Slam

By: Nick Hornby

Narrated by: Nicholas Hoult

The #1 New York Times bestseller from the beloved, award-winning author of Dickens and Prince, High Fidelity, and About A Boy.

For 16-year-old Sam, life is about to get extremely complicated. He and his girlfriend—make that ex-girlfriend— Alicia have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Sam is suddenly forced to grow up and struggle with the familiar fears and inclinations that haunt us all.

Nick Hornby’s poignant and witty novel shows a rare and impressive understanding of human relationships and what it really means to be a man.

Critic reviews

“With Sam, Hornby has given us another of his perfectly imperfect male characters… Sparkling.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“We want to hear whatever this kid has got to say—the whole scary, hilarious story.… Hornby just makes it look easy.” —The Washington Post

Well done:)

Great book, but then what else would you expect from Hornby? So realistic! Also really great narrating.

Excellent new Hornby novel, very different

I have been a fan of Nick Hornby ever since reading "High Fidelity" more than ten years ago. The short description of "Slam" did not really appeal to me, but I decided to purchase and download the audiobook anyway, and was very happy to be proven wrong! "Slam" is well written and very well narrated. It really sounds like you are listening to Sam telling his story, which has a lot of twists, has good humor and sarcasm, and is very moving. Definitely recommended!

Slam Dunk! Great read!

Sam is an ordinary 16 year old from a broken home. He is a likable kid, and he tries to do the right thing. Sam likes to skateboard, and his hero is Tony Hawk. Sam has practically memorized Tony Hawk's autobiography and the Tony Hawk poster on Sam's wall talks to Sam and gives him advice.

The narrator is very convincing; and why not? Its Nicholas Hoult, the kid who played Marcus in About a Boy. His narration really pulls you in and makes you BELIEVE that Sam is actually talking to you.

You really see Sam's inner life; Sam is neither too dense nor too insightful. The tone is very good. Others look at this book as a young adult book, but I don't see it as that; the character study was great, and I could hardly put it down.

Hurrah

One of the best audiobooks I've heard - well written with great charactorization and humor and well read. I wonder why we can't hear Hornby's first three in unabridged format. What a waste an abridgement would be.

Teen schmeen, 5 stars!

Teen schmeen; I'm 3 times the narrator's age, and I thought "Slam" was just as good as any of Nick Hornby's other books. The actor who narrated was excellent. The thoughts of Sam, the book's teenage first-person narrator, seemed very true to the way an actual teenage boy would see things. Even so, the book had many surprises and I wanted to know how it would all turn out! Never treacly, quite funny, subtle.