Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Slam

By: Nick Hornby
Narrated by: Nicholas Hoult
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Nick Hornby's hilarious coming-of-age novel Slam, read by Nicholas Hoult, star of the films About a Boy and Warm Bodies, as well as Channel 4's Skins.

'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.'

Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding. There's no ice. Life is ticking along nicely for Sam; his Mum's got rid of her rubbish boyfriend, he's thinking about college and he's met someone. Alicia.

Then a little accident happens. One with big consequences for someone just finding his way in life. Sam can't run (let alone skate) away from this one. He's a boy facing a man's problems and the question is - has he got what it takes to confront them?

Slam, from the acclaimed author of About a Boy and High Fidelity is a teenage novel about a boy who has to grow up in big, big hurry. It is The Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century.

©2007 Nick Hornby (P)2007 Penguin Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Love Lessons cover art
The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters cover art
The Caveman Rules of Survival cover art
Broken Promise cover art
Metal Boxes cover art
Book Scavenger cover art
Lessons for a Sunday Father cover art
Sunday Dinners cover art
The Stranger She Knew cover art
How Not to Be a Boy cover art
Gregor the Overlander cover art
Timebound cover art
Ghosted cover art
Scat cover art
Goose cover art
And Then it Happened cover art

Critic reviews

"Hornby is a writer who dares to be witty, intelligent and emotionally generous at once." ( New York Times)
"He should write for England." ( Observer)
"Very funny...very real" ( Daily Telegraph)
"Hornby gets his point across with the subtlety and skill of a born novelist who always deserves to be read" ( Independent)
"A moving read for anyone" ( Elle)

What listeners say about Slam

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    59
  • 4 Stars
    93
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    81
  • 4 Stars
    58
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Don't like teenage pregnancy stories

I'm pretty one track mind about teenage pregnancy - get an abortion! No matter how many times I read books or watch movies abt kids who decided to have kids, I never get it. Why do you do this to yourself when you don't have to?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good read

this is not my usual kind of book genre but I got on sale and absolutely loved it.
would recommend this book and the narrator did a great job too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, Different & Funny!

First time listening/ reading anything by Nick Hornby and the storyline wouldn't normally be my thing at all, I got this as a daily deal title and have been very pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed it , so much so I will be looking for another by him!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

I enjoyed listening to this book, though I did find it slightly trite at times. I have enjoyed others more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best book I have ever listened to.

Great intreaging story line

LOV IITTTT

Mad mad
Mad mad
Mad mad mad mad
Mad mad

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Much better than I expected!

I dismissed this book when it first came out because I thought (from the blurb) that it was just a book about skateboarding, but it's really about teen pregnancy. I really got into it and listened to it in one 6-hour sitting. I could relate to Sam, even though I'm 35 (older than his mother!) and really enjoyed the 'magical' element to the story as well. The narrator did a pretty good job, but I did have to speed him up a bit as he had the habit of pausing too long between sentences, particularly during conversations. Speeding him up didn't help much to be honest because the gaps just made it sound very choppy, but I got over it as time went on and I got into the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Be careful what you wish for...

I got this book because it was deal of the day and didn't even bother to read the summary. As the story unfolded I found myself pulled in because it felt like my story, only I have a magic 8 ball and not Tony Hawks. He wanted he and he got to be with her but never thought it'd turn out like that. What do you do when you have a plan and it all changes? Thinking about options and seeing what your future will be. Trying to hide from it and trying to cope and adjust. The path is already written we just didn't know it...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Refreshing!

A good story well told about a really likeable young man and the way he deals with what life serves up!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Can't go wrong

excellently read by perfectly cast Nicholas Hoult, this is a gently amusing family saga with genuinely likeable characters and a wry realism that results to a satisfiying listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Better than expected...

Whilst this probably wasn't my favourite by Nick Hornby, it was still very well performed and engaging!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!