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| Slam | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (32) from £0.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 1724
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
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| Customer Reviews:
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.
 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".
 Courtesy of Teens Read Too August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sam figures that his life is going pretty well. He's doing all right in school, he gets along with his mom, he has a great
girlfriend, and is getting good at skateboarding. He has aspirations of attending college, unlike his mom, who had to drop
out of school when she became pregnant with him.
But all of his dreams come crashing down when his girlfriend, Alicia, tells him that she's pregnant. And she has no intention
of getting rid of the baby.
Sam spooks. He goes into denial. When that doesn't work, he tries running away, physically and emotionally. And then, an
unexplainable thing happens...while he dreams at night, he gets whizzed into the future and is shown an unexpected life that
will force him to face the facts and take responsibility for his actions.
SLAM is a frank, vivid, and highly realistic take on teenage pregnancy from a point of view that is completely different from
what many are accustomed to. Hornby doesn't waste time by working in lectures of the consequences of premarital sex,
but instead gives us Sam, who is a little selfish, very scared, a bit ashamed, but ultimately a strong character who, through
many trials and despite his own feelings, manages to pull himself together and attempt to be the best dad he can be -- and is
surprisingly good at it.
The more unbelievable element of the story, Sam's visits to the future, gives the story just the right dash of unique appeal
without seeming too implausible. Hornby does more than just give us an intriguing account of teen parenthood; he reveals
each emotion, thought, and feeling with startling clarity and humor, until you understand and empathize with Sam. SLAM is
a fascinating, compelling, and even poignant read that won't soon be forgotten.
People will nick it off you... August 13, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I took this on holiday and people kept nicking it off me to read it, it was so good. My son who is 13 loved it and so did my nieces who don't normally read much. Then my husband got hold of it...
Yes, teen pregnancy has been done a lot but the humour and down to earth language in this book make it very readable, and I was laughing out loud. It is also very thought provoking - any teenager having casual sex or indeed any sex should bear in mind what the outcome could be and the affect it will have on their future and I am sure this will become compulsory reading in secondary schools. Enjoy!
 Oh dear! August 12, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Sadly Nick Hornby's books have been getting progressively worse since "High Fidelity" and "Fever Pitch", and with "Slam" he has hit an absolute low. It is extremely rare that I don't finish a book, but after persevering with this one for a while I eventually had to give up.
The story line is a mess, there is no connection with the characters, and there isn't even the odd witty one-liner to liven things up. There just doesn't seem to be anything positive to say about this book ... it really is that bad.
To put it bluntly, don't bother.
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