Smack

SMACK

`SMACK' is absolutely amazing. It gives you a real sense of what it's like for young teens that face temptation and addiction everyday. I found this book to be very interesting and full of dramatic points of view on life and `the life of drugs'. I could not put this book down, I found myself carrying it everywhere and reading a real and I found myself wanting to help them. The way Melvin Burgess wrote the book was unique, each "chapter" was narrated by different characters and I've never read a book like that. I am not the type of person who likes to read, but this book was definitely well written. I loved it!
This book was about two young teens that ran away from home and lived in a town full of people like them, runaways. All of the characters in this book come from different backgrounds and have very different attitudes about life, but all have the same problem: addiction. Throughout the book Gemma and Tar stick by each other and destroy their lives little by little. The two main characters Tar and Gemma are in love but, as time passes they each find the same new love: whether it's a drug or a lifestyle or even both, I'll leave it up to you to read...
I highly recommend this book to other readers who are looking for an easy read about real life issues teens face daily. This book is written beautifully and you feel like your actually talking to the characters and they are telling you in such detail what they are going through. This book can make you laugh, cry, and get angry all at the same time. I would recommend this book to everyone. `Five Stars!' * * * * *

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

Well, if your like me then im sure this would be one of the best books you can possibly read. It's wonderful and full of twists and life changing problems. Gemma and Tar go through alot and the heroin doesnt help them.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Love it

I bowrowed it forrm a friend love it

MUST "READ"

The book Smack by Melvin Burgess an very outstanding book that includes premature too mature teenagers abusing drugs, conquering life problems. The drug became something far more than what they can handle which lead to drastic events and interesting problems. Smack by melvin Burgess is an overall 4 out of 5 starts the book is very good for teenagers to read and even adults. Smack by Melvin Burgess also has a interest for adults because it has some realistic parenting problems. The book Smack is an definate must read.

SMACK

The novel Smack is a book that we had to read in school and is written by Melvin Burgess, and it is about a group of teenagers that are having problems with their parents and have ran away from home and are trying to survive on their own. One of them was a young boy named Tar and he did not like the way his parents did not let him have fun. Tar and the rest of the other teenagers in the book eneded up living in this abandoned house and doing drugs like Heroin and other drugs and participate in other unacceptable behaviors for teenagers. They had a mindset of doing whatever you can do to get money and make a living and turned out good to them, but was really ruining their lives slowly day by day. They got addicted on the drugs that they were doing and some of them had to go to rehab and other institutions to try and help them but they did not think that they were addicted so that really did not help them at all.
If I had to give this novel a grade I would grade it an A- because these are really things that happen in the world today and many kids across the world can learn from this novel. I liked the book because it spoke from the teenagers's perspective and that helps the reader relate to it better. It really shows the kids thoughts and not just from the authors perspective. My favorite chapter was towards the end of the book and it was Gemma's chapter when the guy that Lily brought home raped her and Rob was about to call the police but Lily told him not to because of all the drugs that they had and that was an abandoned house. Also when Gemma was trying to help Lily with the baby, but Lily got upset because she did not want Gemma to think that she was a bad mother. His writting style helped me better understand what the kids were really going through and makes the book more interesting.

Smack

The novel smack is a book that we had to read for school and it is written by Melvin Burgess. The novel is about teenagers that didnt like the way their parents ran things so they decided leave home and live own their own. Once the teens ran away from home they found them a vacant house that three older people stayed in. The people who already lives in the house accepts the two teenagers to come live with them. Tar and Gemma(the two teenagers)likes the way they are living and doesnt want to go back home ever. They find friends who are like them and start doing whatever they wanted to do including illegal things. They start smoking, drinking, and stealing. After a while the teens had gotten bored with doing just that, so they end up doing hard core drugs such as heroin and dope. When they started doing the drugs they didint realize how much it would have an impact on them. The drugs took over their life, kill some of their friends and almost killed them. What I enjoyed about the novel is that it is real and blunt. The story does not sugar code anything, it talks about all the bad things they do and how they do it. Things that have happened in this story really can happen in reality. Teenagers do go through things like running away, doing drugs, and just being rebellious. There are also situations that I did not like, like how Gemma peer pressures Tar into doing things that he really does not want to do. Overall it was a great book to read. I loved it, it kept me interested in every little detail.

Smack

As part of the Contemporary Issues class I just finished reading the book Smack by Melvin Burges. On a rating scale of one to ten with one star being the worst and ten stars being the best, I would award Smack five stars. The reason I gave the book a five out of ten is because half of the book I liked and half the book I really did not care for as much. The parts I really did like were mostly at the end of the book where they all start getting clean from heroin. The person I was really a big fan of was Gemma. Gemma was a follower at the beginning of the book and she did what everyone else did. She ran away from home because he parents was controlling. At the end she change for the better and she got off heroin and stayed clean for her baby and I know that was hard to do. The people I really did not care for were Lily and Rob. Lily and Rob was the people who got Gemma and tar to start drugs in the first place .If it wasn't for lily and Tar they would of never did heroin they would of never went to jail and Gemma would of never had a baby. All these things can happen to you if you hang out with the wrong people. If you do good thing, good thing will happen to you.

Recommended

In the novel "Smack" by Melvin Burgess talks about two teens addicted to drugs. We read the book to see how peer pressure affect teens. I like how he showed the progression of the drugs. My favorite chapter of the book is when Tar and Gemma both got off drugs. That meant they were keeping the toxic of the drug out of their body. I did not like how they pressured Tar earlier in the novel to do drugs. My least favorite part was Tar caving into the pressure. All together I would rate this book a 10. Based on how descriptive it is with their use of drugs. This book gave me a better understanding of the effects of drugs on a teens life.

this book is very cool you should read it you will get hooked

In the book Smack by Melvin burgess I find the book to be very inspirational towards young kids. I'm reading this book for class so that I could understand what is going on in the world besides the gang problems. I couldn't understand the author writing style at first but throughout the story I understand a little more about the novel after each chapter. My best chapter was by Gemma because it tells me the struggle that she has been through and the path that she has choice to take and the people that she has choose to be with and hang around with. My worst chapter was with Richard because I didn't get where his side had came throughout the story in the novel

Don't miss out!!

Noemi Garcia

Smack

The novel Smack, by Melvin Burgess is very interesting. The purpose for reading this novel is school. Another purpose is to know what happens to teens when they try to fit in. And also to u8nderstand what they go through in life. I think the novel Smack is a very excellent book. It brought to my attention the lives of young teens that are caught up on drugs. Melvin Burgess described the tens lives very detailed. I like the authors writing style because he makes all the characters have their own point of view. It switches from character to character through every chapter. My favorite chapter was when Tar and Rob broke i9nto Allen and Helen's house to steal a bag of drugs. The chapter that I dislike was when Tar had drugs on him right after they came from rehab. I rate the novel Smack a 10 out of 10 because the events in the novel is similar to te real life of some tens. My new understanding of drug abuse is that once a prson begins to do drugs, they might get attached to it their who9le life.

Must read!

The book Smack by Melvin Burgess deals with the lives of several people who are addicted to heroin. We read this book in classto help us have a better understanding on how people abuse drugs. In the book four friends are addicted to heroine and each time they try and quit they cant seem to control their habits. The book is very good and does not have any parts that drag on too long and become boring. The book also has many parts that have you interested in reading more just to find out what happens to a certain character. The layout of the book is also interesting because you get to read it from the point of view of all the characters in the book so you get an inside view of how all the characters actually feel about each other and certain situations and why they do the things they do. Overall Smack is a very good book and i would reccomend for anyone to read.

I would rate the book a four out five because i felt that some characters didnt need their own chapters and it felt more like filler. I enjoyed the book because it had me hooked on from the beginning and kept me wondering what was going to happen to the characters. The chapter i liked the most is the one where they all decide to move away to the middle of nowhere to get rid of the their addiction but didnt last one day before they went back to buy some more heroin. I really enjoyed Melvin Burgess' writing style because she wrote from the perspective of all the characters which gives a full understading of the book. After readingSmack i learned how hard it really is to stop an addiction and how easy it is to start one and even when people try to help it can make matters worse.

Totally Recommended

"Smack" The book "Smack" ,by Melvin Burgess was a very fasinating book. My pupose of reading this book was because of school. The authors` style of writing was different from other books I`ve read. Instead of one narrator speaking through the whole book its the characters points of view. The author writes with such detail and emotion its like if you were there to. I strongly have to say that I like this book. If I was to rate this book it would be 10 out of 10. Thats how mind blowing this book is. Melvin did such a fantastic job with the characters and there expretions, and way of seeing the situation. My favorite part of the book was when Gemma the main character finally reaches out for help, because shes pregnant. She reunites with her family after being a tree year runaway. My least favorite part of the book is when Lily and Gemma become prostitutes and Lily gets smacked around by guys. Also whe she gets pregnant, she is still using junk not caring about the baby. I know understand more about drug abuse after reading this book. It also better to be clean and suffer a short time of pain, then to feel good for a little bit and be an addict for the rest of your life. I recommend young teens to read this book.

Very Good

In the book Smack it explain real situations and the struggles and the drug addiction. Melvin burgess did a good writing the book I liked most of the book the chapters I did not like was skolly chapters because he did not explain things right and he kicked tar out and had sex with gemma I disagreed with having skolly chapter. Melvin burgess is a good author he made the things in the book seem real and how life is for some teenagers out on the street.

The drug abuse in Smack is crazy people who dont do drugs turned to junkies quick and those who were already junkies turned to bigger junkies two of the characters in the book OD off of the junk. The drug was very strong but tar and rob still took it and did the drug. At the end of it all they turned clean and was away from the drugs the book was very good. The way the writing style was he tried to make it as realistic as he could and make it good to were the people wanted to love the book.

Highly Recommended- more like non-fiction.

"Smack"
By: Melvin Burgess
My purpose of reading this book was for school. I liked this book because it showed the danger of drugs and the way every person thought about the use of drugs; the main characters was Tar and Gemma. My dislikes about this novel was the ending. I thought it was going to end in a better and happier way. One of my favorite's chapters was when Gemma and Tar had left the house where they were receiving help. They decided to move in with Lily and Rob who were the ones that were providing them the drugs. One of the chapters that I had disliked was when the Gemma was talking to her dad in a very rude way and she just started to laugh at her parents along with her friends.
I really enjoyed the way that Burgess decided to write the book. Every character had their own little "section" to explain their point of views and how they were feeling. Feelings that they wouldn't reveled around their "friends". The only thing that really didn't click was how Burgess didn't put much detail between Tar and Gemma. How their relationship was when they were by themselves. How their true feeling was. Gemma was getting me mad, especially when she decided to cheat on Tar with a "Friend" of theirs. Knowing that Tar would do and give anything for Gemma to be happy no matter what it took. Now that I read this book it makes me understand clearly how people feel about drugs. Knowing that is not easy to leave what you're the most use to. It also made me understand how a young boy would do anything for the one he "loves" and wants to see happy. If I was to re-read this book again for school or for any o0ther activity. I would, it gives you an understanding point of view for each character.

Have to read

Smack by Melvin Burgess is a book that is based on a group of teenagers doing drug. The reason for doing the drugs was to runaway from their problems that was going on in thier life. At the end the drugs started to take control over them, and things starts to get bad. When Gemma and Lily got pregnant they had to get off the drug. By time things were falling apart, so everyone started to get clean for the better.

My class read the book Smack for addiction unit. I like the book, because it tells what drug can do for you when yo do it too much. Plus it shows how things can change by doing things, because you feel depressed. The things that i dislike is the fact that the parents really did not look for their kids. The chapter i like was at the end when Gemma relized that she did not feel the same way about Tar when they were on drugs. My least Favorite is when they went to the woods and tried to get clean for Lily's baby and they did not. Burgess writing style is very unigue. Burgess write about many other chacters thoughts and Feelings. and i think about drug abuse is that is very bad and something i would never do.

Very hard hitting novel

This is a book that doesn't beat around the bush in telling the ugly truth about drug use. It follows two teenagers, Tar and Gemma, who both run away from home for different reasons. They end up in Bristol, and eventually they become addicted to heroin.

The story follows them as they go from blissful ignorance about the drug's power to the painful reality of trying to get clean for good. It examines the effects that addiction has on families and individuals, which is unfailingly devastating in the story.

The story moved me in how jaded the two protagonists become at the end. They are nothing resembling their old selves again. Their years on the streets addicted to heroin catch up to them by the end, as they both try and rebuild their lives. Heroin has left a permanent stain on both of them, and this stain is something they'll have to live with for the rest of their lives.

I would say that this book is for the teenager that likes to take risks with drugs. It shows very clearly how easy it is to be lured in, but how difficult it is to come out again. Some of Tar and Gemma's friends have died from heroin, and others ended up being stuck on the drug for life.

The book shows, most of all, how powerful the drug is. How it shouldn't be taken lightly, how no one should think they are stronger then it is. I think the writer made this point very well in the story.

Unforgettable!

This is the kind of book where years later you won't remember the name of the author or the title of the book but you'll remember the story and the characters. I read this book around the age of 13 or 14 and wanted to reread it because it was so amazing. Luckily I stumbled upon it while looking on the B&N, I was reading reviews when I realized that this was the book I had been searching for all these years! It's absolutely unforgettable!! I would and will recommend it to family and friends, this book is incredible.

you must check it out

Book Review In my class Cont. Issues Literature, my class and I read the book Smack by Melvin Burgess. We read this book for a class assignment and to teach us about drug abuse. In this class assignment my class and I read the book and did several projects according to the book, answered several questions referring to the book. This is a great book it shows you how drugs are stronger then anybody. Melvin Burgess talks about two fourteen year old who believe live and drugs are as something easy as u want it to be and learn from their mistakes the hard way. The book Smack is a good and interesting book. Drug abuse is a big deal these days a lot of people specially teens are drug addicts who made a bad decision to use drugs some are push to do this by problems or some by peer pressure. The author Melvin Burgess give a great example of drug abuse it shows how the life of a junkie is not worst then what a person that is not involved with drugs think it is. The author tells how some people are able to get off drugs and try to stay clean and they succeed but some do not, some as much as they try they feel like drugs is the only way they can feel normal. Junkies use drugs to stay normal because of using it a lot they do not get high no more so they think that drugs is the only way they can calm down and feel good, is hard for a junkie to get off drugs some junkies can not get off drugs because just trying to stay away is hard enough. This is what the author tells in the book Smack and is a great example of drugs abuse.

A really good book

I read this book when it first came out in 1999. I still think about this book and the story. It is so compelling and the story could be true. I lost the book and I am now going to buy it again because it is a story that will stick with you forever.

Amazing.

I've read Smack 4 times now, and everytime it's just as addicting as the first time I picked it up. It feels like a slow start, honestly, but the drug game hits fast- and hard. Gemma and Tar, they weren't a love story, like you'd want them to be. But neither were Rob and Lily, for all of them it was drugs. Even when Lily got pregnant, she used during the pregnancy, as well as after the baby was born ! I was mortified to know that she was shooting up in the veins in her breasts, while breast feeding. But that's the very true life of a 'Junkie', it's all about your next fix, by the end of the book everyone except Tar had been a prostitute for their next fix, even Rob was doing guys in the bathroom for some money.

I suggest the book to everyone, because it's real and it shows you just how slippery that slope downward really is. I wont sit here and preach a straight-edge life, because I haven't lead that, but before this book there were much bigger and better things I wanted to try, now it makes me want to take a second thought before you pick up that chaser, or the needle; because eventually you not only loose yourself, you loose your friends and family. So, yeah, you wont care, because you'll have your next fix, until you hit your crash- and if you ever can, get yourself out of it. Not even Tar fully left it, but I do feel proud for Gemma, though she's just a character, but at least she got out and stood up to the plate when it came to her child.