think about it as if it was magnified tenfold and in your brain. Facebook feeds are full of your friends' thoughts and news links and all kinds of trivial (and sometimes not so trivial) stuff. There are also, of course, advertisements on the side. In this book, the feed basically strips people of their humanity. People are distracted to the point that they have forgotten how to think or feel.

The book opens with Titus and his friends' trip to the moon. They are just there for a good time and a good time is had by all, until they are hit by a virus. Before this happens Titus meets a girl, Violet, who he is smitten with right from the start. But unfortunately, the treatments they receive to rid them of the virus, we find out later, don't seem to be helping Violet. It turns out that Violet comes from a "radical," intellectual family that is not overly pro-feed. In fact, Violet didn't receive the feed until she was (I think) about six. This seems to be a problem as it seems that the feed doesn't take to a person as well if it is given to them "later" in life. As the characters themselves find out, the feed affects a person's entire limbic system. If it starts to fail, they not only have weird brain things going on, but their bodies also start to fail. For example, when this starts happening to Violet, she sometimes has episodes of paralysis. So, you can't just take the feed away from a person if it starts to malfunction because it affects all aspects of their being, physical and mental.

I should also mention at this point, that the feed is very much about commerce. A lot of what is being piped into peoples' brains are advertisements. And because everyone is connected to this fashion trends evolve faster than the speed of light. One thing that Titus and his friends are dealing with are lesions on their faces and bodies. The feed, in one of its forms, transmits the idea of treating the lesions as fashion statements, so before you know it, many of the teenagers are even adding synthetic lesions to their bodies just because it is the thing to do. So, why do these people have lesions? What is causing them? The people are too distracted and are having too much fun to ask these questions. Is the government responsible? Who knows... And nobody cares.

When Violet really starts to fail, Titus does not know how to act. He does not know how to care about another person because his whole life has been about distractions (does this sound a little familiar?). He doesn't handle things all that well (and yes, he is just a teenager and they are not always known for their ability to deal with life's probems) and he is disturbed by the feelings that are popping up inside of him. What nuisances they are... Is it all too late or is there something he can do to overcome this?

As I've already stated, good sci-fi often presents itself as a cautionary tale. Do I think we are headed in this direction? Maybe, but it's not like I think we need to stop technology and progress. We just need to make sure we keep our heads and retain the ability to think and feel for ourselves. Is that possible? I certainly hope so...