Smack

Rating:
Summary: Another boring book...
Review: Much like Pure Sunshine (Brian James, PUSH), this book focuses on druggie teenagers. However, this shows life after and somewhat before the addiction. It also demonstrates the dangers of heroin and other highly-addicting drugs.
I had the impression that Melvin Burgess was trying a little bit too hard to make his writing sound up-to-date. While the subculture references were somewhat dated and stale, he did manage to infuse the typical Punk anarchist mindset quite well.
The book started to become quite lacking during the middle, and because of this it only gets a 3.

Rating:
Summary: it was GREAT
Review: I am 14 years old and eger to learn about new things. smack was a learning expeireince in its own, I loved it. It is one of my favorite books. It is written in entry form and so it gives you perspective on each carecture, so it was always interesting. There are always new charectures and there are always new problems. It really shows you what herion can do to you. I loved the book!

Rating:
Summary: Smacked Out!
Review: Smack struck me by surprise. I never thought this book was going to be so excellent. When I first started to read this book, I felt I was bored, but it wasn't even like that. Tar and Gemma were two 14-year-old runaways, with nothing to do and no one to help. They squatted a home and began to start their own lives, with the help of some very nice people who cared a lot about them. Then Lily and Rob came along. When they first introduced these characters, I thought they were in their late 20's, when in fact they were only sixteen. I also thought Lily was a non-junkie when she came to that party, like she was a nature girl. She was everything but that, it all unfolded later in the book. Towards the end, the climax was the highest. With Lily having a baby on smack, to Skolly driving by and seeing someone carried out of Tar and Gems house on a stretcher, to Gems telling on everyone and going back home. Things weren't at all what I expected, and that's what kept my interests so high in the book. I hate it when I can determine how a book is going to end. I thought Tar would never get another girlfriend, and I never thought Gemma would go back home, it sounded like she hated it so much but she really had no choice. The part that shocked me the most would be the chapter when Tar's dad is talking. Tar even talked to him...Whoa! He is so sensitive, after tar ran away his life fell apart (lost his wife and job to booze) and there was nothing left for him. He just wants Tar as a son so he can at least have something there. He knows his past life was horrible and he made it that way but he is willing to give it time. Tar cant quite forgive him but he took a big step by talking to him. I loved this book and the whole plot of it. The climax was great and it was also very informative. Smack informs others of how life with herion is, and its not good. It changes everything about you and your whole lifestyle. This was an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Smacked Out
Review: Smack struck me by surprise. I never thought this book was going to be so excellent. When I first started to read this book, I felt I was bored, but it wasnt even like that. Tar and Gemma were two 14 year old runaways, with nothing to do and no one to help. They squatted a home and began to start their own lives, with the help of some very nice people who cared a lot about them. Then Lily and Rob came along. When they first inroduced these characters, I thought they were in their late 20's, when in fact they were only sixteen. I also thought Lily was a non-junkie when she came to that party, like she was a nature girl. She was everything but that, it all unfolded later in the book. Towards the end, the climax was the highest. With Lily having a baby on smack, to Skolly driving by and seeing someone carried out of Tar and Gems house on a strecher, to Gems telling on everyone and going back home. Things werent at all what I expected, and thats what kept my intrests so high in the book. I hate it when I can determine how a book is going to end. I thought Tar would never get another girlfriend, and I never thought Gemma would go back home, it sounded like she hated it so much but she really had no choice. The part that shocked me the most would be the chapter when Tar's dad is talking. Tar even talked to him...Woah! He is so sensitive, after tar ran away his life fell apart(lost his wife and job to booze) and there was nothing left for him. He just wants Tar as a son so he can at least have something there. He knows his past life was horrible and he made it that way but he is willing to give it time. Tar cant quite forgive him but he took a big step by talking to him. I loved this book and the whole plot of it. The climax was great and it was also very informative. Smack informs others of how life with herion is, and its not good. It changes everthing about you and your whole lifestyle. This was an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Smack is addictive indeed!
Review: This book is exceptionally written and a perfect example of street life! Wow, Melvin Burgess is extremely honest and DEFINITELY OUTGOING in this book! A story about a boy (Tar) and a girl (Gemma) who run away for two seperate reasons: Tar runs away because he gets knocked around by his father and Gemma runs away because she despises her life in Miney,England. They run away to Bristol and end up in a squat (an abandoned home for the homeless). They soon meet Rob and Lily and are introduced to what is the title of the book "smack" or heroin. But did they make a mistake because they ran away? Were they oblivious? Find out in "Smack". I recommend this book for people in the grades 8-10 because of the content (sex, drugs, language etc.) But this book still is amazing! Equipped with a glossary for British slang, I give it 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Smack
Review: "Smack" is a brutally honest introspective into street life and the lifestyle that those living it embrace. The book chronicles Gemma and Tar, a couple of English teens that decide flee their dysfunctional homelives for a life of freedom and excitement. The two aimless teenagers, move to Bristol where they take up residence in a squat (abandoned house where homeless people live)with other runaways of a similar background. Tar and Gemma are well off for a time, they party, go to concerts, and live the freedom drenched life they've craved for years. There is always a little drug use. A little weed here, some alchohal there,and that's where it stops. That is untill the night they meet Rob and Lily. The couple moves in with Lily and Rob where heroin is intrduced to them. Over time the four friends go from casual users to addicted junkies. Among the most memorable scenes is the grim instance when Rob and Tar enter another squat to collect on some heroin and come across the two inhabitants. They are both lifeless next to eacthother on the floor blueish in color with needles dangling from their arms. However the real shock is delivered when Rob and Tar go through the place untill they find the smack, and Rob makes the comment "It's probably dead pure", nodding to his two dead friends as he and Tar laugh. The grip of the life draining drug tightens and tightens as the story progresses. Gemma and Lily work on the street corners for whatever employer rolls up willing to give money to sustain their junkie lifestyle. Tar and Rob shoplift, deal, and sell. The friends attempt to kick the drug again and again with no success. "Smack" tells of desperate measures that are taken by ignorant teens in their attempt to escape. They want to escape from restriction, abuse, and neglect. In their excitement they stumble upon something they believe to be helpful in this goal. They are painfully mistaken as their attempt to escape results in imprisonment unlike any they have ever expierienced.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book which can change your life
Review: this book is a wonderful example of life! It doesnt lecture it only states facts and how life can change all of the sudden! I totally related to Gemma in all ways: parents who are controlling imposing rules, boyfriend which gets hooked up on drugs. I am telling you, read this book and you will remember it for the rest of your life, all my questions are answered in this book. At first i need to tell you, the book starts with:ahdrugs are cool, blablah then before you notice it changes around. Sex, jail, police all involvedyoureally think twice before doing anything stupid in your life
this book helpedmegothrough bad times and now most of the people i KNOW have read it
what can I say? this book is great, inspiring and very well written!

Rating:
Summary: My Opinion
Review: This book is not only about two runaways from their home life. It is about the alienation that your environment has on you. You can tell when Burgess puts a chapter coming from a girls veiw (Lilly's) that in the chapter afterwords the other girl (gemma) is acting almost identical to lilly. It is about people who need love from others to survive, and people who dont understand their weakness.

Rating:
Summary: very moving
Review: When i first started reading this book, i stopped half way through cos i found it too depressing. But then i found i just had to keep reading...it's basically about tar and gemma, who just wanna get away from their ordinary lives, and find that they've got a whole lot more than they've bargained for.
i found the characters really realistic, and i understood what they meant. i felt so sad though, especially when one of the characters says that he remembers Tar refusing to smoke cos 'it makes your skin turn grey' and then you see that tar's an addict who'll do anything to get his next hit... and you just feel that its such a shame. lily was a really kool character, its a shame she only gets one chapter.
i think junk's an excellent book, and i'm still thinking bout it, altho i finished it yesterday...

Rating:
Summary: Addictive Substances
Review: Wow. I originally bought this book two years ago. Since then, i've read it at least a thousand times. It never gets old. Well, the plot is outlined fairly well. A boy (Tar/David) and girl(Gemma) run away, but for different reasons. The girl hates her life in boring old Minely, England, the boy is knocked around my his dad, and gets a good mind screw from his mum. They head out to Bristol, and set up in a squat with a few anarchists. These people feel Gemma has nothing to run from, and must find somewhere else to go, as a goodbye present, they throw her a party. A grand old party, where a magical girl, Lily, shows up to show Gemma that she's alright. Her bloke, Rob, is there too. In the end, Tar runs with the anarchists to set up yet another squat. At this point, Lily and Rob convince Gemma to go with them. Tar loves Gemma, and comes around to his senses and moves in with Rob and Lily. Then, the smack comes in. The addictive chasing of the dragon that they follow, day after day after day after day. It's not about the drugs, it's about being free, at their age, in their own place, without the world telling them what to do. they sit around and scream "sod off to the world if you don't like us!" It's not about growing up like their mummies and daddies want them to. Gemma is the most detailed about why she does it, but it's because smack, isn't a drug. It isn't what it seems. It's a lifestyle, that when you finish with the book, you understand, you know now what harm can be accomplished. but yet, while reading it, you're just another junkie, hooked to the addictive smack, or rather, the story.