{"product_id":"landscape-with-invisible-hand-isbn-9780763699505","title":"Landscape with Invisible Hand","description":"\u003cb\u003e“Practically every word reflects a prescient, bitingly precise critique of contemporary human folly, of economic and environmental inequities and absurdities.” — \u003ci\u003eThe Horn Book \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNow a major motion picture\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the vuvv first landed, it came as a surprise to aspiring artist Adam and the rest of planet Earth, though not an unwelcome one. But with his parents’ jobs replaced by alien tech and no money for food, clean water, or the vuvv’s miraculous medicine, Adam has to get creative to survive. And 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. 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.In short vignettes titled as if they are pieces of fine art, the bleakness of this new reality is \u003cb\u003eexpertly rendered\u003c\/b\u003e...Resplendent with Anderson's trademark dry, sarcastic wit, this brief, complicated read serves as a scathing social commentary and, as the title indicates, an interrogation of free market economics.\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome fear that hyper-capitalist technocrats, under the guise of altruism and progress, are fleecing the world; Anderson (Feed, 2002) stretches this premise to deliriously enjoyable extremes...Throw in a romantic rival, an interplanetary art contest, and plenty of scintillating details about the Lovecraftian horrors of the vuvv, and you’ve got the makings of \u003cb\u003ean elegant, biting, and hilarious social satire\u003c\/b\u003e that will appeal to dissatisfied, worried readers of all ages.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnderson takes issues of colonialism, ethnocentrism, inequality, and poverty and explodes them on a global, even galactic, scale. A \u003cb\u003eremarkable \u003c\/b\u003eexploration of economic and power structures in which virtually all of humanity winds up the losers.\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis sharp, compelling, slim volume packs a punch. Anderson’s vivid world could be a mirror for many American communities today...Despite the heavy subject material and pervading sense of doom, the book ends on a hopeful note, making this a solid choice for a variety of readers. An \u003cb\u003eengrossing\u003c\/b\u003e, speculative look at life in the margins, this is a first purchase for libraries serving teens.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParable, satire, dystopic sci-fi—Anderson’s take on a near future in which alien “vuvv” have colonized America’s economy, land, and airspace has so many shiveringly close resemblances to the contemporary world that it might also be termed “realism.”...Anderson’s prose is almost hyper-lucid here—appropriately so, as the story is structured around Adam’s descriptions of his paintings. Practically every word reflects \u003cb\u003ea prescient, bitingly precise critique\u003c\/b\u003e of contemporary human folly, of economic and environmental inequities and absurdities.\u003cbr\u003e—The Horn Book (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eM.T. Anderson (\u003ci\u003eFeed; Symphony for the City of the Dead\u003c\/i\u003e) has written a biting satire about the world's haves and have-nots, set in an increasingly stratified near-future where the human race has, for the most part, become expendable. It's a\u003cb\u003e strange and wonderful\u003c\/b\u003e fantasy about seeking love amid the filth, and keeping hope alive, despite unquestionable odds against it.\u003cbr\u003e—Shelf Awareness for Readers (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnderson's down-and-out in the post-scarcity world is a scorching, arch, hilarious and ultimately \u003cb\u003every moving\u003c\/b\u003e little parable about the cult of markets and the elevation of corporatism over human kindness. It's as zeitgeisty as \u003ci\u003eFeed\u003c\/i\u003e ever was, and such a compact little gem of a book that you very well might read it in one sitting, as I did.\u003cbr\u003e—Cory Doctorow\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUltimately, though, I don’t read J.K. Rowling — or M.T. Anderson, or Ursula K. Leguin — because of what their books have to tell me about life. I read them because these writers have mastered the ancient magic of storytelling, and because they remind me of what it’s like to be young, living in a world that seems both simple and incomprehensible.\u003cbr\u003e—The New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the near sci-fi future envisioned by M.T. Anderson in his slim and coruscating young-adult novel ‘Landscape With Invisible Hand,’ human adolescents flirt and banter for the pay-per-view pleasure of earth’s new overlords, a squat species of alien known as the vuvv…In this bitter, witty story for readers ages 14 and older, Adam’s only hope seems to lie in winning a lucrative trans-galactic art prize—until he hits on an even more radical solution.\u003cbr\u003e—The Wall Street Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnderson’s vision of alien invaders is \u003cb\u003ecaptivating\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—Entertainment Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this novella, National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson writes a multilayered and scathing satire...It's a \u003cb\u003ebleak but necessary\u003c\/b\u003e lesson in trying to find the beauty in the disastrous, all while learning to recognize when it's time to dream a new dream.\u003cbr\u003e—BookPage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efantastic \u003c\/b\u003enew satire from M.T. Anderson...equal parts humor and philosophical rumination.\u003cbr\u003e—Boston Globe\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFans of Feed will be intrigued to follow the development of Anderson’s dystopic imagination into this similarly themed futuristic critique of the present.\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA slim, stark, \u003cb\u003ebrilliant \u003c\/b\u003ecultural commentary...a satirical portrait of the artist as a young man and a resonant portrait of contemporary society.\u003cbr\u003e—Globe and Mail\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShort, pointed commentary on art, politics and aliens! \u003cb\u003eFunny and tense\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—SF Gate\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut\u003c\/b\u003e on a satirical roll.\u003cbr\u003e—San Francisco Chronicle\u003cb\u003eM. T. Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eFeed, \u003c\/i\u003ewinner of the\u003ci\u003e Los Angeles Times \u003c\/i\u003eBook Prize; the National Book Award–winning \u003ci\u003eThe Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party\u003c\/i\u003e and its sequel, \u003ci\u003eThe Kingdom on the Waves, \u003c\/i\u003eboth \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestsellers and Michael L. Printz Honor Books; \u003ci\u003eSymphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad;\u003c\/i\u003e and many other books for children and young adults. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts.\u003cb\u003eA Small Town \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Under the Stars\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Under the stars, a small town prepares for night. It is almost eleven o’clock. Down in the boxy houses, ­people are settling in for bed. Car headlights crawl through the tiny streets. The bright streetlamps on the ­town’s main drag illuminate empty parking. The businesses are closed for the day. The hills are dark.\u003cbr\u003e   All of this is seen by two teens up on some ledge, on a road called Lovers’ Lane.\u003cbr\u003e   They’re parked in a fifties fin car and “necking.” She’s in a tight sweater; he’s in a Varsity jacket. The view over their town, the place they grew up, makes them sentimental, and they grind together over the gearshift. “Gee, Brenda,” says the boy.\u003cbr\u003e    All of this is seen by the creature in the bushes.\u003cbr\u003e   Stems of some kind of terrestrial growth block his ­goggle-­eyed vision. He sweeps the branches away with a claw. He observes the two hairy snacks writhing in their metal box and wonders what their mashing together could mean. His breath is loud. With an unsteady lunge, he moves forward. Branches snap. He is on the pavement. He is beside the car.\u003cbr\u003e   All of this is seen by hundreds of teens, watching in horror.\u003cbr\u003e   Boyfriends and girlfriends squeal and lean into each other. ­Couples grin. They’re parked in fifties fin cars and “necking.” The movie screen above the field of parked cars is reflected in their windshields.\u003cbr\u003e   Of course, when the interstellar invasion came, it looked nothing like that.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eA Small Town \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e at the Foot of the Rendering Sails\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e There is no full night in our town because the rendering sails of the vuvv stretch high into the air and glow with a dull yellow light. My girlfriend Chloe and I are lying on the grass next to the school gym, watching the sails up in the sky ­ripple in some ­invisible electromagnetic tide.\u003cbr\u003e   Gazing upward together, we hold hands and I say, “It’s so beautiful.” I think for a minute and then say, “Like your hair. Blowing.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Adam,” she says, “that’s a ­really nice thing to say.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Yeah,” I agree, and I tilt my head so it’s leaning on her shoulder. “Gee, Chloe,” I say, and turn to kiss her cheek.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As it happens, Chloe and I hate each other. Still, my head is next to hers, which I would gladly, at this point, twist off with my bare hands.\u003cbr\u003e All of this is seen by hundreds of vuvv, paying per minute.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe Landing Site: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e A Statue of Glass Pillars \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e in Wrigley Field, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Chicago, Illinois\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e I’ve never been to see the Vuvv First Landing Site. We all saw the landing on television when it happened, though, and for a school project in eighth grade I drew the monument that was built there on Wrigley Field. I used colored pencils and copied the picture off a cheap hologram bookmark. It was one of the first times I tried hard to draw clear glass. When I look at my drawing now, I can see a lot of the mistakes I made in getting the reflections and distortions right. The pillars look bent just because I ­didn’t know how to do perspective well yet.\u003cbr\u003e   We were all surprised when the vuvv landed the first time. They’d been watching us since the 1940s, and we’d seen them occasionally, but we had all imagined them differently. They weren’t slender and delicate, and they weren’t humanoid at all. They looked more like granite coffee tables: squat, wide, and rocky. We were just glad they weren’t invading. We ­couldn’t believe our luck when they offered us their tech and invited us to be part of their Interspecies ­Co-­Prosperity Alliance. They announced that they could end all work forever and cure all disease, so of course, the leaders of the world all rushed to sign up.\u003cbr\u003e   For a year or so after the first landing, one of their ships hovered above Wrigley Field to mark the spot where they first greeted us. Now the ­ship’s gone, and there are luxury condos floating there instead. Everyone complains, because they block the sun, which was supposed to fall on the glass columns of the Vuvv First Landing Monument.\u003cbr\u003e   A few years ago, some guy in cargo pants was caught tipping over one of the monument’s pillars. At first, everyone thought he was doing it as an ­anti-­vuvv protest. Later, it turned out he was just a douche.","brand":"Candlewick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303413010661,"sku":"NP9780763699505","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780763699505.jpg?v=1767731104","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/landscape-with-invisible-hand-isbn-9780763699505","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}