Saturday, March 1, 2008

Slam by Nick Hornby

This is a book I picked up, luckily, on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble, my favorite big bookstore. I'd heard Hornby on NPR, I think Fresh Air, talking about this book, and it caught my attention as he was discussing Tony Hawk and skateboarding. Having a 10 year old son, this caught my ear, and this is not the kind of book I'd normally grab, but I'm glad I did. Hornby does, I think, a very authentic job of creating the voice of a 16 year old Londoner who has two passions in his life, Tony Hawk and his love of skating, and his first real girlfriend, Alicia. Sam, the narrator, repeats his mom's mistake and becomes a teenage parent, all the while turning to his poster of TH for advice, which TH blithely dispenses from varying lines of said idol's autobiography. I found Slam to be really quite good. It was funny, and heartbreaking, and I think so honest.

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