Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2007
304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Just when everything is coming together for Sam, his girlfriend Alicia drops a bombshell. Make that ex-girlfriend- because by the time she tells him she's pregnant, they've already called it quits. Sam does not want to be a teenage dad. His mom had him at sixteen and has made it very clear how having a baby so young interrupted her life. There's only one person Sam can turn to-his hero, skating legend Tony Hawk. Sam believes the answers to life's hurdles can be found in Hawk's autobiography.
But even Tony Hawk isn't offering answers this time-or is he? Inexplicably, Sam finds himself whizzed into the future, for a quick glimpse of what will be . . . or what could be. In this wonderfully witty, poignant story about a teenage boy unexpectedly thrust into fatherhood, it's up to Sam to make the right decisions so the bad things that could happen, well, don't.
"'Listen," says Sam Jones, the garrulous young narrator of Nick Hornby's likable first novel for teenagers, "I know you don't want to hear about every single little moment.' He then relives every single little moment anyway, and that's just about one date with a pretty girl. But he's wrong about us. We want to hear whatever this kid has got to say—the whole scary, hilarious story. It's not that Sam's tale, stripped to its bones, is all that different from a million other YA novels…voice is the difference." - The Washington Post.
"Starred Review. [A] vertiginous mix of anger, confusion, insight, humor, and love." - Booklist.
"The characters are given the opportunity to grow with charm and wit while facing the challenges of young adulthood." - School Library Journal.
"Hornby...shows he understands the psyche of an adolescent boy just as well as he does those of men." - KLIATT.
"[F]ull of pleasures that readers familiar with Hornby should recognize, such as the kooky subsidiary characters and clever off-center dialogue." - Kirkus Reviews.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nick Hornby is the bestselling author of eight novels, including High Fidelity and About a Boy, and several works of non-fiction including his ground-breaking debut, Fever Pitch. He has written numerous award-winning screenplays for film and television including Brooklyn, Wild and, most recently, State of the Union.
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