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64th out of 597 books
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2,436 voters
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Smack
An uncompromising, compelling and true-to-life story of two teenagers drawn into the dangerous and destructive world of heroin addiction. This tour de force by an acclaimed and provocative writer should become a definitive teenage novel on this subject.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
May 1st 1999
by HarperTempest
(first published November 14th 1996)
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I’m conflicted about this book.
On the one hard, it’s absolutely brilliant. It really is. It’s slow to start, but after the first chapter I was pulled in and just kept turning page after page. I was desperate to know what happened next. The character voices sang to me – sang to me through the pages.
On the other hand, the subject matter.
I’m not one to mark a book down purely because of the subject matter. This deals with teenager runaways, teenage junkies, spoilt bitches who get ...more
On the one hard, it’s absolutely brilliant. It really is. It’s slow to start, but after the first chapter I was pulled in and just kept turning page after page. I was desperate to know what happened next. The character voices sang to me – sang to me through the pages.
On the other hand, the subject matter.
I’m not one to mark a book down purely because of the subject matter. This deals with teenager runaways, teenage junkies, spoilt bitches who get ...more
Meet Gemma and Tar, two 14 year old friends. Tar is a nice lad, thoughtful, intelligent and full of puppy love for Gemma, but Tar is also the victim of abuse from his parents. Gemma is a devoted friend, likes a good time and is all for helping Tar. She has parents the opposite of Tar's, they care too much and show this bytbeing too stric for Gema's liking. Both end up on the streets of Bristol to escape their parents, fall in love and get involved with fascinating but destructive couple Lily a...more
Two kids, Tar and Gemma, run away from home. Tar runs escape being beaten, Gemma to have freedom she desires. While on the run, They meet other people "on the run". These people introduce them to drugs. From there they all spiral out of control. They try to get clean but they begin to realize that it is alot harder then they ever could have imagined. The question becomes, will they ever be able to get their lives back on track or will their addiction lead them to their death?
A book about a heroin addict. (Yes that's what smack means) so just beware...oh and it's not that crazy at least I don't remember it to be it seems to be made more for a young reader. I want to read it again and will update this review when I do to let y'all know.
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Smack has become a book I will definitely use in my classroom in excerpt form if I get a chance. It is not only a terrifying and touching tale of the effects of Heroine abuse, it is also a book that touches on multiple voice writing, different language and vocabulary used in different cultures, and how understanding what you are getting yourself into can prevent a lot of heartache, pain, and in some instances death.
Smack is the collective stories of several individuals who encounter...more
Smack is the collective stories of several individuals who encounter...more
I'm not entirely sure this should be classified as strictly Young Adult, but out of the several different narrators, most of them are teenagers who age from 14 to 19. It takes place in Bristol (England) in the 1980s, and depicts the lives of young runaways, one of whom, Tar, had a legitimate reason for leaving home and one of whom, Gemma, was basically bored, and didn't like her parents telling her what to do (!). They become heroin addicts and resort to theft and prostitution to keep their habi...more
The genre of this book is a fiction book, I chose it because a friend told me about it and it looked interesting. The way the book is everyone in the book is a protagonist. But the two that the book seems to focus the most on is a 14 year old boy named Tar, and a girl named Gemma. They are a couple that both ran away from home. Tar was being beat by his dad on a regular basis, and Gemma had to deal with controlling parents that thought they owned her. It is set in a city in the UK they both turn...more
This book tells the story of 2 unhappy teenagers living in a small town in England in the 1980s, both unhappy for different reasons - one legitimately and the other mainly due to teenage angst - it is quite a dark story which is not afraid to deal with the controversial issue of drug addiction and the resulting effects on people's lives. It is an engaging story with each chapter telling part of the story from a different characters point of view. The characters, to me anyway, were well-written w...more
Smack by Melvin Burgess was a good book. It satrts of about a girl named Gemma and her boyfriend Tar in the backseat of a car. Tar was just beat up by his father for the last time he said to Gemma. Tar was planning on running away and admitted to her that this would probably be the last time they saw eachother. The next morning when Gemma arrives home her parents are furious to find out that she was out all last night with the boy they forbidded her from seeing. They grounded her immediately and...more
Not sure why, but books and movies about heroin addiction always interest me. So when I saw this book at a local used book store, I had to grab it.
Told from the POVs of several different characters, the story is about two runaways, Gemma and Tar. Tar runs away because he's being beat by his father. Gemma runs away because she wants her freedom. The two first hook up with a group of anarchist squatters but soon meet up with Lily and Rob, two heroin addicts who quickly get Gemma and T...more
Told from the POVs of several different characters, the story is about two runaways, Gemma and Tar. Tar runs away because he's being beat by his father. Gemma runs away because she wants her freedom. The two first hook up with a group of anarchist squatters but soon meet up with Lily and Rob, two heroin addicts who quickly get Gemma and T...more
smack was 4.5 stars very close to 5. i thought it was interesting because it was sort of a different story than I'm used to. but i didn't want to give it 5 because it wasn't really the kind of book I'm into. but i thought the plot was still really good. but the most interesting thing about the story is that it really could happen. if your not careful anyway.
the book takes place around the 1980s or something close to that. its about 2 different people really. but throughout the book...more
the book takes place around the 1980s or something close to that. its about 2 different people really. but throughout the book...more
Smack tells the story of two teens who run away from their homes and become addicted to heroin. It is set in Britain in the mid-1980s, and both the language and context are very much connected to that setting. David, known to his friends as "Tar," has alcoholic parents, and his father is physically abusive. The novel starts when David is 14, and he can no longer bear to live at home where both his mother and father cause him to be miserable in their different ways. He runs away to ...more
I had read this book when I was younger and wanted to read again to see it from an adult perspective and I must say, it was stiall as good as the first time around. Burgess' style of telling each chapter through a differents characters eyes was very insightful and provided a very full and heartfelt story on a very sensitive topic. The story really opens the readers eyes to drug-taking, showing how naiivety and desperation can lead to becoming a 'junkie' and lead to life spiralling out of contr...more
This book is about two runaway teens (Tar and Gemma) who get caught up in the world of drugs, crime, and prostitution. The two main characters start off by living with two anarchists who are relatively mild for people who typically live on the streets. Eventually the two main characters meet some individuals who live a more extreme lifestyle that they're attracted to. Amidst all the partying, sex, and struggle to survive the two get hooked on heroine. This leads them into prostitution and eventu...more
Smack was one of those books that made me miss dinner and not get any of my homework done. It was as addicting as the drug it describes. The story of two runaway lovers and they're tale of the people they met and the adventerous ride of being an addict of herion, and the struggle of getting out of addiction. Tar, a victim of an abusive father, and an alcoholic mother who clings to Tar's side, decides he's had enough and runaways to Bristle, England. Tar is also in love with Gemma, who runs away ...more
Gingerbread, Can Steffie Come out to Play, and Go Ask Alice. If you loved any of these novels containing painfully obnoxious teens who mess up their lives, than you'll love Smack. This would be dangerously promoting drugs if the reader doesn't finish the novel, as the narrators glorify the drugs while they're still enjoying them. A teen picking up the novel, glancing through, or merely not finishing it would be facing the same consequences as all the kids who learned how to purge their meals ...more
I was up a goodly portion of the night reading this book. I didn't mean to be. It's that kind of book, though.
Stark, brilliant and uncompromising, this is the story of a couple of kids who find a life less ordinary in the squats of early 1980s England. They also find heroin and love, though they have a hard time telling the two apart.
The way Burgess moves his reader from the head of one kid into the head of the next is a perfect vehicle to show how their interdependent r...more
Stark, brilliant and uncompromising, this is the story of a couple of kids who find a life less ordinary in the squats of early 1980s England. They also find heroin and love, though they have a hard time telling the two apart.
The way Burgess moves his reader from the head of one kid into the head of the next is a perfect vehicle to show how their interdependent r...more
OK, if you want a kid on drugs to see consequences, this book stands next to Go Ask Alice, though it’s not a true story. It is British, with the rough frankness and assumed amorality of much of British YA fiction. It deals with two young runaways who escape their abusive families to embroil themselves into the world of heroin addiction and homelessness. Their struggle to survive that world, then to extricate themselves from its clutches is unpleasant at best. The novel includes most every ki...more
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The book Smack is about a boy named Tar and a girl named Gemma who are together and both dont like their parents. They want to run away together so they can be together because there parents dont want them together. This book reminds me of a modern day romeo and juliete. I say that because in romeo and juliete both families dont like each other but romeo and juliete still want to be together forever. It is the same in Smack. I say ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I find myself just thinking "meh" about this book--which is pretty good since I HATED it throughout the first half. I found the characters, particularly Gemma, to be shallow and annoying. Basically I wanted to pull my hair out anytime I read a chapter from Gemma's point of view. Looking back though, I'm not sure that I was supposed to like any of the characters. I imagine that a 14-year-old bratty runaway turned drug-addict would probably be pretty close to how Burgess paints Gemma. So...more
I can't say I enjoyed this book so if you want to read it but like really crazy deep dramatic BUT straight forward stories idk if this is your book. Personally I felt that the theme was make the right desicions for YOURSELF. This book took place In about 10 charecters points of view of how a group of teenagers ran away and they all lived with each other. It started as running away. But slowly this unhealthy lifestyle became home and it told the story of a homeless group of people. These kids all...more
Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was still an interesting look at young heroin users and the constant lies they tell themselves as they sink deeper and deeper into addiction.
The story is told from varying perspectives from chapter to chapter. It's basically about two run-away British teenagers (only 14 years old) who are introduced to heroin by another couple of teenagers they become friends with. At first, they only inhale the smoke of burned heroin, telling themselves tha...more
The story is told from varying perspectives from chapter to chapter. It's basically about two run-away British teenagers (only 14 years old) who are introduced to heroin by another couple of teenagers they become friends with. At first, they only inhale the smoke of burned heroin, telling themselves tha...more
i love this book...its about these two teens that run away. the boy named Tar ran away first because his dad beats him, and his girlfriend Gemma decides to run away because she cant stand her family....they get addicted to heroine and a lot of really crazy stuff happens.....
Jamie
rated it
Recommends it for:
No-one. Unless to see how they found it.
Recommended to Jamie by:
Border's book shelf.
First of all, this book seemed to glamorize the world of drugs, and although I am by no way against people using drugs, this book seems to glamorize the use of one of the worst drugs, heroin. The descriptions of it seemed to me like they were trying to sell the idea of heroin as this fantastic substance which makes everyone and anyone happy. Which in the end they found out was hardly the case, however, there was little detail concentrated on the negative aspects of regular usage of heroin in t...more
This is a great story of two young people who make a decision to leave home in their early teens. It follows them over 4 years with the narration being told by themselves and different people they meet, giving different perspectives to their lives and the decisions they make.
It is for mature readers as it includes drug addiction and all the baggage that goes with this, however, it is a story worth reading as it is told with sensitivity and without judgement of how addiction occurs a...more
It is for mature readers as it includes drug addiction and all the baggage that goes with this, however, it is a story worth reading as it is told with sensitivity and without judgement of how addiction occurs a...more
This book gives the reader a riveting look at drug addiction that is both scary and fascinating at the same time. The setting is unforgettable, but it's really the characters that stand out. It's told in first person, alternating between the MC's and sometimes very minor characters, showing that such a thing can be done and done well. Every point of view is so original and yet feels so real at the same time. Sometimes you cheer for the kids, other times you find yourself shaking your head, and s...more
Junk by Melvin Burgess
Original review by Elle
Publication Information: Puffin / 6 Feb 2003 / 336 pages
Format: Paperback reprint. Junk was originally published in 1996 and is a 1996 Carnegie Medal winner.
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Where I heard about it: I read this as part of my Open University Children’s Literature course for my ongoing Lit degree.
Spoilers: Nothing that you won’t get off the book jacket or Amazon.
Review:
...more
Original review by Elle
Publication Information: Puffin / 6 Feb 2003 / 336 pages
Format: Paperback reprint. Junk was originally published in 1996 and is a 1996 Carnegie Medal winner.
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Where I heard about it: I read this as part of my Open University Children’s Literature course for my ongoing Lit degree.
Spoilers: Nothing that you won’t get off the book jacket or Amazon.
Review:
...more
Junk is the drugs book against which I judge all drugs books, and so far nothing’s come close to matching Melvin Burgess’s unflinching portrayal of Bristol’s City Road in the 1980s through a heroin-addled lens.
Burgess has no time for either hushed, poetic contemplations on heroin or clumsy, moralistic incitements to Just Say No. Without pretension, he wades into his milieu – with its squats, street kids and punk music – and matter-of-factly delivers a taut, compelling drama. Two naive ...more
Burgess has no time for either hushed, poetic contemplations on heroin or clumsy, moralistic incitements to Just Say No. Without pretension, he wades into his milieu – with its squats, street kids and punk music – and matter-of-factly delivers a taut, compelling drama. Two naive ...more
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Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the trendy and controversial idea of heroin-addicted teenagers. Junk soon became, at least in Britain, one of ...more
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“Listen. You can be anything you want to be. Be careful. It's a spell. It's magic. Listen to the words. You can be anything, you can do anything, you can be anything, you can do anything. Listen to the magic.
You are anything . . . everyone, anyone. Whatever you want. I'm showing you. So long as you stay yourself inside, you can eat dirt and it'll taste good because it's you that's eating it. You can even lick their arses if you have to. You listen to them, teachers, parents, politicians. They're always saying, if you steal you're a thief, if you sleep around you're a slut, if you take drugs you're a junkie. They want to get inside your head and control you with their fear.
Maybe you think your mum and dad love you but if you do the wrong things they'll try and turn you into dirt. It's your punishment for being you. Don't play their game. Nothing can touch you; you stay beautiful.
I've done everything. All of it. You think it, I've done it.
All the things you never dared, all the things you dream about, all the things you were curious about and then forgot because you knew you never would. I did 'em, I did 'em yesterday while you were still in bed,
What about you? When's it going to be your turn?”
—
59 people liked it
You are anything . . . everyone, anyone. Whatever you want. I'm showing you. So long as you stay yourself inside, you can eat dirt and it'll taste good because it's you that's eating it. You can even lick their arses if you have to. You listen to them, teachers, parents, politicians. They're always saying, if you steal you're a thief, if you sleep around you're a slut, if you take drugs you're a junkie. They want to get inside your head and control you with their fear.
Maybe you think your mum and dad love you but if you do the wrong things they'll try and turn you into dirt. It's your punishment for being you. Don't play their game. Nothing can touch you; you stay beautiful.
I've done everything. All of it. You think it, I've done it.
All the things you never dared, all the things you dream about, all the things you were curious about and then forgot because you knew you never would. I did 'em, I did 'em yesterday while you were still in bed,
What about you? When's it going to be your turn?”
“Sometimes maybe you need an experience. The experience can be a person or it can be a drug. The experience opens a door that was there all the time but you never saw it. Or maybe it blasts you into outer space...All that negative stuff. All the pain...It just floted away from me, I just floated away from it...up and away...”
—
51 people liked it
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