Parents' Guide to

Landscape with Invisible Hand

By Michael Berry, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Darkly funny sci-fi shows future with aliens, economic woes.

Landscape with Invisible Hand Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

More sex than expected

There are only three times this book is inappropriate for tweens to young teens, but they ruin the book for my 13 year old. Why even add these three? I don’t understand why writers do this. It’s a great book for my 13 year old....except the mentioning of porn, alluding to characters having sex, protagonist touching a girl’s breast and turning up the music so loud so you can’t hear people f***ing. Author’s words, not mine. I’m not unrealistic. I know that kids know about sex, but does it have to be in what, we hope, is good literature written at an eighth grade reading level? My daughter remarked that maybe, “The author wrote it for teenagers who aren’t very good readers.” She didn’t even care about reading it after I told her it was inappropriate.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much sex

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (2):

Darkly funny and politically insightful, this satirical sci-fi novel takes a unique look at the consequences of alien contact. Landscape with Invisible Hand pits a young painter against the artistic preferences of conquering extraterrestrials. It's not action-packed, but the book's narrative urgency comes from how relatable Adam's predicament is. Anderson shows the perils of runaway capitalism, and it's not a pretty picture.

Book Details

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