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Smack Melvin Burgess Books

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Smack Melvin Burgess Books

"Smack" begins with main characters Tar, real name David, and Gemma. They are 16 and 14. They escape abusive, toxic homes by running away and joining a squat. At first, everything is great Freedom from rules, freedom to be together, freedom to be. Then, they join another squat, whose inhabitants all use heroin. It hardly needs explaining what happens from there. It is a story of lives pulled under, and then blown up, by the power of addiction. However, it isn't just "isn't everything awful?". We are taken inside each character's mind and heart as they try to make sense of what's going both inside and outside of themselves. The reader will fall in love with some, or all, of them, as their lives are laid out, bare and raw, nothing held back. But, there is joy, too. Babies are born. Bonds are broken and remade. Several years go by in all of their lives as they go from youngsters to worldly wise men and women. This is storytelling at its finest. Very strongly recommended.


Tags : Amazon.com: Smack (9780380732234): Melvin Burgess: Books,Melvin Burgess,Smack,HarperTeen,0380732238,Literary,Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General,Drug abuse,Drug abuse;Fiction.,England,Fiction,Fiction Literary,Fiction-Literary,Heroin,Heroin;Fiction.,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction Social Issues Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse,Juvenile Fiction Social Issues Runaways,Runaways,Runaways;Fiction.,Social Issues - Drugs, Alcohol, & Substance Abuse,Social Issues - Runaways,TEEN'S FICTION - GENERAL,United States,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)

Smack Melvin Burgess Books Reviews

In an attempt to liven up the content of my classroom library, I have been reading several young adult novels this summer. When I started this one, I felt that the first person narration was a little slow. I worried that students might lose interest or become confused by the multiple narrative technique. As I continued to read my opinion changed. Characters started to come alive on the pages. The world of heroin addiction was depicted in an unforgetable manner. The images that will stick with me the longest are those of "Sunny" the innocent baby of Rob (maybe) and Lily. Gemma describes that the baby's eyes are "glassy" and the baby is already a "junkie". Lily uses heroin on the baby's gums when he's fussy or teething. Also, heroin is transferred to the baby through Lily's breastmilk. Gemma remarks that "Sunny is such a good and quiet baby." Of course he is! He is stoned!! All the other characters chose heroin, the baby did not. I believe that students can learn a lot from this novel (including English slang).
I enjoy reading a lot these days and from the reviews I read about this book before buying it I thought why not. So it was a slow start but finally about 1/2 thru got interesting.
Without giving anything away each chapter is based on one of the characters from the book.
Usually is will take me less then a week to read a really great book and the truth is I was happy when I finally finished last night.
Would I suggest to read it maybe depending on the person but I have read much better books about drug addiction, etc.
I want to end off by saying also some of the words you might not be familiar with because it is based from a different country so that takes a little time to get used to and there is a glossary in the back of the book for what the words mean.
There is a chapter of another book in the back that Melvin Burgess also wrote and that seems like a better read. Hope this was helpful and happy reading to all!!
I have never smoked, drank or done any type of drugs but when I read the description of this book I thought it sounded pretty interesting. Get a little insight how some people end up where they are.

When reading this book I thought, yea, I bet there are TONS of kids who think running away will solve all their problems but that is so far from the truth. And what some kids think are 'problems' are really not problems at all. I think this book would probably be a good read for kids or teenagers who like to party, think their parents have too many rules or that running away would be a blast.

While I did enjoy the book I think it was lacking details. I like a book that is extremely detailed but I didn't feel this book was detailed enough.
Being a forensics nurse, working in correctionals, I am always searching for information about heroin and other drugs. I was intitially intrigued with this story line as it seemed to represent the beginning of the disease itself. Heroin is huge now in America, with most of my female inmates intimately familiar with the drug. This novel was targeted for Young Adults, which I have some reservations about. It romanticized the process more than I feel is appropriate. The issue of runaways is important, however I rarely see them so well taken care of. Usually they are brutally exploited, where the characters in this novel were fortunate to fall into the hands of indivduals that tried to protect them. There is alot of content to consider. This is not a book that relates a huge source of information about heroin abuse, it is more of a peripheral story of many social situations affecting youngsters and those that never stop living on the fringes of danger and decadence.
As SLJ had said "Powerful and calculated... Smack is not a lecture to be yawned through. IT'S A SLAP IN THE FACE." Smack goes into other aspects of drug addictions that many other books don't deal with, like how there is a major focus on squatting, and at the end of the book there is a note on squatting. The note on squatting also explains how it's not illegal in the UK like it is in other countries. The book shows how the characters deal with the repercussions associated with their addiction, such as stealing. The book uses many english slang terms and has a glossary to help you with some of the slang, which is very helpful for those who don't really understand the english slang. I have learned many things from Smack and many things I would have never even imagined. Smack is literally a slap in the face that will leave you thinking about it for days.
The first time I read this, I was in my early teens. It popped into my head sporadically one day a couple years ago, and I hunted it down on . I've read it a number of times since, and, though it's for young adults, it's as gripping to me now as it was then. The scenes described unfold in my mind as I read, and I develop and re-develop relationships with Tar and Gemma over and over until I feel almost empty when I reach the last page and have to say goodbye (temporarily). Even though I'm in my late twenties now, I feel like they've aged with me even though they're still the youths they've always been in the pages. Beautifully written, jarringly raw, and emotionally harrowing.
"Smack" begins with main characters Tar, real name David, and Gemma. They are 16 and 14. They escape abusive, toxic homes by running away and joining a squat. At first, everything is great Freedom from rules, freedom to be together, freedom to be. Then, they join another squat, whose inhabitants all use heroin. It hardly needs explaining what happens from there. It is a story of lives pulled under, and then blown up, by the power of addiction. However, it isn't just "isn't everything awful?". We are taken inside each character's mind and heart as they try to make sense of what's going both inside and outside of themselves. The reader will fall in love with some, or all, of them, as their lives are laid out, bare and raw, nothing held back. But, there is joy, too. Babies are born. Bonds are broken and remade. Several years go by in all of their lives as they go from youngsters to worldly wise men and women. This is storytelling at its finest. Very strongly recommended.