[3] After a domestic bombing campaign against corporations involved in the Vietnam War goes awry in 1972, a leftist cell led by lovers Bobby Desoto and Mary Whittaker goes underground.

In a parallel plot, Bobby has become Nash Davis, an indifferent owner of an alternative bookstore in Seattle in the late 1990s who convenes ironic leftist discussion groups that never actually undertake the actions they plan.

On May/June 2006 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (3.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "At best, Eat the Document is a poignant portrait of three decades of American radicalism".

[4] Writing in The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani described the novel as "an elliptical narrative filled with musical leitmotifs and searing, strobe-lighted images of contemporary life" and notes that Spiotta tackled her chosen theme "with ingenuity, inventiveness and élan.

[5] In a mixed review in The New York Times, Julia Scheeres called the novel "fascinating" but criticized its "collage of viewpoints" as distracting from the main storyline.