Slam

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From the creator of High Fidelity and About a Boy comes this absorbing page-turner about a teen boy who seeks guidance from many quarters -- including the autobiography of his hero, skater Tony Hawk -- when he's unexpectedly thrust into fatherhood. Told through the eyes of Sam Jones in gritty, honest words that convey the feelings of a teen boy facing the trials and tribulations of maturity during difficult circumstances, Nick Hornby's novel is a great companion to his other work that will please both teen and adult readers.

People Magazine

Vintage Hornby: a witty trek inside the emotional life of the modern male.

USA Today

Hornby's witty, gentle genius shines through.

San Francisco Chronicle

. . . full of wit, humor and pathos.

The Washington Times

. . . well-balanced wit and weight, prominent pop-culture placement . . . and an exploration of that tricky line that separates youths from adults.

Elizabeth Ward

"Listen," says Sam Jones, the garrulous young narrator of Nick Hornby's likable first novel for teenagers, "I know you don't want to hear about every single little moment." He then relives every single little moment anyway, and that's just about one date with a pretty girl. But he's wrong about us. We want to hear whatever this kid has got to say—the whole scary, hilarious story. It's not that Sam's tale, stripped to its bones, is all that different from a million other YA novels…voice is the difference.
—The Washington Post

Dwight Garner

The good news about Nick Hornby's first young adult novel, Slam, is that it's not so different from—indeed, it can be read right alongside—the rest of his sly and laid-back oeuvre. Hornby's novels tend to be about men who are essentially boys. Slam is a portrait of a prickly and interesting boy who is forced to become, very quickly, a man…an agreeably casual and occasionally effervescent comedy of manners, one that has plenty to say about class and sex and family and—this being a Nick Hornby novel—how pop music relates to it all and ties it all together.
—The New York Times

Booklist

. . . a vertiginous mix of anger, confusion, insight, humor, and love. Starred review

Publishers Weekly

Hoult, who played the part of Marcus Brewer in the screen adaptation of Hornby's About a Boy, does a credible job-perhaps too credible-as Sam, the 16-year-old hero of Hornby's first YA novel. His tone is conversational, and he relates Sam's story about inadvertently getting his girlfriend pregnant, with little variation in emphasis: he's the epitome of the cool, unfazed teen even in the face of impending doom. But the combination of Hornby's authentic dialogue and Hoult's convincing reading produces some passages of teenspeak, especially between Sam and girlfriend Alicia-"Dunno/ Me neither"-type repartee-that is hard-going as entertainment. Hoult adopts a slightly deeper inflection for the part of Tony Hawk, whose poster Sam uses as a sounding board, but, comically, the quintessential California skateboarder speaks his lines (quotes from his autobiography, which Sam has memorized) with a British inflection. Overall, the audio showcases Hornby's skill at getting deeply inside the mind of his character. Sam, the most talkative teen ever to grind a skateboard, says, "Listen, I know you don't want to hear about every single little moment" and proceeds to recount every single little moment anyway. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 8). (Oct.)

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USA Today

Hornby's witty, gentle genius shines through.

Chicago Sun-Times

With Sam, Hornby has given us another of his perfectly imperfect male characters...Sparkling.

Seattle Times

By turns funny and heartbreaking.

The Guardian

Hornby is a poet of the everyday, the ordinary.

Washington Post

We want to hear whatever [Sam] has got to say—the whole scary, hilarious story.

Miami Herald

Offers wry insights into the male psyche, making this book a good bet for Hornby fans, no matter their age.

Entertainment Weekly

Hornby truthfully dissects the male psyche.

Children's Literature - Michele DeCamp

In skateboarding, when someone takes a fall, it is called a slam. However, in London teen Sam Jones' life, the biggest slam does not come from falling off his board but from the news that his ex-girlfriend Alicia is pregnant. What makes this fall especially tough for Sam is that he finds out this life-altering news on his sixteenth birthday. In some ways, Sam has always anticipated that his life would turn into "rubbish." After all, his mother had him at sixteen and his entire family suffers from a case of bad luck that could rival Stanley Yelnats' family in Holes. Hornby is known for helping his readers delve into the male psyche, and Sam's story is not so much about the pregnancy and arrival of his son Rufus as much as it is about his reaction to his altered existence. Sam relies most on his poster of professional skater Tony Hawk to get him through the tough times, and he talks to Hawk by recalling specific quotes from the skater's autobiography to create a dialogue between himself and his idol. Hawk also supposedly "whizzes" Sam into the future at two points in the novel to show him how the birth of his child will affect his relationship with Alicia. Sam's internal dialogue will grab readers from page one, but his reliance on Hawk and these unexplainable jumps into the future make an otherwise realistic story seem like it is mocking the struggle of its protagonists. Hornby does deftly transition to a teen narrator for his first foray into young adult literature, but his inclusion of Hawk as a two-dimensional mentor to Sam wears thin, and while readers will appreciate Sam's honesty and understandable pessimism over the changes in his life, they will probably wish hehad left the Tony Hawk poster under his bed by the end of the novel. Reviewer: Michele DeCamp

VOYA - Jamie S. Hansen

Sam Jones is an easy-going guy. At fifteen, all he really wants are a few hours every day at his favorite skateboarding spots and some quality time chatting to his treasured Tony Hawk poster. Even hanging with his mum, who was a teenager when she had him, is okay now that she and his father are divorced and not fighting all the time. Suddenly his careless life changes when he meets sexy Alicia. For a few weeks, she dominates Sam's life until he realizes that they never seem to do anything except go to Alicia's room for sex. Sam has started extricating himself from their dead-end relationship when Alicia announces that she is pregnant and intends to keep the baby. For Sam, Alicia's news is a serious slam, just as painful as any he has had crashing his board. His only options seem to be running away, ignoring Alicia and the baby, or becoming a father. His final choice is as surprising to Sam as it is to the reader. Best-selling author of the "male confessional novel," Hornby pens a first novel for teens that is a sweet and funny story about mistakes and choices. He captures the voice of Sam the slacker, Sam the skater, and ultimately Sam the father flawlessly and renders the other characters solidly and believably. Recommend this delightful and poignant novel to older teens who will laugh and weep with Sam.

Jacob Stratman

Fifteen-year-old Sam lives in London, skates at the Bowl (that's skateboarding to you and me), and talks to a poster of Tony Hawk everyday. His mum finally gets rid of a stale boyfriend, his teachers think he should pursue art in college, and skating with his chums Rabbit and Rubbish is never better. Then he meets Alicia, a gorgeous daughter of one of his mum's friends who is way out of his league. Slam explores what it means to grow up without all the answers readily available to you. With its introspective narrative pacing, quirky characters, elements of magic realism, and heavy dose of wit and humor, this novel is a wonderful option for reluctant teenage male readers—girls will like Alicia's character as well. In a long line of "problem" novels, Slam delivers glimmers of hope in a sometimes dramatic and complicated world. Reviewer: Jacob Stratman

Kirkus Reviews

Like the movie Knocked Up, this is a story about an accidental pregnancy that nudges the male protagonist into adulthood. The difference is that the male in question is not an immature man pitifully hanging onto his boyhood, but a skateboard-loving 15-year-old youngster named Sam-ironically the fruit of a teen pregnancy himself-who is in no way, shape or form ready for the responsibility of parenthood. But ready or not, the baby is coming and Sam, who had already broken up with his girlfriend by the time she realized she was pregnant, has no choice-a real message for boys here-but to cope. This tale, which is deeply cautionary-Use condoms! Properly!-is ultimately hopeful and has something to say about the flexible nature of family. It's also full of pleasures that readers familiar with Hornby should recognize, such as the kooky subsidiary characters and clever off-center dialogue, though his idea of occasionally fast-forwarding the protagonist into the future is initially confusing. Still, it's funny, strong and disturbing, a must read for older boys. (Fiction. YA)