I’m a big Nick Hornby fan (A Long Way Down, About a Boy, High Fidelity). So when I found myself needing something to read away from home the other week and saw his latest sitting out front 20% off, into the bag it went and I’m out the other side happy.
Slam is Hornby once again inhabiting the skin of someone he’s not, this time a 16 year old English boy sitting on top of his limited patch of the world but, as intimated in the opening paragraphs, is quickly knocked down. Now, sure, Nick was once a 16 year old English boy but as best I know he is not the child of divorce nor was he a skateboarding (excuse me, skating) enthusiast as a teen.
He also did not have conversations with a poster of Tony Hawk. Two-way conversations, though Hawk’s parts came straight out of his autobiography which Sam, our protagonist, has read about 50 times. Enough to have memorized it, so Hawk’s conversational responses are actually quotes pulled from the book.
Sam is on top of the world because his skating’s going well, a teacher at school has asked about his university plans (no one in his family has attended college) and, best of all, he’s dating and shagging a beautiful girl. And the shagging was her suggestion.
Where would the dramatic tension come from if all these remained as they are? No, Sam has to take a major fall, for our entertainment. But Hornby does such a marvelous job with this setup that even Sam can’t be mad.
I think that I enjoy this writer so much because his books go beyond just good, interesting plots that move at ever-quickening pace, with engaging characters. Not only do his lead characters, Sam here, Will and Marcus in About a Boy, Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen in A Long Way Down and Rob in High Fidelity engage, they jump off the pages at you. Many novels are written in the first person (in Down, the four leads take turns as the POV) but rarely do authors achieve the level and immersion Hornby consistently reaches; I chose the word “inhabits” previously as an indication of this.
recommended
BillSaysThis 