Other Reviews

Most of the major critical literary publications that cover young adult fiction reviewed Feed, and the response was very positive. The critics liked the book, and thought it did a solid job of making readers examine our own world, while creating a believable dystopia. Although reviewers liked the book, many commented on how the material was very dark and even terrifying.

Below I will list some summaries of the reviews and link to them where it is possible, however many of the publications require a subscription to their services to receive access to the reviews, so I will refrain from linking to reviews that are not viewable to the general public.

"The author's premise is right on target. The Information Age and its rapidly expanding technology seem to be enhancing the role consumerism plays in our lives and especially in the lives of young people. Anderson has also attempted to extrapolate slang, computer games, and teen fashion trends into the future, and only time will tell how accurate he has been."- Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, September 2003

"Young people will also appreciate the consumeristic lifestyle and television shows that are satirized in the book...A gripping, intriguing, and unique cautionary novel."- School Library Journal, October 2002. Can be read on Amazon.

"Subversive, vigorously conceived, painfully situated at the juncture where funny crosses into tragic, ''Feed'' demonstrates that young-adult novels are alive and well and able to deliver a jolt. The fact that it is a finalist for the National Book Award is in itself a good sign."- New York Times Book Review, November 17, 2002. Read here.

"Anderson hands us the worst of ourselveserecting blinders to the pain and suffering of others in order to protect our own way of life. The world of the novel is wholly and convincingly realized...Like those in a funhouse mirror, the reflections the novel shows us may be ugly and distorted, but they are undeniably ourselves." - Horn Book Magazine, September/October 2002.

"Many teens will feel a haunting familiarity about this future universe. As a cautionary tale, the story works; it is less successful as YA literature." - Booklist, October 2002. Can be read on Amazon.

"Excerpts from the feed at the close of each chapter demonstrate the blinding barrage of entertainment and temptations for conspicuous consumption...This satire offers a thought-provoking and scathing indictment that may prod readers to examine the more sinister possibilities of corporate- and media-dominated culture."- Publisher's Weekly, October 2002. Can be read on Amazon.


"Played out against the backdrop of an utterly hedonistic world of trend and acquisition, a world only momentarily disturbed by the news reports of environmental waste and a global alliance of have-not nations against the obliviously consuming US...The crystalline realization of this wildly dystopic future carries in it obvious and enormous implications for today’s readers—satire at its finest. " -Kirkus Book Reviews, September 2001. Read here.