Landscape with Invisible Hand

By M.T. Anderson

Book Overview

National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson returns to future Earth in a sharply wrought satire of art and truth in the midst of colonization.

Now a major motion picture

When the vuvv first landed, it came as a surprise to aspiring artist Adam and the rest of planet Earth -- but not necessarily an unwelcome one. Can it really be called an invasion when the vuvv generously offered free advanced technology and cures for every illness imaginable? As it turns out, yes. With his parents' jobs replaced by alien tech and no money for food, clean water, or the vuvv's miraculous medicine, Adam and his girlfriend, Chloe, have to get creative to survive. And since the vuvv crave anything they deem "classic" Earth culture (doo-wop music, still-life paintings of fruit, true love), recording 1950s-style dates for the vuvv to watch in a pay-per-minute format seems like a brilliant idea. But it's hard for Adam and Chloe to sell true love when they hate each other more with every passing episode. Soon enough, Adam must decide how far he's willing to go -- and what he's willing to sacrifice -- to give the vuvv what they want.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763687898
• ISBN13: 9780763687892
• Release Date: September 2017
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

A different concept of first contact.

The story is basically about what happens if aliens made contact and "fixed" everything, but only some people, the ones living on the platform above the planet, love it. The people still on earth are left with no jobs, food or resources except for what the people above them throw down and what the aliens provide. The book focuses on a teenager and his family having to deal with the situation anyway they can, so he decides to be on a tv show with his girlfriend and it doesn't work out the way they'd planned. All the while he's trying to create artworks so he can win an art competition and get his family to the upper class platform. I actually liked the movie better because it focused more on the main family's interactions and the art the main character was making. The book wasn't bad it just didn't catch my attention like I felt it should. The ending of the book surprised me by how hopeful it was in a strange way.