After reading the opening and the following chapters...

There was one important thing why I can recommend everybody to read this novel: To my mind the author Nick Hornby wrote the story in a unusual touching way. While reading the book I thought about that point again and again, but I just could find out what it is that make this story somehow such real and comprehensible (in my opinion). Maybe if the author would be just twenty years old or something like that, I guess it would be more natural that he hasn't any problem to write this story touching for young people. But the fact that Nick Hornby is actually 51 years old (and "Slam" is a very new book) made me confused. I'd be interested to know if he was once in a similar situation like Sam or maybe like Sam's dad. I mean, it's nearly impossible to tell you a story of two teenagers who have to be adult from one day to the other because of an unwanted pregnancy, if you never was in a situation like that. The only plausible explanation for me to write a story like that without having to be in the same situation like Sam and Alicia was that you are interested in the subject youth pregnancy or abortion. But anyway, I suppose you have to make lots of enquiries for example have a talk to some teenager about their unwanted pregnancy or read some magazines for young people where you can find a few of opinions about that stuff.

But now here's another point. It's a point of the story that I didn't know how to assess: The three times when Sam spent a short time in his future. At the first time I thouht that this part of the novel is just his dreaming because the fact that Alicia is obviously going to have a baby was too much for him. And because of that I was sure that he just assimilate his thoughts in the dream but the longer I read, the more I noticed that it isn't just a dream. Or maybe it is a dream but a kind of whizzing into the future, too. It is unclear for me why Hornby just ditn't left these parts out of the story. I guess that would make the story more real. And this is also the reason why I didn't agree with the end of the novel. Why there were 336 pages before that told you lots of Sam's feelings and views and only 6 pages that told you the final events before the end of the story. I think if there weren't any big twists of Sam's and Alicia's life then it's OK to end up the book. But actually it's a big change that both, Sam and Alicia, obviously have a new partner and also manage to be parents of their young boy without any rows and without a ugly separation (like Sam was afraid of), isn't it?! So I don't understand why the end of the story was like that...in my opinion this kind of end seems to be just to make the reader a little bit happier after reading how suddenly a life can change from the ground up. But I never enjoyed reading new facts in the end of a story just to make myself unworried again. Something like that destroys stories, I think. But please don't get me wrong: I'm just saying that the end isn't as successful as the rest of the story. And besides it was just my opinion, my assessment. I can understand very well if somebody don't agree...

Before I started reading...

now I am ready with reading and I missed to write my opinion before reading, but that doesn't actually matter because fortunately I still remember very well my thoughts and expectations when we got this book, when I first read the blurb of "Slam" and when I started reading. So I'm now going to write these things down...

When we got this book in a English lesson, few weeks ago, I first thought that this novel is going to be in a modern manner, more then I thought before. I guess the reason for this opinion chang was just the cover of the book, that seemed to be very interesting and attractivel. In my opinion all books we had to read for school looked somehow similar. What I mean is, if you see the cover of a book someone is just reading (maybe in a train or a bus), then you mostly know if this person has to read this book for school or if it was just his own decision to read this book. So what I want to say is that "Slam" doesn't look like a novel you have to read for school, does he? (Unfortunately there are lots of books you read in school just because you have to. You know, without having fun and when you're finished with reading you are relieved and put it away and never really think about the point the author tried to express. Because of this sad fact teachers should more often ask their pupils about their favourite books or they maybe should give them a list of books, so the pupils can make enquiries and elect their favourite one. But that just by the way...)

There were two sentence, too, that made me change my expectation of a dull and maybe even boring novel. It were the first sentences of the blurb. ("There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.") When I read these sentences, I guess they spark my interest because on the one hand you maybe think that they are telling you some important facts of the story the book is about but I think on the other hand they don't really tell you anything, do they? I mean, they don't give you some subjects or something like that to better imagine the act of the story. Every reader can interpret it in his own way. Because of that these sentences are of course very suitable for a blurb because they don't tell you to much and besides they make you thinking of their meaning in a skilful way.

Nick Hornby - Slam

This will be a short list with aspects I found positive / interesting:

• 
  
  The first talk between Sam and Alicia: The first talk between the teenagers is on the one hand very real and comprehensible, but on the other hand funny, too, because it was not a ordinary talk between two people. I guess the actually talk take place in their thoughts and that's the point that makes it very interesting and attractive because neither of the two really knew what was the other one talking about. Such a kind of conversation can be very difficult because you always have to search for some undertones and insinuations.


• 
  
  The time after the first date: I enjoyed reading this phase because at this time everything seemed to be good and you couldn't imagine that it's going to change. It may be true that this phase can go on the reader's nerves because of the repeats (Sam could not live without Alicia and Alicia could not live without Sam and so on) and it may be true that the blinded love of these two persons sometimes was a little bit annoying, but nevertheless I think it was one of the nicest part of the novel. In comparison with Sam's "future-dreams" for example, the time after the first date appears much more easy to understand the feelings just because it's not as confusing as the "dreams".

Now I'll give you some short facts about the author of the novel:

• Nick Hornby was born 1957 in Redhill, a city in Surrey in south of England.
• He is an English novelist and essayist who studied English (language and literature) at the University of Cambridge.
• He becomes famous with his novels High Fidelity, About a Boy and his football memoir Fever Pitch (a few of his books even were filmed).
• Gill Hornby (Jane Austen: The Girl with the Magic Pen), his sister is an author, too.
• While his studies he wrote some stage play, television drama and radio play.
• Before he 1992 devoted himself to writing, he practised English teacher.
• Because of his autistic son Danny, Hornby became a founding member of a organization called "TreeHouse" that support a better school care for autistic children.

And here some skateboards and popular skate-clothing to bring the style of this label home to you...

Just a little comment by the way: I was really surprised when I just searched for some skating stuff: the significance of some business today (like skatboarding) is inconceivably! The range of goods is nearly immeasurable and the firms get a good bargain because they pretend how a skater for example have to be dressed, what kind of skateboard is just trendy and so on...

Here you can see some pictures of skateboarder. Well, I have to say I really love these photos, because I think they not only show skater in action, the more important point for me was that they show a kind of lifestyle somehow. So just have a look and make up your own mind about it...

First of all I have to confess that my working method is a real shame! If I have some homework or some other things to do that seem to be difficult for me then I delay this kind of work until the time is nearly over. That really annoys me but unfortunatly I can’t mostly force me to do it. And that’s the way how it proceeds with “Slam”, too.

Today I’m unfortunately not ready with reading the book yet. I regret this very much, not only because tomorrow is the original day when we should have finished the reading but also because my first reservation that I could have problems with understanding of the happening in the text evaporated when I begun to read.

Now I’ ve to say that this novel really surprised me because in my opinion it’s much more interesting than lots of books we had to read for school until now. It’s not only the way Nick Hornby is discribing the feelings and fears of the young boy, to my mind it’s the whole subject that’s very interesting and even very topical. I think the fact that Sam is just in the process of reaching adulthood makes it extreme difficult for the author to tell the story comprehensible for the reader. But in a very touching way Hornby succeeds in expressing Sam’s thoughts. That’s really laudable and remarkable, I think. But now for something different…