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• Hornby, Nick
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• General
Fiction
Slam
Slam

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Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Category: Book

List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)



New (32) from £0.90

Avg. Customer Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars 21 reviews
Sales Rank: 1688

Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.9

ISBN: 0141321407
EAN: 9780141321400
ASIN: 0141321407

Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: **UK SHIPPED**SWIFT RELIABLE SERVICE** With friendly customer care! "Buy with confidence, Buy Book EcoLOGICal" book has a bend

Also Available In:

  • Hardcover - Slam
  • Paperback - Slam
  • Audio CD - Slam
  • Audio CD - Slam
  • Paperback - Slam
  • Hardcover - Slam

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Customer Reviews:   Read 16 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars Authentic but not unpredictable   October 5, 2008
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 :)



1 out of 5 stars Absolute Drivel   September 30, 2008
I was only able to get half way through the book, and that was after forcing myself to read past the first chapter.

Having read super reviews of Nick Hornby's books, I thought I should give them a go - what a disappointment!.

Apart from a ridiculous story line (previous reviews have shown how weak this is), the whole book is written in a "verbal diarrhoea" style - anything that pops into ones head goes straight onto the page. Its the sort of thing you could produce in one afternoon with a cup of tea and a dictaphone. Probably exactly what Nick Hornby did.

I won't be reading any of his other books - life's too short and there are too many good books around that deserve to be read.

Silverflora



1 out of 5 stars don't waste hours of your life wading through this!   September 25, 2008
Don't know quite what was going on in Nick's head when he wrote this junk. And you know what? I'm not going to waste too much more of my life analysing it! All I need to tell you is that I got to the last page and actually threw the book on the floor in frustration and disappointment. It then went directly into the Recycling bin because I wouldn't risk inflicting this torture on anyone else! AND I only gave it one star because I'm impressed with Mr Hornby for managing to get it published it the first place. ARGH!!


3 out of 5 stars Great for Teens, But Doesn't Crossover to Adults   September 12, 2008
At times Hornby shows flashes of brilliance in creating the voice of Sam, a teenager who gets his girlfriend pregnant. But this is offset against the cardboard cutout nature of all the other characters, who we never really get to know. The book keeps the reader inside Sam's mind so that he or she feels side-by-side with Sam and his life - which works very well. However I found that I needed a richer and more interesting universe outside Sam and the baby. Hornby has clearly done a lot of research on teenage pregnancy and there is a little bit of Show and Tell about the book. It might have been a more rounded work if he had introduced a variety of teenage pregnancies because this one, despite Sam's problems, is a happy ending fairy tale that doesn't really penetrate the UK's problem with teenage pregnacies. Hornby is a lovely soft and human writer and I enjoyed reading this, but it's not his best.


2 out of 5 stars Dull "Lad-Lit" for teens. Don't bother.   August 31, 2008
I love Nick Hornby, so I snapped this up when I saw it at the airport. It sounded good; a teenage boy gets his girlfriend into a bit of trouble and has to deal with the consequences. Unfortunately Nick hasn't just written from a sixteen year old's point of view- he's actually written like a sixteen year old boy and has failed miserably at trying to sound "with it." It lacks everything that made "High Fidelity" such sharp, funny writing and was really disppointing. Maybe a reader in their mid-teens would enjoy it, but there's much better things to read than "Slam".

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