FEED II

Well, I just finished FEED and I must say that it was compelling, sad, funny at times, and very, very different. I had such a hard time putting it down that I stayed up until 3:30 AM yesterday to finish it. I just had to know what happened to Violet, though I could have easily guessed what I knew was her inevitable fate. I found myself entranced by the idea that this could be real in a couple of generations, and I thought at length about the implications of 75% or more of Americans having a chip installed in their brain that took them away from reading forever. This was an interesting part of the story, and I think it was very strategically added by the writer. By having Violet able to read the "dead languages" and having the other kids like Titus only being able to speak and listen to a spoken language, the author was clearly making a statement on the eventual breakdown of our society if technology continues to progress as rapidly as it has so far. I cannot imagine not growing up reading books; they have saved me from many parts of my life that I would just assume forget, opened my mind to new ways of thinking, and also revealed magical worlds that don't exist in reality. The kids in the book that didn't read were easily bored, jumped from one thing to the next all the time, had no real sense of fulfillment in their lives, and were basically machines. Violet was the most human and she malfunctioned, she died. That is an awfully powerful statement, both political and social.
I also found the little adolescent love story endearing. I earmarked several passages and read them out loud to my significant other because I felt he should hear how sweet and innocent they sounded.
"We went into stores, and we laughed and laughed. It was like she took my hand, or I took her hand, and we ducked through doorways, and together we went to an old place, and it was a new place. We went there holding hands." (89)

"She said, 'I'm a peach.' 'Yeah. You're a peach.' Her father was landing. I couldn't see him through the glare of his windshield. She got out of the car. She kissed me. I said I would see her the next morning. She kept turning and waving as she walked away across the pavement. The spotlights wobbled over the Clouds. The pyramid glowed. I rose up into the sky and turned the feed on to songs about people allowed to get out of the same bed, and to eat breakfast together, two toasts on the very same plate." (107)

The last thing I will mention that struck me was the harshness with which Titus dealt with Violet's death. He was obviously seriously confused about the whole thing, and tried to shut it out for a very long time. I was shocked when he deleted her memories!! I wanted to smack him and tell him that she loved him, and he should keep those in his cache, even if for later when he would wake up and realize he had to deal with her death somehow. I felt, however, that the book did have an effective ending. I am so glad that she didn't just die, and he never did anything to rectify his wrong-doings against her. I wouldn't have believed that, and I would have been dissatisfied with the book entirely if that would have been the ending. I thought the whole scene with her father at the end was necessary, and very realistic; I could see it happening to a poor man who has lost the only thing he has left in his life.
All in all, this was a wonderful experience, reading this book. I want to choose on of his others to read for our Book Club. I think adolescent readers would really love it, and I could see how males in particular would identify with the issues. I don't think it alienates females, though, and I could see some really heated discussions coming up over the main themes of the book. I hope I get the opportunity to teach this book sometime soon.