Customer Reviews

Like We Care

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
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Seventeen year old Joel Karstan hopes to go to college on a baseball scholarship but he takes an unexpected time-out from playing when his jaw is broken when he is hit by a ball. After six weeks of having his jaw wired shut, the popular teen is hanging out at the Happy Snack convenience store when he realizes that the managers treats him and the other teens like garbage. With the help of his friend Todd Noland he organizes a boycott that grows bigger every day and finally attracts the attraction of television executive Annie McCullough.

She works for a rock Cable music station that makes gangsta rap seen like lullabies. She finds Kyle charismatic and believes he and his protest would play very well on her television station. Joel and his boycott grab the attention of teens across the nation who start boycotting stores that exploit teenagers as a demographic group. Todd and Joel's next project is getting their black history teacher elected to the white city council by getting the 18-23 age group to come out and vote. They prove that teenagers can make a difference.

Tom Matthews takes sacred cows and satirizes thing in a way that is simultaneously funny and sad. LIKE WE CARE is a story of two wise arse students who know how to play the system and make it work for them. Annie goes from executive flunky to detached observer to active participant. If teenagers ever truly organized they would have plenty of economic and political clout. This is a refreshingly original work that has a very special appeal to the younger crowd and anyone who remembers Wild in the Streets.

Harriet Klausner

I don't know that I would have picked up this book on my own. A friend loaned me an advanced copy to read, and I was pleasantly surprised by several things. The best part of this book is the humor. I really enjoyed the clever turns of phrase and especially the parenthetical comments...laughed out loud every few pages! The second pleasant surprise is the depth with which Matthews explores this scenario. I was fascinated to learn about the marketing philosophy and techniques of the fictional network, which shamelessly and very aggressively stalks teens both to rake in their revenue and shape their views, at literally all costs.

While the political race tie-in was interesting, I found myself more drawn to the relationships and language of the young people, the garish, almost characatured behavior of the 'celebrities,' and the power of one person...or a small group...to make a huge difference.

The underdog aspect, with Todd and Ira sort of masterminding everything and getting their own brand of geek-revenge just has to be satisfying to anyone out there who wasn't the most popular in school!

Matthews's ability to let us hear what goes on in his characters' heads (truly remarkable; I could 'hear; their voices and inflections) and his shrewd representation of marketing on a national level are what make this book rich with questions and discussion opportunities. While the media prey on teen apathy, I don't think anyone would say the teens in this book are stupid. Like We Care is a study in revolution....just not the kind the network had in mind!

Today I'll buy my own copy so I can mark it up and talk about it with my book group!

The premise of this book sounds simple: Tired of being tricked, two teenagers start an anti-consumerism revolution. The reality of the book is far more complicated and oddly deep.

It starts out simple: Josh, star athelete, minor rebel, all around "Mr. Popular" is beaned in the face by a fastball -- and, as a consequence, has his jaw wired shut for six weeks. Unable to speak -- or smoke -- he really starts to see the people he's hanging with. To really hear what kind of bull they're saying. This book has one of my favorite lines -- "maybe when you stop speaking, you really start to listen."

Temporarily on the fringes of the group he formerly lead, Josh winds up hanging out with elementary school buddy, Todd -- all around nice guy, school nerd, philosopher. It is Todd who points out to him all the money he's not spending on cigarettes (since he can't smoke with a wired jaw!) or soda or candy. It is Todd who notices -- and verbalizes -- how everyone, including them, is being tricked into buying more, bigger, more, more, more!

The "revolution" starts simply -- Josh refusing his cigarettes. Stepping away from the counter. Todd follows suit. Between the two, they carry this message to other teens in their neighborhood, and with the aid of an MTV-style TV network, R2Rev, the movement sweeps the country.

Personally, I thought this book was well-written. Most of the characters were believable, the continual threat of backsliding into consumarism absolutely credible. My only problem with the book was that it became so obsessed with it's grassroots message that sometimes the story got lost. Since it *is* a YA book, I suppose Tom Matthews reasoned he had to state the moral of the story clearly, instead of couching it in symbolism like many adult books. But once I surfaced back into the story, I enjoyed the book again.

There is only minor character development, believe it or not. Even Josh only undergoes the most minor of changes to his basic personality -- but that, in my mind, makes it all the more realistic. This is not a book with a fairy-tale ending. After all, these characters aren't just characters -- they're pieces of our own personality. The part of us that wants to fit in, the part of us that just wants stuff. The part of us that's tired and cynical and doesn't want to be tricked anymore. You know there's more to the story.... more happens after the final chapter. It's just up to us to figure out it out.

Smarter people than myself will look for the deeper sociological implications that are so perceptively explored in the pages of Like We Care, but for me, the appeal of this book is simple. It's hilarious. It is gut-busting, fall-down, eye-watering funny. I laughed out loud the first time I read it. And I laughed harder and louder the second time.

I don't know if Tom Matthews has teenagers at home or whether this is his own inner, long-repressed teenage persona struggling to find its voice. I don't care. He's got it down.

If some enterprising high school English teacher wants to pull off a miracle by getting students to take an interest in reading, give them something that is worth their time and that might just strike a chord. This book is fun and current and, in it's own way, profound. Start the semester off with this and maybe Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby would be easier to digest later on.

By no means am I suggesting this is book for teenagers alone. It is satire on a par with Swift, and I have to believe that many of the best one-liners will go over the heads of even the most mature young adults.
All the better for those of us who've already skipped our 20th or 30th class reunions. Today's disenchanted, rebellious, and hopelessly misunderstood hipster malcontents can read it again in a decade or so, after they've had their initial bouts with teenagers of their own. I'm confident they will laugh all over again, but for much different reasons.

The fact that teens *aren't* reading books like these that are true to life simply proves a lot of the points in "Like We Care." This is a book that should be inspiring a revolution much like the ones seen in the story, but it seems that not many people care to catch on.

I LOVE that the main plot of this book is about "sticking it to The Man." If anyone needs sticking to... I also love the "what if" factors at work here. If teens ever did wise up to all the hype and propaganda poured over them daily, I think it could cost some major corporations millions.

Creating another MTV (one that's even *worse* when I didn't even think that was possible) was a brilliant plot device. Well, more than that, it sort of became another character in the story. The station was so outrageous that I found myself wondering when the MTV heads would actually create it.

This review is all over the place. Basically what I want to say is this: "Like We Care" is written very well. It's a great story that's about a pretty serious topic, but it's still a really fun read. This guy knows teens. Give this book a chance, and you may find yourself thinking twice about purchasing things like CDs you've only heard one overplayed song off of on the day they're released.

A small group of teens, a school teacher, and a TV producer shake the foundations of the corporate world in LIKE WE CARE, the debut novel from screenwriter Tom Matthews. What begins as a small protest between friends and hangers-on snowballs into a cross-country, grass roots protest movement with more at stake than mere dollars. With witty dialogue and perfect comedic timing, LIKE WE CARE is that rare adult novel that is not only suitable for teens but is highly recommended.

Joel and Todd were best friends growing up but grew apart with the onset of adolescence -- and Joel's ascendance to the role of alpha-male jock on campus. But after a severe injury in a baseball game, they renew their friendship. As a result, Todd helps Joel take a closer look at his inane lifestyle and his sheep-like followers, particularly concerning their smoking and spending habits. As Joel fully understands how badly the local convenience store - and the advertising world in general - is manipulating him and his peers for their money, he uses his charisma to organize a boycott. Eventually, the protest garners the attention of a TV executive desperate for stories of substance for R2Rev, the music video channel in which she works. Joel's charisma and Todd's message soon resonates across America, influencing impromptu boycotts and small-town elections. But the movement begins to unravel on all fronts as they grow in fame and success and their opponents begin to see what's at stake. Yet Todd refuses to surrender and has a few tricks up his sleeve that provides for a sweet victory when defeat looks certain.

Although satirical in many facets, LIKE WE CARE rings true on all fronts: the high school cliques, the fan-bashing rap stars, the exploitative TV executives, and the price-gouging store owners. This is laugh-out-loud funny but also inspiring.

Five stars and a Gold Star Award!

Reviewed by: Mark Frye, author and reviewer

"Like We Care" is a book about rebellion, 2 teenagers, one with the brains and one with the charisma, decide to mess with consumerism, just for the hell of it. And it worked, and it didn't. It is written very casually but well, there is quite a bit of swearing and other pg13 material so I'd say defiantly a teenage only book. It was interesting and catchy, serious but not boring, altogether a very good book