Like We Care

By Tom Matthews

What if they just stopped?

What if in a grand, scruffy stab at corporate disobedience, teenagers en masse simply stopped spending their money on the cynical crap that’s relentlessly mainlined to them?

Like We Care is a biting, clever, and hilarious satire in which two endearingly subversive high school seniors set out to monkey wrench the recording industry, big tobacco, and junk food.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bancroft Press
• Release date: Mar 11, 2010
• ISBN: 9781890862770

Reviews for Like We Care

[chishiotennyo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.