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| Slam | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $6.01 (43%)
New (46) Used (18) from $7.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 5790
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 1594483450
EAN: 9781594483455
ASIN: 1594483450
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller now in paperback.
For 16-year-old Sam, life is about to get extremely complicated. He and his girlfriendmake that ex-girlfriend Alicia have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Sam is suddenly forced to grow up and struggle with the familiar fears and inclinations that haunt us all.
Nick Hornbys poignant and witty novel shows a rare and impressive understanding of human relationships and what it really means to be a man.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 a masterpiece that captures the voice of adolescence November 26, 2008
Sam is sixteen years old and is about to become a dad. What follows is Sam telling his story, from falling in and out of teenage love with Alicia, to attempting to run away from home, to facing his responsibilities, dealing with Alicia's snobby parents and his mother (who had him when she was sixteen), confiding in his poster of Tony Hawk (who sends him into the future), and eventually becoming a dad to his son, Roof. Hornby masterfully tells the story with the true voice and feeling of a sixteen-year-old boy (I've never read a book that so closely captures the voice of an adolescent), a child suddenly stuck with the horrible responsibility of being a parent and how he eventually comes to deal with it and survive. Typical of Hornby, this is a deeply realistic story of true characters and real, complicated situations. But it is that voice that tells this story that makes this a masterpiece. Grade: A+
Hornby's still got it October 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Nick Hornby is the only author that continues to meet my now high expectation when I read one of his books. If you are a fan of any of his previous work then you will definitely enjoy SLAM; if you are not, this might be the one that makes you a fan and makes you want to read the others.
The story moves along at a very good pace, I didn't want to put this book down the whole time that I was reading. The editing here is brilliant since there is no "throwaway chapter" every single page fits within the story and doesn't feel like fluff at any point.
For adults too August 23, 2008
This was supposed to be teen-fiction but, as an adult Hornby fan, I had to get it. I'd say the only thing that makes it teen-fiction is that it's told in the first person by a 16 year-old boy. Other than that we still have Hornbys' clever insights and humour all the way through. It is about a boy(Sam) who gets his girlfriend (Alicia) pregnant but doesn't find out till just after he dumps her. All the pressure Sam feels to be a man when he still wants to be a kid and go skating (skateboarding- not ice skating). Sam gets whizzed into the future 2/3 times and I found this annoying and knocked a star off for it. As the book says itself- there is no real end to the story but that feels right. Being pro-abortion in these situations, it takes away some of my sympathy for the girl because she insists on having it, and Sam tries to do the right thing by backing her up. So their young lives end up in a mess. But it's an easy read with the Hornby one-liners and insights.
 Puerile August 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Nick Hornby has always walked a fine line between seeing the humour in every day life situations and celebrating the idiocy of mainstream pop culture. While High Fidelity and a Long Way Down were laugh out loud hilarious, and packed with wit, Hornby has slowly but steadily moved to a point where his characters are so deeply embedded in the mainstream that his work is becoming nauseating for anyone who doesn't consider a viewing Pop Idols accompanied by a Big Mac to be the realisation of the profundity of the life experience.
How to Be Good was already balanced on the wrong side of the greasy schmaltz line, but Hornby crosses over completely in this awful offering that had me close to retching at times. The book is packed with pop culture references, cutesy moments and is narrated by one of Hornby's typically ambivalent protagonists. I'm not sure what else to say about it - reading to the end, as I felt compelled to do after shelling out money for a copy, was torturous and the book is just frightfully bad.
Perhaps its the total lack of appreciation of wider social context that gets to me, I get the feeling that Hornby's characters would be as comfortably at home in Nazi Germany as in Big Brother Britain, such is the depth of the unquestioning support and endorsement of the status quo.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too August 18, 2008
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.
Reviewed by: The Compulsive Reader
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