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Lush
It's hard to be a 13-yr-old girl. But it's even harder when your father's a drunk. It adds an extra layer to everything -- your family's reactions to things, the people you're willing to bring home, the way you see yourself and the world. For Samantha, it's something that's been going on for so long that she's almost used to it. Only, you never get used to it. Especially w
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Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
November 1st 2006
by Scholastic
(first published January 1st 2006)
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The title of this book is Lush by. Natasha Friend. I enjoyed reading this story. The setting of this story takes place at Sam’s house but some other events occur at the library and school. The main characters are Samantha also known as Sam, Luke Sam’s little brother, Sam’s dad and Sam’s mom. This is what the story is about.
Samantha’s father is a terribly bad drinker and she hates it about him. She hides this from all her friends but she feels it’s time to tell someone. Sam goes to the library a...more
Samantha’s father is a terribly bad drinker and she hates it about him. She hides this from all her friends but she feels it’s time to tell someone. Sam goes to the library a...more
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I like this book a lot. I think it is writen very well and it kept me wanting to read and read.
For kids who have parents who have alcoholic problems,should read this!!
227 pages
Realistic Fiction
Natasha Friend
This book is about a girl named Samantha, who is living the life of a middle school girl. Shes going through the drama, the boys, and the effort to keep her grades at a good point. But, on top of that, she is also dealing with her alcoholic father, her brother and mom, whom fight alot. She has her gropup of best friends, but she does not like to share the fact that her dad has serious problems, and comes home in the middle of the night crashing and screami...more
Realistic Fiction
Natasha Friend
This book is about a girl named Samantha, who is living the life of a middle school girl. Shes going through the drama, the boys, and the effort to keep her grades at a good point. But, on top of that, she is also dealing with her alcoholic father, her brother and mom, whom fight alot. She has her gropup of best friends, but she does not like to share the fact that her dad has serious problems, and comes home in the middle of the night crashing and screami...more
Lush
Lush is about this girl named Samantha where she feels like her and her brother are the only normal ones in the family. her mom is a yoga freak where she goes to yoga 24-7, her dad is an alcoholic and crazy to the head. He was drunk one night and hit samanthas little brother with a broken beer bottle. Samantha has been holding this secrete through the whole book. towards the ending samantha has found this yearbook in the library where the librarian won’t let samantha take the book because s...more
Lush is about this girl named Samantha where she feels like her and her brother are the only normal ones in the family. her mom is a yoga freak where she goes to yoga 24-7, her dad is an alcoholic and crazy to the head. He was drunk one night and hit samanthas little brother with a broken beer bottle. Samantha has been holding this secrete through the whole book. towards the ending samantha has found this yearbook in the library where the librarian won’t let samantha take the book because s...more
I would recommend the Novel Lush by Natasha Friend because the book was engaging, funny at times, and very well written. There were mature themes. I would recommend the book to anyone older then 13 years of age because of the mature themes, however, its perfectly appropriate for 7th and 8th graders.
Some reasons why my claim is true are the language and word choice throughout the book, the suspense and the Imagery.
My book was about a girl Named Sam. She is 13 years old and had 4 best friends. E...more
Some reasons why my claim is true are the language and word choice throughout the book, the suspense and the Imagery.
My book was about a girl Named Sam. She is 13 years old and had 4 best friends. E...more
Nov 01, 2012
Cflower
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who around the age of 13 who like books with heavy topics.
Recommended to Cflower by:
I found this book at the library.
Shelves:
1st-quater
This is an amazing book about a thirteen-year-old girl named Samantha whose dad is a drunk, or lush. She has a mom who is obsessed with yoga, and a little four-year-old brother named Luke who is unaware of how extreme her father's drinking problem is. Samantha is scared to ever have any friends over, because she never knows is her father will be sober or drunk. His addiction gets worse, and he tells her he will stop drinking. Samantha has a system where she checks all of the bottles that her fat...more
Book level: 3.2
Points: 5.0
We first meet Sam, the 13-year-old main character, as she examines her drunken father who is passed out in a plate of lasagna. She offers some sage advice for us if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation. "Flip on the light in the upstairs hall. Flip it off. Flip it on again. Do this until he finally lifts his head...until you can see that he hasn't suffocated on ricotta cheese." Her disgust for her father's behavior coupled with her desire to ensure he's safe ca...more
Points: 5.0
We first meet Sam, the 13-year-old main character, as she examines her drunken father who is passed out in a plate of lasagna. She offers some sage advice for us if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation. "Flip on the light in the upstairs hall. Flip it off. Flip it on again. Do this until he finally lifts his head...until you can see that he hasn't suffocated on ricotta cheese." Her disgust for her father's behavior coupled with her desire to ensure he's safe ca...more
Lush is a great book, and honestly, I don't think younger kids should read it. That's like a definite no.
Since I want everybody to get interested in this book, I'll tell you why I got interested in this book by Natasha Friend first.
I liked the cover of PERFECT by Natasha Friend (In this case, Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover does not work) so I read it, and I loved it. I went on Natasha's website, and found Lush. Don't ya just LOVE the cover?
I don't know about you, but I do, so I read it.
Its ab...more
Since I want everybody to get interested in this book, I'll tell you why I got interested in this book by Natasha Friend first.
I liked the cover of PERFECT by Natasha Friend (In this case, Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover does not work) so I read it, and I loved it. I went on Natasha's website, and found Lush. Don't ya just LOVE the cover?
I don't know about you, but I do, so I read it.
Its ab...more
I gave this book 3 stars because I didn't really like it. Well, I actually hated the ending. It's because I think there's something lacking. The author failed to connect all the dots in the end, which I am not impressed at all. The book is kinda like a diary of a girl named Samantha.
Samantha was ashamed and mad of his alcoholic dad and he just wanted him to stop drinking. His dad promised him (for so many times) that he'd stop but he never had. And because of him being drunk, he accidentally hit...more
Samantha was ashamed and mad of his alcoholic dad and he just wanted him to stop drinking. His dad promised him (for so many times) that he'd stop but he never had. And because of him being drunk, he accidentally hit...more
Sam's fed up, and rightly so. Her dad is a boozer--a lush. He constantly makes promises he can't keep and disappoints the family on a daily basis. He's the last person Sam can count on. Still, she keeps his secret and never invites a friend over for fear that they may find out her family secret, even when her father does something terrible. Out of desperation Sam decides to leave a note in the library anonymously asking for help from a high school student. She gets an answer, but not exactly as...more
Oct 23, 2011
bjneary
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
realistic-fiction,
ya
Lush was such a thin book that packed alot of punch! Samantha is an 8th grader who is struggling mightily to keep her father's drinking a secret from her friends. He keeps promising Sam he will stop, her mother copes by doing yoga and her little 4 year old brother Luke is a bundle of activity like anyone his age. Sam is one tough girl, she has friends who protect her from the guys who loudly comment on her chest size, she is constantly irritated with her mother's "your father loves you" every ti...more
When I first picked up this book I thought it might have been an easy read because it was short and the words were big. When I started reading it though, I realized there was a deeper meaning, and if I really thought about it, I could get inside the main character, Samantha's, head. The background of this book was that Samantha has an alcoholic dad who won't admit to his problem. She knows he has a problem, and hates him because of that. When she writes a letter to an anonymous person in the lib...more
13-year-old Samantha's father is an alcoholic. Although he's a successful architect, he spends most of his life drunk. Sam's mom ignores the problem, her friends don't know about it, and her kid brother is too young to understand. With her father getting worse, the boys at school constantly harassing her, and no one to talk to about her problems, Sam decides to leave a note asking for advice in a library. Will anyone find it and be able to help her make sense of the mess her life is in?
I've rea...more
I've rea...more
Sam has trouble at home: her father is an alcoholic, but nobody is truly admitting it, and her father always swears he’s going to change. This means Sam has to hide her home life from her friends, teachers and the world at large, for as her Nana puts it, they can’t be sharing their dirty laundry with everyone. Things are starting to get really hard for Sam, though, and she decides to try to find an anonymous friend and starts writing notes and leaving them in the library. Eventually, her father...more
Lush by Natasha Friend was a very fascinating book. Lush is about a thirteen year old girl named Samantha. Of course, it is hard being a teenager and having to deal with responsibilities, school, friends, and family. Samantha goes through all of this as every teenager would. However, she also has to deal with the fact that her father is an alcoholic. She wants to have a father who she can talk to and play around with. Instead, she is stuck with her alcoholic father that is barely there for her...more
Sierra Calhoun
810
June 2, 2002
Reading Response
The book entitled Lush by Natasha Friend was a very interesting book that shows just how much alcoholism can negatively affect a family. It really captured the downside of alcohol abuse. It is a book that everyone should read, especially young teens because I believe that teenagers sometimes have the wrong idea about drinking and what it can do to a person.
In the story, the father in the family is an alcoholic. His alcoholism causes tremendous pain...more
810
June 2, 2002
Reading Response
The book entitled Lush by Natasha Friend was a very interesting book that shows just how much alcoholism can negatively affect a family. It really captured the downside of alcohol abuse. It is a book that everyone should read, especially young teens because I believe that teenagers sometimes have the wrong idea about drinking and what it can do to a person.
In the story, the father in the family is an alcoholic. His alcoholism causes tremendous pain...more
This book was a very insightful book that exposes many issues that are present in today's society. For one the main character's father is an alcoholic. He is never there for her and she herself behaves in a way that shows how a parent's behavior can and does affect their offspring. Also it shows a desperate mother in search of a way out of a situation she put herself in when she was younger. She is realizing that some of the decisions she made when she was younger are affecting her life now. Th...more
Lucky
I picked this book because it caught my attention since I read the back cover. The fact that it was a fiction book was what first made me interested in it and what made pick this book to read. I kept reading this book till the end because this was a tough time for this girl and to think she tried to go through this along and to trust a stranger with her family problems was brave and made me want to know how it ended. This book kind of gave me a little push as too get closer to a friend, I n...more
I picked this book because it caught my attention since I read the back cover. The fact that it was a fiction book was what first made me interested in it and what made pick this book to read. I kept reading this book till the end because this was a tough time for this girl and to think she tried to go through this along and to trust a stranger with her family problems was brave and made me want to know how it ended. This book kind of gave me a little push as too get closer to a friend, I n...more
Samantha's dad is a drunk. She's thirteen, she doesn't know what to do about it. She keeps it a secret from everyone.
Well when her father starts to get worse and worse, finally hitting her little brother Luke with a bottle, and causing him to have to go to the hospital and get 24 stitches, Sam starts to hate him.
Patrick (Sam's father) is sent to a rehab center. Sam doesn't exactly miss him. She needs someone to tell, though. Just someone. So she writes notes and leaves them in a book in the pub...more
Well when her father starts to get worse and worse, finally hitting her little brother Luke with a bottle, and causing him to have to go to the hospital and get 24 stitches, Sam starts to hate him.
Patrick (Sam's father) is sent to a rehab center. Sam doesn't exactly miss him. She needs someone to tell, though. Just someone. So she writes notes and leaves them in a book in the pub...more
I read Perfect by the same author as well and like it so I wanted to read her other book. Samantha Gywnn is the daughter of an alcoholic father and she tries to help her dad. She writes notes to a friend who gives her advice o what she should do. "How do you-? 'Well. I just stopped myself from asking the stupidest question in the universe. How do you know what I need right now? The answer is so obvious I want to smack myself. Right now, I am my father." This quote called my attention because I t...more
I have never read anything by Natasha Friend before (though, apparently, she's written lots of other things.) Honestly, I think this book was amazing and moving and heartbreaking. It will definitely make me pick up another book by her (and I bought this one at a library book sale for $1, so it was a great buy for me.)
Samantha, or Sam, is our main character and has been hiding her drunk father all her life. What's worse, her mother seems to be in denial about the whole situation and her grandmoth...more
Samantha, or Sam, is our main character and has been hiding her drunk father all her life. What's worse, her mother seems to be in denial about the whole situation and her grandmoth...more
Lush is an espiring book that any girl can relate. She has a big probelm, her father is an alcoholic. All she want's to do is help him out and keep her family together. Not knowing what to do since she's tried everything. She goes for a random person for advice.
I give this book 5 stars because the conflict and wording used in this book Lush really made me want to keep reading and not put it down.
"It's been a week since my dad's one drink-tops pledge, and I have been checking the bottles dai...more
I give this book 5 stars because the conflict and wording used in this book Lush really made me want to keep reading and not put it down.
"It's been a week since my dad's one drink-tops pledge, and I have been checking the bottles dai...more
It's hard being a thirteen year old girl. but it's even harder when your father is a drunk. It pretty much effects your whole life, the way your family's reacts to things, the lengths your willing to go to solve your problems, and the way you see yourself in the world. Natasha's book,"Lush" vaccumed me in with believable characters and real-life situations making it one of my favorite books of all time.
Natasha's style is all over the place, and can make it harder to read. You really need to ge...more
Natasha's style is all over the place, and can make it harder to read. You really need to ge...more
Another realistic portrayal of teenagers in a situation beyond their control by Natasha Friend. Much like her previous book, Perfect, a young girl finds herself torn between emotions and unable to figure a way out of it. This time Sam must deal with her father's alcoholic behaviour and her mother's denial.
Sam can't fix her father's problem, even though she wants to. Instead, she finds ways to cope. Writing messages to a stranger in a library, hooking up with a much older guy, and forcing down a...more
Sam can't fix her father's problem, even though she wants to. Instead, she finds ways to cope. Writing messages to a stranger in a library, hooking up with a much older guy, and forcing down a...more
I chose this book because I have read the first one and I wanted to continue reading them all because the first one was really interesting. The plot of this book is about a girl named Sam, her father is alcoholic so she tries to help her father to get over it because it was getting worse by the time. While she tries to help her family she still has to hardship at school and in her social life. My favorite quote from this book was “When you see a small change in your life it means its a huge chan...more
I chose this book because my cousin and many friends had recommended it to me. This book is about this girl named Sam who has a father that is an alcoholic. She tries to help family while still facing the drama of school. A quote I liked was "because it's the first he's mentioned our dad, and the question is not Why did he bash my face in? but When is he coming home?" I liked this quote because it shows that the little brother didn't care about the injuries he had or however his dad messed up an...more
LUSH By Natasha Friend
On a normal Halloween morning Bethany Hamilton decided to go surfing with her best friend Alana, but she didn’t know that decision would change her life forever. Bethany and Alana were just sitting on their board when all of a sudden a huge shark came up from the water and bit Bethany’s arm off She was lucky to live because she lost 60% of her blood and people thought she would probably never surf again. But boy did she prove them wrong! Today she is one of the top ranked...more
On a normal Halloween morning Bethany Hamilton decided to go surfing with her best friend Alana, but she didn’t know that decision would change her life forever. Bethany and Alana were just sitting on their board when all of a sudden a huge shark came up from the water and bit Bethany’s arm off She was lucky to live because she lost 60% of her blood and people thought she would probably never surf again. But boy did she prove them wrong! Today she is one of the top ranked...more
Lush:
The Best Word to Describe My Father
Sam has a secret, and she can’t tell any of her friends. She has to let it out somehow, but doesn’t know how. In Lush, by Natasha Friend, Sam’s father is an alcoholic. Sam doesn’t want to tell any of her friends because she is afraid of what they will think. But, when things at home start getting worse, Sam has to talk to someone about it all. She decides to write notes to a girl in the library and ask for advice. The girl responds, and Sam feels better. T...more
The Best Word to Describe My Father
Sam has a secret, and she can’t tell any of her friends. She has to let it out somehow, but doesn’t know how. In Lush, by Natasha Friend, Sam’s father is an alcoholic. Sam doesn’t want to tell any of her friends because she is afraid of what they will think. But, when things at home start getting worse, Sam has to talk to someone about it all. She decides to write notes to a girl in the library and ask for advice. The girl responds, and Sam feels better. T...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| plot | 4 | 5 | May 13, 2013 01:27pm | |
| I need help !!!!! | 1 | 11 | Sep 03, 2012 12:55pm | |
| YA Reads for Teac...: Lush - Natasha Friend | 5 | 26 | Dec 12, 2011 02:34am | |
| 3rd book? | 7 | 14 | Jul 13, 2011 10:41pm |
A writer and full time mom, Natasha (Tasha, Tash) Friend has taught at the Brearley School in New York City and Ecole Bilingue in Cambridge. She also served as Director of the Brimmer and May Summer Camp in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Her writing has appeared in "Family Fun" magazine and "Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul." Tash lives in Connecticut with her husband and two little boys.
Her...more
More about Natasha Friend...
Her writing has appeared in "Family Fun" magazine and "Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul." Tash lives in Connecticut with her husband and two little boys.
Her...more
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“I want to keep sleeping, but the sun outside my window has other ideas: First blind her. Then jab her eyeballs with scorching-hot daggers.”
—
33 people liked it
“When you see a small change in your life it means its a huge change in personality and your trait”
—
18 people liked it
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