Parents' Guide to

Feed

By Matt Berman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Satire with a nice bite -- for mature teens.

Book M.T. Anderson Science Fiction 2002
Feed Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 13+

Based on 25 parent reviews

Mr. Dr. Sir. Gavin M.
Mr. Dr. Sir. Gavin M. Adult
November 1, 2023
age 3+

My Notes-from a doctor/teacher

bro so im like a doctor and stuff right and like this book made me wanna ask my coworkers to split my head open. i remember reading this in like 7th grade or whatever like what. bro was literally trapped in a hotel with a psychotic-looking girl trynna... but like anyways i would not recommend this at all. So like the feed thingy reminds me of when my bro corbs trynna feed his bearded dragon named Apollo -also that thing died so that kinda sucks- but like he had to touch crickets and stuff so thats kinda gross but anyways this book was scary. Like im a teacher and when i gave it to my kids/students they burst out crying and screams and threw up everywhere so you owe my janitor an apology and prolly some money. but yea basically i took all of the books and hid them in my fridge to get rid of the firey sins. Did the devil himself create this book? That could be reasonable. Like i dunno bro this book is just weird asf.
IHateFeed
IHateFeed Adult
August 29, 2018
age 2+

Its Boring and Predictable

People constantly are telling you this book is good however if you've read the book yes the ideas behind the book are good however the writing is counterintuitive and no reasoning behind it at all. M.T anderson wrote this book for teens yes but that doesn't excuse the ruth plot line and plainly obvious ending.
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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?

Our review:
Parents say (25 ):
Kids say (44 ):

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

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