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: the addictive and deadly cigarettes, the hateful music, the crude and desensitizing videos and movies?What if they stopped buying that $#!%--just to cause trouble?That's the radical notion behind Like We Care, a biting, clever, and hilarious satire in which two endearingly subversive high school seniors set out to monkey wrench the recording industry, the cigarette industry, the junk food industry--indeed, much of the American money machine. Marrying the internet to corporate America's own schemes and weapons, they slowly, reluctantly launch a grassroots campaign, with racial, political, and cultural implications, that harnesses the awesome, untapped power of teenagers flush with cash and inflamed by adult hypocrisy."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890862363
• ISBN13: 9781890862367
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Bancroft Press
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.8" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 14 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 9 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

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

Interesting and Catchy

"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

Brilliant Satirical Commentary

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.

This book deserves way more than 3 reviews!

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.

refreshingly original work

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