Slam |
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Author:
Nick Hornby
By Puffin Books
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £12.99
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780141382975
ISBN: 014138297X
Label: Puffin Books
Manufacturer: Puffin Books
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2007-10-04
Publisher: Puffin Books
Studio: Puffin Books |
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Average Hornby, 2009-01-07
I was quite surprised to see the diversity and strength of feeling that this book has generated from Amazon reviewers. Most seem to love or hate it - I can't say I felt it was worth getting that excited by Slam.
Ok, it isn't in the same league as Fever Pitch or High Fidelity, but it was a pleasant enough read.
Hornby gives Sam a voice of his own, perhaps not the most authentic voice of a North london teenager, but surely not a million miles away. Sam is dealing with usual teenage worries like parents, skateboarding and girls when an unexpected pregnancy turns his life upsude down. The rest of the tale is concerned with how he deals with the fallout.
Hornby's prose is good in his usual style, it is dryly amusing in places but I must confess I never really found any of the characters over-convincing.
Maybe three stars is a little generous, but I just felt I was in the middle of the extreme opinions aired elsewhere.
One star for audacity . . . ., 2008-12-19
There is so much great literature; and so little time in which to read it! But this? Hornby's barbarous twaddle is as befitting to a shelf of good books as a pustule is to a pretty face.
Adults these days..., 2008-12-04
First of all I'd like to say that this is one of the best books I've ever read. It reads like real life, you get emotionally attached to the characters and it's just so well written. You've probably seen other reviews saying stuff like 'not a Nick Hornby classic'. That's Because it isn't! It's nothing like any of his other books.
I'm 15 and nothing makes me more angry than when reading reviews for this book than people saying it's too childish, doesn't fit with my lifestyle or whatever. That is because this book is for Teens! It's about a teen and should be read by Teens! If you're a teen you should read this book immediately and if you're an adult the shame on you. You wouldn't go off and start bad mouthing the very hungry catepillar because it's a bit babyish.
It's about a boy (ha ha, like the name of his other book...) who likes skateboarding, and that's all I can reveal without ruining the story but be warned, this isn't an action, horror, crime or fantasy, this is a drama, a proper novel and it's fantastic. Suitable for girls and boys.
Authentic but not unpredictable, 2008-10-05
On Thursday I was off sick, so I read Slam by Nick Hornby. It is authentically narrated as a 15 year old skate-boy who thinks that Tony Hawk's autobiography is a guide for life. The book takes the reader through his first relationship and sexual experiences, and how these are influenced by his mum having had him when she was a teenager.
I didn't feel like it cut new ground, as the plot was simple and fairly predictable, but the voices were authentic and contemporary. There were also a few genuinely touching emotional moments. So, on balance I quite liked it. Its the kind of thing you could pick up in an airport, read during the flight, and leave at your destintion :)
Slam - oh the irony., 2008-10-22
I don't read many books, but I picked this one up on holiday at a book exchange. I gave up a reasonable Dick Francis novel, and not having read a Nick Hornby and heard that he was good, I went for Slam. I'd not done my research properly had I? Having read it, I'd have felt short changed handing in a blank piece of paper. This is dire. If I'd written this as part of my English GCSE coursework, it would have been returned with "waffle", "where's the story?" and "start again" written all over it.
I had to finish it in case there was an interesting twist, and I thought I'd found it in Chapter 16 when we meet a character that is only briefly mentioned earlier on. But no, it goes nowhere.
If you want to listen to a 15 year old skateboarder drone on about nothing, be my guest, but you've been warned. Credit though must go to Nick for writing so much quantity without any quality.
Allegedly, The Telegraph said: "Very funny... very real". eh? It's not funny at any point, and whizzing into the future is not part of my reality. Any interesting bits were written by TH (Tony Hawk) and not NH.
How did this get published?
If you're looking to read this book - do yourself a favour and do a one eighty.
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