Smack

Rating:
Summary: Smack Shows The Progression Of Addiction
Review: SMACK is a great read for teens and adults. What most impressed me was how Mr. Burgess shows the progression of addiction. They won't get hooked if they don't use a needle. They aren't hooked if they can stay off junk for a few days at a time. Their thinking becomes increasingly distorted as the addiction sucks them down. Even after shooting smack, Tar and Gemma still think they have some sort of control. After all, they only share needles with each other.

Tar loves Gems more than life itself, and they share everything. Towards the end, when she is sick in withdrawal, his love for heroin is stronger. After all, he only has enough for himself. This book is powerful stuff, and shows how an addict's mind works.

I am an adult and thoroughly enjoyed this book. I lent it to a 15 yr. old girl whose boyfriend recently returned from rehab for heroin addiction. When she returned the(paperback)book, the pages were curled and the cover worn. She loved the book, though admitted it made her cry. "It's so true," she said.

Rating:
Summary: I can almost see the movie
Review: I recently saw the movie Requiem for a dream. The movie is about the downward spiral of addiction between a mother and her son. while reading this novel I continued to put both the movie and the book together. Of course you do not have to see Requiem for a dream in order to read this novel or even to feel the power of this book. I bought this book because of the subject matter. I was unaware that it was labeled "young adult" and that title put me off a bit. I preferibly like to read books that are hard to read and at the end you feel like you have accomplished something. Smack is an easy read, but is written amazingly. Melvin Burgess does a superb job building his characters and writing from each person's perspective. Each chapter is another character's first account of each situation. When i first began reading, I thought to myself...well this won't be a challenge anyone with a 3rd grade reading level could read this, but the way Burgess writes is amazing.

The story is about 2 teenage runaways. Gemma and Tar are lovebirds, each escape from a horrible home life. Tar was abused by his fater and both of his parents were alcoholics. Gemma's parents controlled every part of her life. Her father dropped and picked her up from school and even went as far as to tell her boss at work that she could no longer work there.

Together they "squat" in abadoned houses and flats and that is when their downward spiral begins with heroin. The situations that each of the characters find themselves in really broke my heart. the bad choices they made and the consequences that never seemed to come for them. I found it amazing the way the characters could never see the harm in heroin or the way they denied it. One minute they would be talking about getting clean and the next minute they would be chatting about where they would score again. Amazing work by Burgess.

The love story between Gemma and Tar was amazing. The outcome i was a little let down, but overall nothing is ever as perfect as we would like it to be.

The part of this book that really moved me almost to tears was the 2nd to last chapter where tar's dad is the subject. He looks back on his life and compares his life to tar's. Having a hard life of my own...it really made me look at how parents, no matter how bad of a parent they were can still find their heart.

Overall: I would recommend this book to anyone that would like to see where drug addiction gets you. A close friend of mine became a heroin addict and because of this book i can almost see a glimpse of what his life must have been like on the streets. We all make choices in life and the choice to become a drug addict is a sad and painful story to read or see. Such a powerful piece of literature.

Rating:
Summary: not just a book about addiction
Review: When u start this book your automatic reaction is that this book was writin by a drug conciler and that its got to be bad but then u start seeing how you can connect yourself to the different characters in the book. This book is about two young 14 year olds who run away from home and all the trouble they face. each chapter of the book is writin by a different character so u can see all the different points of view. Smack is about herion and how addictive it is and it shows how it mess's up everything in your life. i would reccomend this book to any who likes books about teenagers or problems.

Rating:
Summary: Not a lecture to sleep through
Review: Smack is not a boring lecture to sleep through. It doesn't say, drugs are bad, or, dono't do drugs one hit will get you hooked forever. Actually there is one part in this book where one of the narrators(Lily)tells you that drugs aren't bad and you won't get addicted.
This book is like no other book I have ever read. Every chapter switches the narrator from different characters so you can see the story from different perspectives.
Smack is about a boy (Tar) and a girl (Gemma) who run away from home for two different reasons. Tar ran away from home because of physical abuse on him by his father. And Gemma ran away because her parents had created so many ridiculous rules she felt she couldn't breathe under their roof. At first they take residsents with squatters (people who acquire abandoned buildings and live there illegally). From there they meet Lily and Rob and through them they get introduced to heroine.
I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of twelve due to its harsh language, sexuality strong drug use, and teenage prostitution.
STUNNING!

Rating:
Summary: Smack
Review: This book is about a two teenagers, Gemma and "Tar." Tar runs away from his abusive alcoholic parents. Gemma starts to feel her parents give her too many restrictions. She runs away to be with Tar and they find a squat to live in inhabited by punk anarchists. But, Gemma meets Lily and Rob and because she feels her life is boring, she and Tar start living with them. Unfortunately, Lily and Rob experiment with drugs and soon, Gemma and Tar do too. The experimentation quickly descends into a junkie lifestyle when Gemma and Lily end up becoming prostitutes to feed their addiction to heroin.
I liked about the book that it seemed realistic. It didn't seem to have to exaggerate to make people not want to drugs. It didn't preach about how horrible drugs were. It felt more like an honest portrayal of addiction. The character development was excellent. I like that the story was told through the eyes of different characters. Each characters attitude and view of things differed. Although, at times, this made the story confusing. In the beginning things moved at a good pace, but towards the latter middle, it seemed like they'd just casually mentioned important events. Overall, I gave this book a three. I'd only recommend this book to a teenager, because it is a book written for teens. It's not terribly complicated.

Rating:
Summary: could have been better
Review: the book starts off slow and then gets all jumbled in the mind of this teenage girl that had NO idea of what she wants. She cares about herself and not too many others. She has a messed up home life and runs away to make everything easier for herself and ends up only making things worse.

Rating:
Summary: teens, anarchy, and junk
Review: SMACK is a suspenseful novel about two children in search of themselves. The main characters in this book are David (also known as Tar) and Gemma, both 14 years old. Tar's abusive family influences his decision to run away, and his girlfriend Gemma decides that her family has been too rough on her as well. Tar leaves at first, and later Gemma decides to join him. Living on the streets, Tar meets a tobacconist, Skolly, who helps him start out his new life. Together with Vonny, Richard, and Jerry, Tar squats a house, and later becomes part of a new anarchist, punk group, consisting of his housemates. When Gemma comes to join Tar, she realizes that this was the life that she's wanted, and she makes new friends (Lily and Rob), who unfortunately don't make the right decisions in the sense that they experiment with Heroin and other drugs, as well as with sex. Just like everything else, it comes to an end, and they have to suffer the consequences.
If you want a book that you just can't put down, SMACK is a great one at that. It's an exciting novel. This book teaches a valuable lesson. The fun thing to do is not always the good thing to do. To most children out there, that think life cannot get any worse than it is now, you should really read this book. It'll relate to your outlook on life. As SLI puts it, "Powerful and calculated...Smack is not a lecture to be yawned through. It's a slap in the face."

(...)

Rating:
Summary: Smack
Review: Smack is book about two teenagers, who live in Bristol, England, and like all teenagers are at an awkward and confusing age. Tar is being beat by his alcoholic father, while Gemma's parents are making every rule they can to try to get Gemma to change, including being ban from seeing Tar. Tar cannot stand the beatings he is getting and runs away from home. After awhile Gemma gets fed up with her parents and decides to run away too. Out on their own Gemma and Tar live with drug users and are introduced to different drugs. They become addicted and don't know what to do, they go through all kinds of different experiences good and bad. Tar and Gemma have to decide what to do about their lives and have a hard time doing it. I love this book and recomend it to all teens and also to people who like to read. READ IT!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: An intense novel... *CAN....NOT.....STOP....READING!*
Review: (...) P>This book is intense, its great, its real. Though the book isnt a true story, the events of it are ever so real. Based around the 80's with punks, heroine, and squatting, this book is a keeper. Tar and Gemma are meant for each other. They love each other. But they dont love their familys. Tar, coming from an abusive family, decides to run away and offers for Gemma to join him; Gemma, with no real problems except for over-protective parents decides to leave with Tar for life on the streets. Tar and Gemma are introduced to a group of anarchists and 'squat' with them for a while. Soon after a party, Tar and Gemma have different priorites. After meeting Rob and Lilly, Tar and Gemma are thrown into a whirlwind of Heroine, Prostitution, and Sunflowers. The kids, who began thinking they were strong, rapidly are swallowed into a big black whole of death and heroine. Heroine, heroine, heroine, its all they think about. HEROINE. Desperate, after an unexpected surprise from Lilly, they try to stop. Heroine has got them though, they are hooked and cant get out. Everyone falls apart... life seems meaningless and after Gemma finds out a surprise, she is determained to get off it. Tar and Gemma are weak; but after reading this, you seem to be weak too... it seems as if you lived with them. You can not put it down. you just cant.

Rating:
Summary: Smack; A Must Read!
Review: Smack is a wonderful book. It has everything to do with drugs, running away from home, teen pregnancy, theft, and relationships. I love how the book is narrated. Different chapters are told by different people. It really lets you see different sides and points of the book. Smack shows how bad it is to get addicted to heroin and how hard it is to get out.
In Smack, there are lots of runaways. Tar, Gemma, Lily, and Rob are four of the major characters in the book. Every once in a while, someone will call home to their parents. The book shows the arguments that go on between parents and children.
I love this book, and I love how you can learn from make-believe characters' mistakes before making your own. It really relates to teen life. I recommend Smack to every teenager across America!