CCBC-Net Archives
Feed, House of the Scorpion, and Gerstein
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Leda Schubert <lschubert>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 14:12:49 -0500
First, WHAT CHARLIE HEARD: I love this book. As he did with ARNOLD OF THE DUCKS and WILD BOY (among others), Gerstein tells a terrific story and infuses it with layers of emotion. The melding of music, art, and story is just grand.
Re FEED and HOUSE OF THE SCORPION: I second Richie's accolade. I find FEED the more exciting and compelling novel. I think its themes are better thought out and its ideas more challenging. And I'm afraid its satire isn't just about teens. Everybody has the feed, as we can see every day. It's not just consumerism Tobin attacks, but the debasement of language and the politics Richie elucidates below. We're all being bought and sold. FEED made me both think and rage; its trajectory and theme are clear. And it's hilarious, even. To me, HOUSE OF THE SCORPION is not as effective. The focus on cloning as spare parts and extra workers doesn't explore the issue fully enough. The motivations aren't as clear, and some implications aren't expanded. (Why Tam Lin, for example? Just because he's Scottish, or is there a mythic balladic overtone I missed? I don't think he emerged as a rounded character.) Like others, I felt the ending wasn't convincing. Unlike THE EAR, THE EYE AND THE ARM and A GIRL NAMED DISASTER I found this one a little labored. I always want to shoot myself after I say anything critical, but I do want to weigh in on these. Leda
From: BudNotBuddy at aol.com Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 13:42:03 EST Subject: Feed
...DO IT! also gave some people a headache. But DO IT! provided a WAKE UP!!! call to us middle-class suburban adolescents who had been brought up on self?sorbed American consumerism by our Depression Baby parents.
"We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck."
FEED provides a similar wake up call to today's adolescents about the corporate take over of America. In a country run by privileged oilmen who are willing to go to war to insure our right to continue squandering a ridiculously large chunk of the world's scarce resources, in a country where corporations have already taken over the administration of schools in several large cities, in a country where the culture of the Internet and MTV has already created tremendous shifts in the manner in which the average American kid strings together words, both verbally and in writing, FEED is a book that is already so close to the truth that it risks becoming obsolete before the glue dries out on the award stickers.
"This perky voice on her feed said, Hi! I'm Nina, your personal FeedTech shopping assistant! Tired of that smell in your mouth? Try FreshGorge Glottal Deodorant--your boyf will thank you bigtime! Hey, Violet Durn, what a skip kinda day you had! You go shop, girl! Here's some more great info about all the brag stuff you asked about."
But is FEED great young adult literature? The answer is absolutely! If you want to pick it apart, I'd say that besides the overwhelming importance of its theme, the vast majority of readers find its setting to be a major strength. As to the slang that annoys some adult readers, I quote a post from a different message board: "We learn so much about that society and those individuals from the way they speak and I can hear the cadences several months after reading the book."
On top of that, I was captivated by FEED's heartbreaking love story about an adolescent who is so distraught about her world that she falls for the first boy she hears accidentally using a metaphor. Young adults will recognize if not identify with the characterizations of Titus and Violet.
"I don't do too good in School???. We were back in School???, so I was reminded pretty often that I was stupid."
That Titus isn't transformed is a strength. I would have tossed my cookies if Tobin Anderson had sold out his powerful vision by having Titus suddenly morph into some articulate and enlightened young man.
FEED is a breathtakingly honest look at where we're headed. If you can't see the hold that the corporations already have over the minds of young people then you are totally not paying attention. FEED is a book that our students are going out and actually spending their own money on, based on the buzz being created by schoolmates who are characterizing it as one of the best books they've ever read. FEED is a loud wake up call, not some whimper of hopelessness. Now that I'm in Marion Crane's position, I am putting FEED on every list I can.
Richie Partington
Received on Sun 19 Jan 2003 01:12:49 PM CST
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 14:12:49 -0500
First, WHAT CHARLIE HEARD: I love this book. As he did with ARNOLD OF THE DUCKS and WILD BOY (among others), Gerstein tells a terrific story and infuses it with layers of emotion. The melding of music, art, and story is just grand.
Re FEED and HOUSE OF THE SCORPION: I second Richie's accolade. I find FEED the more exciting and compelling novel. I think its themes are better thought out and its ideas more challenging. And I'm afraid its satire isn't just about teens. Everybody has the feed, as we can see every day. It's not just consumerism Tobin attacks, but the debasement of language and the politics Richie elucidates below. We're all being bought and sold. FEED made me both think and rage; its trajectory and theme are clear. And it's hilarious, even. To me, HOUSE OF THE SCORPION is not as effective. The focus on cloning as spare parts and extra workers doesn't explore the issue fully enough. The motivations aren't as clear, and some implications aren't expanded. (Why Tam Lin, for example? Just because he's Scottish, or is there a mythic balladic overtone I missed? I don't think he emerged as a rounded character.) Like others, I felt the ending wasn't convincing. Unlike THE EAR, THE EYE AND THE ARM and A GIRL NAMED DISASTER I found this one a little labored. I always want to shoot myself after I say anything critical, but I do want to weigh in on these. Leda
From: BudNotBuddy at aol.com Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 13:42:03 EST Subject: Feed
...DO IT! also gave some people a headache. But DO IT! provided a WAKE UP!!! call to us middle-class suburban adolescents who had been brought up on self?sorbed American consumerism by our Depression Baby parents.
"We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck."
FEED provides a similar wake up call to today's adolescents about the corporate take over of America. In a country run by privileged oilmen who are willing to go to war to insure our right to continue squandering a ridiculously large chunk of the world's scarce resources, in a country where corporations have already taken over the administration of schools in several large cities, in a country where the culture of the Internet and MTV has already created tremendous shifts in the manner in which the average American kid strings together words, both verbally and in writing, FEED is a book that is already so close to the truth that it risks becoming obsolete before the glue dries out on the award stickers.
"This perky voice on her feed said, Hi! I'm Nina, your personal FeedTech shopping assistant! Tired of that smell in your mouth? Try FreshGorge Glottal Deodorant--your boyf will thank you bigtime! Hey, Violet Durn, what a skip kinda day you had! You go shop, girl! Here's some more great info about all the brag stuff you asked about."
But is FEED great young adult literature? The answer is absolutely! If you want to pick it apart, I'd say that besides the overwhelming importance of its theme, the vast majority of readers find its setting to be a major strength. As to the slang that annoys some adult readers, I quote a post from a different message board: "We learn so much about that society and those individuals from the way they speak and I can hear the cadences several months after reading the book."
On top of that, I was captivated by FEED's heartbreaking love story about an adolescent who is so distraught about her world that she falls for the first boy she hears accidentally using a metaphor. Young adults will recognize if not identify with the characterizations of Titus and Violet.
"I don't do too good in School???. We were back in School???, so I was reminded pretty often that I was stupid."
That Titus isn't transformed is a strength. I would have tossed my cookies if Tobin Anderson had sold out his powerful vision by having Titus suddenly morph into some articulate and enlightened young man.
FEED is a breathtakingly honest look at where we're headed. If you can't see the hold that the corporations already have over the minds of young people then you are totally not paying attention. FEED is a book that our students are going out and actually spending their own money on, based on the buzz being created by schoolmates who are characterizing it as one of the best books they've ever read. FEED is a loud wake up call, not some whimper of hopelessness. Now that I'm in Marion Crane's position, I am putting FEED on every list I can.
Richie Partington
Received on Sun 19 Jan 2003 01:12:49 PM CST
