First of all, this is a short book, but I enjoyed it enough to finish it within three sittings. Most sources and critics describe it as a postcyberpunk, dark satire of consumerism and corporate data mining to enhance advertising and personality channeling. Whatever else you read, this book is not about dystopia! But it sure feels like it. If you want a good read about dystopia, try The Giver or 1984.
Feed is about a boy named Titus in the not-so-far away future where almost everyone's brain is connected to the feednet. The feed is basically a chip attached to the brain so you can get constant advertising, entertainment, information, telepathic chatting, and self-inflicted brain malfunctioning similar to using drugs.
The uses this scenario to examine the way our society is headed, and also, sadly enough, what it is already like. And though at times the author can be a bit heavy-handed, the most frightening thing is when you begin to see your own personality being mirrored by some of the characters. The feel of the novel reminded somewhat of Albert Camus' existentialist style. There are times when you have very little connection to Titus' emotions and feelings, only his sensory perception, which is somewhat the case with ourselves when we are constantly bombarded with media and internet's constant visual and auditory noise.
I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for something poignantly dealing with the problems our society faces and we become more and more connected to the internet and to each other in instant communication. The jargon takes a few pages to get used to and the swearing is rampant, but used very well to make the point that our youths' vocabularies are shrinking to the point that perhaps someday they will mirror chatting.
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