![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: Feed
Author: M.T. Anderson
Genre: Science fiction
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: In a hypercapitalist society in which the Internet lives in our skulls, a boy falls in love with a girl whose connection is dying.
Thoughts: A fairly typical coming-of-age plot about a shallow teenager who doesn't grow up until it's too late is mashed up with an all-too-plausible dystopian future to create something new, and surprisingly touching.
Anderson's world is the exaggeration of ubiquitous social media driven by brands focused on "engagement". (I've read far too many marketing opinion pieces--I feel like there's a sizeable chunk out there who would see this not as the intended dystopia.) The characters are outsized and cartoon-y--but not that much more than your typical teenager, flailing for identity.
Titus is not stupid; just ignorant. Anderson doesn't take the easy route. Titus tries to rise above his own self-absorption, but not always enough. You want him to understand, to follow the path of the YA dystopian hero and break through the system. This is not that book. He's a normal teenager, no more able than we are to combat the institutions around him, whether they're giant corporations or the expectations of his friends. If we're honest, most of us would not have done better at his age. Possibly at any age.
In not making his protagonist some kind of world-changing firebrand, Anderson choose a much quieter, more devastating kind of story. This is not feel-good. This may not even be cathartic. But it is elegaic and lovely.
Author: M.T. Anderson
Genre: Science fiction
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: In a hypercapitalist society in which the Internet lives in our skulls, a boy falls in love with a girl whose connection is dying.
Thoughts: A fairly typical coming-of-age plot about a shallow teenager who doesn't grow up until it's too late is mashed up with an all-too-plausible dystopian future to create something new, and surprisingly touching.
Anderson's world is the exaggeration of ubiquitous social media driven by brands focused on "engagement". (I've read far too many marketing opinion pieces--I feel like there's a sizeable chunk out there who would see this not as the intended dystopia.) The characters are outsized and cartoon-y--but not that much more than your typical teenager, flailing for identity.
Titus is not stupid; just ignorant. Anderson doesn't take the easy route. Titus tries to rise above his own self-absorption, but not always enough. You want him to understand, to follow the path of the YA dystopian hero and break through the system. This is not that book. He's a normal teenager, no more able than we are to combat the institutions around him, whether they're giant corporations or the expectations of his friends. If we're honest, most of us would not have done better at his age. Possibly at any age.
In not making his protagonist some kind of world-changing firebrand, Anderson choose a much quieter, more devastating kind of story. This is not feel-good. This may not even be cathartic. But it is elegaic and lovely.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-10-18 10:39 pm (UTC)From: