What readers have been saying about Tom Matthews,
"Like We Care"

“The brilliance of Like We Care is that it's impossible to tell whether it's outrageous satire or a completely faithful depiction of reality. Either way, it's great fun as Tom Matthews takes a scalpel to the hollow heart of the teen-targeted music industry.”
—MAX BARRY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF JENNIFER GOVERNMENT AND SYRUP

"Taking on the sacred cows of pop music and pop culture, Matthews comes up with a
twisted, jaundiced satire that made me laugh 'til I cared."
—RICHARD CHAPMAN,
EMMY-NOMINATED SCREENWRITER AND PROFESSOR OF FILM & MEDIA STUDIES, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

“In this hilarious debut novel, Matthews, a seasoned journalist and screenwriter, examines pop culture with a satirical, irreverent eye . . .Without a scintilla of sentimentality, he shows that despite teens’ general apathy—and the corporate world’s exploitation of the same—there remains a shimmer of hope that young people can muddle through and make a difference.”
—BOOKLIST

“Like We Care is a fearless, angry, brutally funny poke in the eye of the American music machine and pop culture industry. Tom Matthews’ memorable, highly readable first novel is that rare literary artifact--a satire with teeth.”
—TOM PERROTTA, AUTHOR OF LITTLE CHILDREN AND ELECTION

“Tom Matthews takes sacred cows and satirizes them in a way that’s simultaneously funny and sad. Like We Care is a story of two wise-ass students who know how to play the system and make it work for them, proving that 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 to anyone who remembers the '60s movie ‘Wild in the Streets.’”
— HARRIET KLAUSNER, AMERICA’S #1 REVIEWER, WHO GAVE THE BOOK A RARE 10 OUT OF 10 STARS, MEANING IT’S A “TRULY EXCEPTIONAL READ, THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF A GENRE, A BOOK WITH WHICH THE REVIEWER CAN FIND NO FAULT, AND WHICH WILL USUALLY HAVE UNIVERSAL APPEAL”

“Vive la resistance! I haven't smelled this much teen spirit since, well, since before the demise of rock and roll. Borrow, steal, or buy Matthews’ tale of sweet revenge against the corporate merchants of cool.”
—DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, AUTHOR OF MEDIA VIRUS, COERCION, ECSTASY CLUB, AND NOTHING SACRED;

"What a fun and edgy book!"
—DONNA PAZ, AUTHOR, READING GROUP CHOICES: SELECTIONS FOR LIVELY BOOK DISCUSSIONS

“How did this happen? How could the Baby Boomer generation surrender control of its collective tastes in music, movies, and television to a slacker collection of white-butwant- to-be-black teenyboppers, mallrats, and burger-flippers? Tom Matthews has the answer, slicing, dicing, and cutting through the crap with all of the subtlety of a switchblade thrust to the gut. He does to the Pop Culture Machine what the Emperor's New Clothes did to royal haberdashery. The sparkling dialogue and caustic characterizations are frequently hilarious because, sad to say, they’re absolutely true.”
—GEORGE KNAPP, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, KLAS-TV, LAS VEGAS, NV

“Full of brilliant and painfully accurate observations, Like We Care looks with dismay, disgust, and dyspepsia at a culture that doesn’t care what it tramples in its stampede toward the next buck. A sharply written and seriously funny novel of revulsion and revolt.”
—ERIC WILLIAMS, SCREENWRITER (“OUT OF SYNC,” “MAD CITY”)

“A hallucinatory debut. With Like We Care, Matthews joins the ranks of America's most
deliciously subversive writers.”
—GREGG CHABOT, SCREENWRITER (“REIGN OF FIRE”)

“Warning: This book poses a threat to the American way of life—not to mention your funnybone. Generation X'ers, especially, beware!”
—PATRICK MCGILLIGAN, AUTHOR OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK: A LIFE IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT, AND CLINT: THE LIFE AND LEGEND.

“With great dexterity and wit, Tom Matthews delivers a wide-angle portrait of a culture teetering at the edge, plus the machinations that brought us there. Yet, Like We Care is suffused with hope. The close-ups are honest and unflinching, and the subjects hilarious and human. This is a story you won't soon forget.”
—KEVIN PETERKA, SCREENWRITER (“REIGN OF FIRE”)

“With an insider's insight, Tom Matthews pops pop culture's self-inflated balloon. And Like We Care gives us what we hope for—teenagers rebelling against their role as pawns of the consumer culture—and what we fear—adults acting like, well, adults, and not human beings."
—DEN SHEWMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CREATIVE SCREENWRITING DAILY

“After initially and accurately disparaging us teenagers as unintelligent and unthinking consumers of culture and products, Like We Care proceeds to take us on a fast, funny, engaging, and empowering ride. The two main characters eventually stand up to ‘the man’ – in this case, a corporatism brilliantly and accurately portrayed by author Tom Matthews. In the ending, he resists the urge so many authors feel to be sentimental. Like We Care is unlike anything you’ll ever read.”
—SARAH ZIMMERMAN, 16

“I thoroughly enjoyed Like We Care. All the different plotlines merged seamlessly into a single story—it captivates your mind, grabbing you and not letting go until it’s over. While the book is fiction, it was completely believable. I know these characters. There are no superheroes or perfect people—they’re real people with real thoughts and doubts. Tom Matthews really knows what he’s talking about, and it shows.”
—DAVE GLUTTING, 21, CO-CEO, WONDERTECH INDUSTRIES, MASSILLON, OH

“In Like We Care, Tom Matthews has tapped into the very core of some of the most basic
marketing strategies we use to seduce teenagers into spending their disposable income. It
is not just a wickedly funny and cautionary tale, but troubling and all too real.”
—BILL MCCLOSKEY, ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE, SACRAMENTO, CA

"Tom Matthews has a good ear for how young people speak, and though it may be hard to know exactly what those kids hanging around the mini-mart parking lot are thinking, he seems to have an excellent feel for what's on their minds, too. An excellent,perceptive, entertaining effort."
—JIM SUMMERS, LOS ANGELES, CA

“What kids my age can't relate to a book about corporations trying to impose themselves on our lives? I especially enjoyed the different points of views from the variety of characters, and found myself relating most with Todd, who turns out to be the real hero of the book. Relating to him was easy because I often feel above most of that conformity that goes on in high school society. The book believably portrayed 18-year-old kids as the kind of sheep that they are. Going against the corporations and 'not buying the shit' was just the other extreme of buying into their things. I found the satirical characters and TV networks to be funny and easy to relate to. All in all, it was an easy yet insightful read, and that's what you really hope for in a book.”
—CARLY ANNETTE STINGL, 18, MILWAUKEE, WI

“As someone who is truly skeptical of all things relating to marketing, this book truly hit a home run for me. I am a parent of both a 7 and 9 year old, so I certainly treat this book as a primer for things to come (as scary as that might be). I appreciated seeing Matthews' adolescent characters come to the realization that they had been had by the corporate barons and pop superstars who prey on them for their cash, and cheered them on as the kids decided to fight back. Despite the book’s cruelly funny tone, it left me with hope that the generation that will take care of me in my old age might actually have something more to them than cool clothes, burned CD's, and computer gaming.”
—JOE OTTO, MUSICIAN AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER FOR A PHARMACEUTICAL FIRM, MENOMONEE FALLS, WI