A brief review of "Feed" by Mira Grant
(without spoiler)
One of my fads is to keep an interest, over the years, for the “zombie” genre in literature. It must have started about ten years ago with a novel bought and read somewhat by chance, on vacation. Since then, I ask bookstores for new entries on their zombies bookshelves. Publishing frequency is quite low, so it’s easy to follow without it becoming my mainstay. Each time, I take pleasure in seeing how the author comes to re-instantiate the codes of the genre, while renewing them. I just finished “Feed”, 1st volume of the “NewsFlesh” trilogy. I am once again surprised by the novelties brought to a genre that is already very much explored.
The (very) bad
I found the novel particularly difficult to finish - not very breathless. I also wanted to throw it away many times because the heroine tends to drink Coca Cola, and it is introduced into the narrative as a product placement. Out of stubbornness, I nevertheless went to the end.
The good
This novel is unique in that it shows a human society that has remained stable despite the zombie invasion - we are not in a post-apocalyptic world. Three young reporters follow the presidential campaign of an American candidate. The country suffered from the outbreak of zombies some thirty years ago, but they were contained and society continued to function. Residential areas are protected, blood tests are ubiquitous, so zombie attacks are rare. This is the first time I have seen this type of scenario - usually it is all about survival in a ravaged world. This novelty is interesting, one wonders how the narration will play this element. In the end, it doesn’t lead to much of a thrill. The book is still worth reading for a view on this rarely explored type of zombie land.
From a technical point of view, it was quite amazing to see that the author made her characters “online” reporters, perfectly mastering the codes of these new media: frequency of publications, distributed teams of freelancers, animation of communities, clear awareness of cybersecurity and surveillance issues, obsession with ratings, mobile devices in hand, profusion of recording methods with video in the foreground. It would have been tiring for a recently published novel, but it dates from 2010! For reference, the iPhone dates back to 2007 and smartphones became mainstream in 2010-2012, I would say. It could be instructive to read a recently published novel by the author: perhaps it identifies behaviors and phenomena that are still relatively uncommon?
Finally, the author brings an additional personal touch to the genre by detailing the origins of the appearance of zombies. These details are not offered in simple background, the heroine for example suffers from a strong sensitivity to light, linked to the strain virus causing the zombie state, and this sensitivity comes to affect her daily life. The zombie transformation mode is also detailed and original, it’s not just about bite transmission.
Conclusion: not a fan, I will not read the last two books of the trilogy. I remain satisfied to have added this rather original novel to my readings of the genre.
