I was not a fan of this book. I understand that it is social satire and therefore supposed to be thought provoking, but the author could have done it in a different way. Anderson's use of slang and technical terms in this novel made it very hard to get into the narrator's head and really understand what he's talking about.
Once I got toward the ending of Feed, I actually appreciated the characters and their dependence on technology and why Violet is so against it. However, I think it was difficult to start the novel because of the language used. While it is written in English, I felt like I had to learn a whole new language to understand the characters. If teenagers now sounded like how the teenagers in the book sound I would be disappointed. I would tell them to pay attention in school, read a book, do something other than look at a computer screen all day. Which is the point Anderson was trying to get across, I think. That if we keep relying on technology to do all the thinking for us, how are we going to know how to think for ourselves?
Anderson takes a different spin, one almost a step further, than earlier dystopian writers like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. However, I think that their novels are considered science fiction classics and Anderson's is not is because of the language. The slang might be relatable for teens, but Feed won't be put on any "classics you must read before you die" list any time soon because older generations (like me) have a hard time getting into the mindset of a character who is constantly cursing and unable to hold a real conversation that isn't over text messages.
