Slammed

Like many, I picked up this book because of the Goodreads-inspired notoriety that Colleen Hoover had been receiving. Somewhere around 7pm last night, I began to think I'd made a big mistake. 3 chapters in, this book was clearly not intended for 20-something males. My only Goodreads comment to that point? “Starting to feel like Twilight without sparkly vampires.” I seriously thought that I was going to have to bail out.

Around 1am, I finally, groggily, turned off my light and went to bed. In the 6 hours that had preceded, I had somehow, mysteriously, finished the book. I literally had not been able to sleep until I was done.

So what happened?

To be fair, Slammed is not the greatest work of fiction ever. There is a high degree of unbelievability (some might say Twilight-esque) in how quickly Lake, the main character, and Will, her “omgsohotz” neighbor fall in love. The story proceeds rather bouncily from junction to junction, dragging the reader along in the expectation that he will simply accept the characters and their current predicaments. All the common elements of the teenage love story - a love that society will not allow, a family dynamic that is all at once frustrating yet uber-advanced (including the proverbial wise sage of a younger brother), a rebellious, yet equally sagacious best friend, etc. - are present within the first few chapters of this book. Early on, I felt as though I could see every plot point and difficulty.

What transpired over the course of that 6 hours changed my mind. The biggest driver of that change: I got to see characters who were not all that different from me. No one had superpowers or mystical abilities; there was no omnipresent villain that everyone was running from (heck: apart from one exception, there weren't even overly ugly humanistic natures chasing after our heros). There was merely life, along with all of its joys and heartbreaks.

This book forces your soul to bare itself. Any author who can do that - even just a little bit - deserves recognition.

On to book #2.

beraktam ezt a könyvet a “nyál” elnevezésű kollekciómba a kobón, mert ilyen kis előítéletes vagyok, aztán meg jól meglepődtem. persze nyáladzás is van benne, elvégre is alapvetően ez mégiscsak egy szerelmes lányregény, de közben meg olyan mély, komoly érzelmeket pedzeget, hogy párszor már rendesen a sírás kerülgetett.
néha laykent, a főszereplő lányt szívesen orrba gyűrtem volna, de aztán elgondolkodtam, hogy noha kívülről szemlélve rettentően irritálóan viselkedett, belülről megélni mindazt, amin keresztülment azért teljesen más. meg hát én is rengetegszer reagálok irracionálisan sokkal kevésbé fontos és megrázó dolgokra. nem könnyű szembenézni azzal, hogy milyen visszataszító lehet ez, ezért próbáltam elnéző lenni vele szemben. ettól függetlenül nem a legfrankóbb karakter a történetben.

ha már belefutottam ebbe a slam poetrys sztoriba, végre megnéztem egy videót is a témában, hogy legyen valami fogalmam a dolgokról. nem tetszett. viszont a könyvhöz rengeteget ad hozzá, hogy e köré épül, írott formában sokkal jobban bejött.

a lényeg, hogy ugyan a szokásos vergődéssel tarkított, de annyira jól megírt, fontos dolgokhoz érdekesen nyúló regény a slammed, hogy egész bátran tudom ajánlani. azoknak meg főleg, akik szeretik is a slamet.

(jóhát, beleolvastam a negatív véleményekbe és lehet, hogy inkább mégsem ajánlom, csak legföljebb azoknak, akik komálják a szenvelgést.)

I honestly think I didn't enjoy this book as much as others because I did not like the main character Layken, and for me the characters can make or break the story.
I felt like she was very immature, bratty, and self-absorbed.
I understand that she went through a lot, and I actually have a lot of experience with someone close to me dying, but I still felt like she thought she was the only one with problems.
Most of the time I thought she was judging Will unfairly especially considering the circumstances. She was so focused on how everything affected her that she didn't see how everyone else was affected.
It's not to say she was a bad character she just wasn't my favorite character to read from which took away my enjoyment from the novel.
A character I would have liked to read more about was Eddie, she had such a unique personality considering her living situation.

The slam poetry was a great addition to the book. I love slam poetry and the pieces included in this novel were quite powerful.
I'm in no hurry to read the sequel but I'm definitely going to be checking out her other novels.

Buku pertama Colleen Hoover yang kubaca. Dan tidak cocok wkwkwk.
1. Insta love
2. Kemanjaan female protagonist nya
3. Plin plan male protagonist
Sebenarnya di akhir buku ak bingung ini buku sebenarnya mau menceritakan apa ya?
Terlepas dari poin2 diatas, ada 1 memorable moment, namun bkn dari main protagonists nya, ketika Eddie ultah, melibatkan bpk angkat & balon pink. Udah cuma itu saja yg sweet menurutku.