After the happy ever after

I just had to recognize that there are still many questions left. We are not supposed to answer them but some of them are quite interesting:

Which audience is Hornby writing for?

For young people in our age. You could use "Slam" partly as a "Guidebook for teenagers: How to become an adult." :P

If you were a teacher, which aspects of the novel would you like to discuss in class?

I would like to talk about pregnancy, becoming an adult, facing it´s greatest fears, love and sex. "Slam" is so full of interesting and discussable topics, it´s unbelievable.

What are the problems or conflicts the characters must confront?

I could list alle problems of all characters now but that would take too much time. I´ll concentrate on Sam and Alicia. Of course, like I surely mentioned it a million times in this reading log they have to deal with having a baby and becoming adults. It´s not easy for them especially because after a while there is not much love left between them that would help them to get through these hard times.

What is at stake for the characters in these conflicts?

What a question! Their life is at stake. Well, not their life in conjunction with life in death, but their life in the way they will live it. Because of the baby Sam´s and Alicia´s life will not be the life they wanted. Their careers, their hopes, their dreams - all of them will change. Either they can deal with that changes or they can´t and their lifes won´t be worth living.

What discovery do the character make?

You can do everything if you just believe in yourself. You can reach all your ambitions if you just want to. That is what they discover and that is the true meaning of the book.

How do you feel about the ending?

It´s good. It´s not a classical end where all is fine and all people are happy until they die. It´s an end that shows that the problems won´t end and that life still will be hard, but it´s also a hopeful end. Hopeful because after all, things are becoming okay and because Sam and Alicia and all the other characters still have a good life.


In the very end:

I´m finished with my reading log. Well, not really. I still have to do some things but I´m finished with writing texts about Slam. I don´t know if I´m happy or not. Sometimes it was exhausting and stressful to come home after a long school day and to sit down and do something, but mostly it was fun (particularly because I was eating alle the time while doing it ^^). "Slam" is a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. And - I must confess (please overread this ^^) - I´ll miss my reading log.
Okay, now I´m becoming sentimental. xD
Stop.
Over.

The End(ing) :)