I think that's what Tony Hawk was trying to tell me all along

I just finished reading Nick Hornby's newest novel, Slam, and thought it was okay. Comparatively, it's not nearly as good as High Fidelity, but what really is? Slam documents the life of Sam, a 15/16 year old boy growing up in London. Like many boys his age, he idolizes Tony Hawk, wishes to be a skater (he refuses to be called a skateboarder), and has an affinity towards the opposite sex. He makes one small bad decision and you watch him try to figure out his life and understand why things happen (with Hawk as his guide). I enjoyed it because, as Hornby's first young adult novel, it accurately portrayed the life of a teenage boy. He doesn't own up to his mistakes and suffers for that. He gets angry spontaneously and tries to run away from his problems. I didn't so much enjoy it because the narration got in the way. The story is told by Sam at the age of 18. He prepares you for every event, repeats himself, and derails often. I liked that it was told by him, i liked the outside voice, it was just distracting at times. Still, it was nice for Hornby.

The book, at times, was hard to read, though, for me subjectively. It took place in London, for one thing. There were multiple football jokes. He talked about the Arctic Monkeys. On one hand, it's neat to understand all of the dialogue and references. On the other, it was too close. I mean, how else would i know who Thierry Henry was?