Rating: 
Summary: Excellent honest writing
Review: Smack is a gritty novel about the agonies and ecstacies of herion addition. Two British teens run away because they feel cramped by their parents and live a life on the streets. Becoming squatters, they must resort to a life of crime to support their new habit. A tragic and realistic story, told in many different voices. Pair with the White Horse by Cynthia D. Grant and Beauty Queen Linda Glovach by for a great book discussion.
Rating: 
Summary: More than a heroin story
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: amazing reality
Review: the book was a complete smack in the face. it told a lot about what's going on on the streets without lecturing. i liked the way that it showed the reality of how street life is, not just sleeping in doorways and having nothing. they got on really well and i recommend it to anyone who likes a little action.
Rating:
Summary: Dandelion
Review: Goodness, this had to be the best book I have ever(EVER) read. There are few books that I can just pick up and actually get into. This was one of the few for sure. What suprised me really was that it was in my shcool library, though I really wouldn't put that past my school, were one big smack house any way. To the point. This was really a great book. It talks about drugs, and it really infroms you about the stuff it doesn't just say "Oh well he got dizzy" it explains how the person felt. I love how every chapter is a diffrent person talking, it's never the author talking about that person(sept in the first chapter), it's a person talking about themselves. This is just a great book, I loved it, though I got very angry with the ending. I'm still mad about it. ;0) READ THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Was, Is, Will be. Amen.
Review: The endless denials, the endless spin on the inevitable descent, hiding raw selfishness behind so much grandiose garbage, the rationalization of dealing out so much hurt, the casual cruelties, god this one rings so true. I saw this one from the outside for real. Experienced the typical user arrogance of "You ain't using? You can't understand, man." A refrain they dodged behind to justify so much inhumane and inhuman behavior. Personalities ripped right away and replaced by nothing at all; a void. I'd look at these people I loved and see reminders of what was; living and breathing gravestones walking around, meat placeholders rotting away, the light inside long dead, almost buried. But you know, so many survived and survive. Still stripped down and hollowed out. Gone away. Lost in time. Memories. Now just going through the motions, empty gestures with names like John or Bobby or Kris or Lara. This book brings it all back. Different time; different place. But jesus, the song stays the same, you know? This gave more to me than it ever would to them or those on the brink of this experience, the experience of corroding everything you are with a poison that feeds your brain liquid lies bringing you beyond orgasm while it rips your life from you one layer at a time while those you never allowed yourself to know loved you so hard and so much helplessly stand by and watch this chemical carnage, watch as everything beautiful about you is flushed down the toilet ... and you sit there squatting, squeezing it out with a smile. Brave work by Burgess, here. He cried while writing this, cried in a lot of places. I can tell. I know how that works. It finds its way to the art. This one hits the mark.
Rating:
Summary: Get Addicted to Smack!
Review: This is the best book I have read all year. I finished it in less than 24 hours and passed it on to my friend who had it back to me later that day, finished. This is the kind of book that you CANNOT put down. Whenever you have to stop for a few minutes it screams for you to come back and read more. You would think that a book about heroin addicts would get boring but this is not the case. You get to hear from the different perspectives of the addicts, their friends, parents, and local people. Their struggles with different problems is well written. I would definitely reccomend this book to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: Awsome to read if you've ever felt like wanting to run away
Review: The book smack was the best book. I read it three times! I really related to the things that Gemma was going through with her parents. I also think her and tar were very brave. The narrative style is very unique and give a really clear picture. A definate book for everyone to read!
Rating:
Summary: A taste of reality
Review: Im not one to say that this book is reality. But it's not like your other books where either the end is completely trajic and devastating or a "they lived happily ever after." This book gives you a complete different look out on runaways and lets you see life through their eyes for once. It leaves with knowing that sometimes when things seem so down that you can get out it. However it keeps things in perspective and also deals with the harsh realities of living in the streets and being a junkie
Rating:
Summary: great subject matter, but written to appeal to young teens
Review: A good book, dealing mainly around two teenage runaways and their decent into drugs and homelesness. A good plot line, but dissapointlingly too similar to the movie/book Trainspotting. Smack is a definate good read for younger teens, but myself, a sixteen year old, felt it reads like something a 13 year old would write. The over simplifying of word use really took away from the story. If possible, you might want to read Trainspotting, for a very similar story but with a bit moe advanced writing technique.
Rating:
Summary: Smack me
Review: "Smack" was a great book. The writing was good. It was british, but at least there was a glossary. Even though the characters are junkies, dealers and prostitutes, they are all lovable people. The characters posses so much enthusiasm. The book also jump from point of view to point of view from the different characters. There isn't quite the happy ending I hoped for, but everything all falls together in the end, and everyone is happy.
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