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M.T. Anderson

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2016 Read Harder Challenge

* Read Harder Challenge Plans: 2016
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What Members Thought

Oct 11, 2009 Talia rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, ya-scifi

In the future, computers are implanted into people’s brains: the feed. From the feed, one can look up information right in your head, but that’s not what most kids use it for. They use it to buy copious amounts of crap, watch TV shows, and are bombarded by commercial after commercial. On a vacation on the moon with a group of friends, Titus meets a strange new girl, Violet, who does something he’s not used to: she questions the feed. Violet is different from the other girls who get fake lesions ...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Renata rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, re-read, fiction, ya

OMG. So creepily prescient. Brilliant.
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I re-read this to prepare for Banned Books Week 2022 and like DAMN MT ANDERSON WAS ON SOME NEXT-LEVEL SHIT. HIS MIND!!!

* it is sadly a pretty white/cis/straight world he depicts but still the writing is so good and the concepts are so well-rendered! aaa

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Oct 21, 2015 Noam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: anglo-america, juvenalia, speculative, audiolibros

4 stars for the book itself, not sure if 3 or 4 stars for the audio narration by David Aaron Baker. I didn't like how Baker gave every female character a really breathy voice, but I did like how the feeds were performed. It was surreal (in a good way) hearing a stereotypical dad voice speaking like an inarticulate, distracted teen.

I was talking about the book with a housemate who had read the book, while I listened to it as an audiobook. I thought it was both dystopian and a very bleak comedy, w ...more

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Dec 15, 2009 Abby Johnson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, blogged

Holy wow, this was an awesome audiobook.

(Summary paraphrased from jacket copy) Titus is a teenager whose ability to read, write, and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his "feed", a transmitter implanted directly into his brain. But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what's happening to the world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear. A girl who decides to fight the feed.

So, besides being a completely awesome and intense and well-w ...more

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Apr 02, 2016 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, sciencefiction, dystopia, book-club, mp3-audiobook

This seminal teen dystopia has been on my TBR forever (maybe since it was published?) and thanks to my book club I finally got it checked off!

I always find it a little refreshing to read "old school" teen dystopias, before the formula of singular teen who realizes the evil of "the system" and vows to overthrow it in three books came along. The best dystopias are always about social commentary, not movie franchising rights, and this one has a lot relevant to say in the realm of social commentary. This seminal teen dystopia has been on my TBR forever (maybe since it was published?) and thanks to my book club I finally got it checked off!

I always find it a little refreshing to read "old school" teen dystopias, before the formula of singular teen who realizes the evil of "the system" and vows to overthrow it in three books came along. The best dystopias are always about social commentary, not movie franchising rights, and this one has a lot relevant to say in the realm of social commentary.

This was published in the early 2000s, after the Internet had become ubiquitous and right on the edge of web 2.0 when everyone became content creators. The way that technology has totally infiltrated everyone's life and the way that advertisers "feed" into everything people do is, of course, quite prescient, although perhaps what is missing is the ability for humans to interact back and create content in a way that goes beyond their purchasing power. Still, I can't help but think of this book when I noticed that every third post on my Facebook feed these days is an ad ... usually one that is disturbingly on-target.

Titus is not a very likeable character, and he is so enmeshed in the system that he doesn't see its pitfalls. His love interest, Violet, is somewhat outside the system and so calls it into question a bit more, but she fortunately stops just short of being a manic pixie dream girl. Although Titus's behavior, especially his inability to connect with her on a real, meaningful level when she needs him to, is incredibly frustrating, I also found it to be totally spot-on believable for someone who had grown up in this culture with these values.

I really wanted to know more about the larger society in which Titus lived, but because he was so wrapped up in his own pursuit of entertainment, distraction, and consumerism, we only got glimpses of these things as they stayed on the periphery of his consciousness. Still, a chilling and powerful cautionary tale that is made stronger by not having a single character beat us over the head with how "wrong" the society is. Thanks, M.T. Anderson, for delivering a dystopia that invites the reader to think for herself. ...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Suzanne Hamilton rated it liked it

The author does many things well; in particular I like his use of language to convey the shallowness of the society. His characters can't express deep feelings or complex ideas because they lack the vocabulary; all real knowing is made unnecessary because of the feed. Learning isn't impossible but it is easier to rely on the feed so most people simply don't bother. An obvious parallel can be made to our current reliance on Google, etc. Why know anything when we can just 'google it?' ...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Erika rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sciencefiction, speculativefiction, young-adult, dystopia

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It made me SOB without even killing an animal. There isn't really anything positive about the speculated future that M.T. Anderson creates, but the warnings about consumerism, the death of the English language via twitter like communication, the complete and utter disconnect between people and the natural world (fields of filet minon! Not too far from the truth...) and the subsequent withering of the human soul and its ability to actually ...more

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Jan 01, 2011 gwen g rated it liked it

My pre-teen self would have absolutely loved this book, which is about a dystopian future in which everyone is plugged into an information feed that controls their bodies and every thought. My 33-year-old self liked it OK, but maybe the younger self is a better test of a YA novel.

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Jul 12, 2008 Leslie rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult

Okay, five stars for the first half of the book and three for the second half, so I settle on an average of four. I loved getting to know Titus' world, his friends, and envisioning our world going down this path. Weirdly and amazingly prophetic! But the second half: Of course I was ticked Titus was such a jerk--but can understand that his reactions might be a realistic. Did he really not love Violet or at least have feelings for her? I guess the part that bothers me most is that in the end, he d ...more

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Jun 11, 2007 Heather rated it liked it

I gave this to my goddaughter for her 16th birthday recently. She's coming to visit later in the summer so I thought I would read it prior to her visit. Interesting social commentary that pulls in some obvious real and current situations in its futuristic setting. ...more

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