khalilrania2e88

Slam was the anxiously anticipated YA novel in 2007 from Nick Hornby, famous for his portrayal of the hapless but lovable man-child in modern British fiction. As an admirer of his work, especially About a Boy and A Long Way Down, I nevertheless toned down my expectations for this novel in response to lukewarm reviews. Slam isn't bad and has plenty of Hornbyisms, but one gets the impression that he could have done better. Or stuck to adult fiction. The protagonist of the novel is dim-witted Sam Jones, a 16 year old skateboarder living with his 32 year old single mother. He somehow meets a really hot girl, Alicia Burns (gotta love the completely mundane names) and gets her pregnant (not so surprising). Most of the story is about Sam reconciling himself to the fact and trying to grow up and be the man. Our poor teen does this by consoling himself with his Tony Hawk poster, which I didn't think was a terrible literary device despite its obvious purpose as a reminder that the kid has a bum dad who isn't around. As far as the work as a whole, it was fine and not incoherent and ridiculous like How to be Good. I still left thinking, so? Why should I care about Sam and Alicia and their baby? The tone was a bit hesitant and although Hornby put in his crisp dialogue, irony, and little tricks, the entire effort is only slightly above average. Maybe he should stick to portraying boys and men, not those in between.

2022-10-29 03:46