6. Slam by Nick Hornby (audio book)

Slam by Nick Hornby (audio book)

ISBN: 978-0-14-314283-6

Penguin Audio, New York, 2007

Total playing time: approximately 7 hours  

Plot Summary 

As the 15-year-old son of a 31-year-old mother, Sam had it emphasized upon him the importance of going to school and building a life prior to having a child.  As an avid skateboarder, Sam turns to his poster of Tony Hawk (whom Sam refers to as TH), his skating idol, for advice on any kind of issue.  Having read Tony Hawk’s autobiography many times over, Sam imagines TH talking to him, pulling from quotes in the book.  Just as things start to fall into place and Sam is content in both his school and personal life, his relationship with Alicia, his new girlfriend, changes all of that.  After meeting at a party for his mother’s friend, the two teens believe they are in love and spend most of their time together.  Thinking back on it, Sam can pinpoint the exact moment when things changed—the only time when Sam and Alicia had unprotected sex.  When Sam becomes bored in the relationship, he stops spending time with Alicia and ignores her calls.  However, on his 16^th birthday, Alicia calls Sam, telling him they need to talk.  Thinking back to that one instance of unprotected sex, Sam is sure that he knows what Alicia has to tell him.  After meeting her at a coffee shop, Sam takes off just as Alicia goes back home to get money for a pregnancy test and, when talking to TH, Sam is whizzed into the future, placing him in Alicia’s bedroom with a crying baby.  Once Sam comes back to reality, he is unsure whether he has truly experienced his future or if it was just a dream.  When he gets up the courage to talk to Alicia, he finds out that she is pregnant and Sam finds out whether TH did, in fact, show him his future or if his life will take another turn.

Critical Evaluation

Slam by Nick Hornby depicts a realistic look into the life of a teenage boy faced with the difficulties of fatherhood.  Telling the story as an 18-year-old, and therefore father of a toddler, Sam looks back on the events that brought him to his current state.  Just as many teen boys in the same position would do, Sam contemplates skipping town and living by himself for the rest of his life, believing that to be easier than raising a child at 16.  However, after just one night at a dingy bed and breakfast, Sam realizes that he is not ready for that either.  When he returns home, he fully accepts his responsibility as the father of Alicia’s child and devotes himself to that fact.

Although the flash-forwards in the novel were an interesting element, by the third flash forward they became a bit redundant and unnecessary.  While the first flash-forward brought Sam the realization of how difficult raising an infant would be and the second gave him a glimpse of how his relationship with Alicia could change as they raised a toddler, the third flash-forward make me exclaim, “Not again!”  In this one, Sam learns that both he and Alicia have relationships with other people and are still on friendly terms.  While the first two flashbacks serve to wake Sam up to the difficulties of parenthood, as well as provide some comedic situations with Sam completely clueless in his interactions, the third flashback did not seem to move the story along.

While I enjoyed the novel as a whole, the ending caught me by surprise.  Not giving anything away, Sam conducts a question and answer session, catching the reader up in the events he has experienced up to this point in his life.  Considering the novel is told as if Sam is sitting right next to the reader and sharing his story, it is an interesting way to end the novel—as if Sam has finished his story and is just checking with the listener as to whether he skipped anything important.  With the exception of the over-use of flashbacks, Hornby created an amusing look into the life of a teenage father.

Reader's Annotation

As the son of a young mother, Sam never imagined that he would become a teenage father, but all of that changes when he gets a call from his ex-girlfriend.  An avid skateboarder, Sam turns to a poster of his hero, Tony Hawk, for advice and when Sam doesn’t understand his stories, he finds himself whizzed several months into the future.

Information About the Author

Nick Hornby is the author of the bestselling novels Slam, A Long Way Down, How to Be Good, High Fidelity, and About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. He is also the author of Songbook, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, Shakespeare Wrote for Money, and The Polysyllabic Spree, and editor of the short story collection Speaking with the Angel. A recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ E. M. Forster Award, and the Orange Word International Writers’ London Award 2003, Hornby lives in North London.

Many of Hornby’s novels have been adapted into successful films, including About a Boy and High Fidelity.  In 2009, Hornby wrote the screenplay for An Education, introducing star Carey Mulligan.  (Retrieved from author’s website: http://www.nicksbooks.com)

Genre

Young Adult – Realistic (Teenage Parenthood)/Contemporary Fantasy

Curriculum Ties

This novel could be used when teaching about the difficulties of teenage parenthood.

Booktalking Ideas

1. Focus on the challenges that Sam and Alicia experience in teenage parenthood.

2. Discuss how fast Sam and Alicia seem to fall in love and then fall apart.

3. Tell the story from Alicia's point-of-view.

Reading Level/Interest Age

14+

Challenge Issues

Although the novel involves teen pregnancy, there is little discussion of sexual acts or other controversial topics, so I don’t think there will be any challenges.  

However, in the case that some arise, librarians should become familiar with the material and its content.  Turn to reviews from publications such as Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist, as well as reviews from teens that have read it.  Also, it is beneficial for librarians to present reasons backed by the ALA in support of intellectual freedom.  As stated in the Library Bill of Rights:

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

Why Include Book in Selection? 

As a fan of Nick Hornby’s screenplay for An Education, I was interested when I spotted this audio book on YALSA’s 2009 list of Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults.