Hungry
It was all for the Greater Good but who is the Greater Good? There is no more food, no need for food as everyone takes a personalized formulated beverage which has the nutrients and other goodies in it to maintain your health. I have in the past always wanted something like that but after reading this book, I don’t think I could give up food forever. I mean no grapes, no French fries, and no spaghetti ever again. Nope, I don’t think I could do that. For seventeen-year Thalia, this is her life and she can thank her parents for it. Her mother helped design the beverages and her father is technology savvy and they both work for One World, the organization that is controlling the outside world. Thalia prefers to live in Grandma’s world, sporting her hand-me-down cotton jeans and flannel shirts. She loves to hear grandma’s stories of cooking meals and raising goats which then causes Thalia’s stomach to growl, a new sound which embarrasses her. More new sounds, new feelings and new adventures await Thalia as she travels with her best friend Yaz to the party where she stumbles across Basil. As the girls make their way to the party, they are bombarded with holograms and advertising, pushing the latest games and movies. It’s overstimulation and annoying for me. Thalia feels the same way but for other teens who are enjoying the different sights and sounds, this is a night out on the town. Basil is just like her, he’s different and he wants something else, she needs to know more about him, that first encounter was not enough. Thalia’s thoughts and attitudes change about food and her mother wants to quash those ideas. I’m torn between wondering if it’s based on age or if it is food or if it’s a combination of both, either way her mother is not having any of it. Her parents are part of the World One Organization and their daughter is part of their household.
There were a few questions I had as I read this book; it seemed like such a packaged deal. Are people so gullible to just do as people say because it is for the Greater Good? Perhaps I am just a rebel and I question things, perhaps I question too much. Thalia’s mom, her attitude just stunk. As a mom, my kids come first, not my job and she was trying to shove her daughter off without even listening to her. I didn’t realize how much sci-fi would come into play in this novel. We love our technology and I am one to admit that I am hooked. When Thalia talks about her Gizmos, I imagine that we not that far off from that technology becoming a reality. Parties consisting of people slipping inside virtual reality rooms, people only conversing on their gadgets and individuals not talking to one another yet they’re all in the same room, these are just some of the situations that are presented in the book, of the world that Thalia despises. When she finds Basil in the Outer Loops, Thalia thought she knew about her world and how it worked. But she lives in a privileged world and Basil shows her that life is more than that. I found myself absorbed in family conflict, great technology, friendships that crossed generations and borders and a race against time. What is the price of freedom? Do you stay under the radar and do you soar with the birds?
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