I finished reading
Feed by M.T. Anderson this week for our upcoming Lunchtime Lit discussion on Thursday, March 22. I had heard so much about it from so many people that I expected to really love it. Instead, I found it thought-provoking, but I really had to push myself to finish it.
Part of the problem, I think, was that I was searching online for some background info for our book discussion and inadvertently came upon reader comments that totally gave away a major plot point (I am NOT one of those people who likes that...I NEVER read the last page of a book until I arrive there.)
Secondly, I was talking about the book with my friend Courtney, who really liked it a lot, and I said I was having trouble feeling too invested in the characters as they lacked depth. She pointed out that this was kind of a deliberate point that the author was trying to make about characters connected to the feed, versus people with more real live heart and soul kind of thing. I was kind of embarassed that I hadn't thought of that...because after she said it, I realized it was kind of obvious. Anyway, it helped me continue reading.
I do think the main narrator has a voice like a futuristic Holden Caufield in a lot of ways.
M.T. Anderson has several other books, including a recent Printz (young adult novel award) winner The Pox Party: taken from accounts by (Octavius Nothing's) own hand and other sundry sources.
Novelist (accessible from our web page with a login you can receive by calling the library 754-5738) also had some good read-alike ideas, including a brand new book by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It, and a favorite of mine which is an anti-consumerism rant, The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian (and its sequel Vote for Larry.)
