Customer Reviews

Junk

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When i bought smack i could not put it down. then i was told that junk was the sequel to smack. so i bought that and it is the same book. i was mad. so don't be folled because the athour re-named the book.

Burgess's "Smack," written a year before his short novel "Junk," is a terrific novel that captivies and evokes emotion. "Junk," however, is a poorly written screen-play version of that novel. The point of creating such a thing is beyond me. He should have stopped while he was ahead with "Smack."

A slow start to what then became one of the most fantastic books I have ever read. The characters become your friends and you emphasise with their choices and actions. This is the first book I have ever read that has enabled me to see a reason why people use herion. The book takes you through the good and the bad times.

I for one after reading the book would never try heroin. I was shown how this drug could take away dignity, dreams and even lifes.

A brilliant book!!!

This book is great. It was originally publishes as Smack, so don't think of it as sequel. Its just under a different name. I first read it under the title Smack, and have since gone through numerous copies. This book is true-to-life. If you want a good tue-to-life read, try this.

When I first read junk i thought that it was a good if not great look at children and heroin. Then I read trainspotting and noticed that not only had Melvin Burgess stolen his idea of heroin addiction off of the scottish author but he had also stolen the disconnected writing style used by Welsh. If you want a kids read, read junk, if however you want an adult look at addiction read an original book like Junky or Trainspotting. Junk is a n enjoyable read but the characters are too tame to provoke a true emotional response.

Junk is an outstanding book that explores the world of drugs and throws you into the typical life of a 'junkie'. It is a powerful book that has you gripped from the start, like any good book that you simply cannot put down.
It has a great layout that puts you into the junkies' minds', looking out on their world, clearly giving you the ups and downs of junk. It shows just how dangerous a world full of junk can be.
This is a book that well deserves the 5 star treatment.

Winner of the Guardian Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal, the novel Junk by Melvin Burgess successfully allows readers to gain insights into what teenage drug life was like in Bristol during the mid 1980s. The characters in the novel go through many struggles and the biggest struggle is the challenge to get off `junk', or heroin.

Throughout the novel, Burgess focuses on four characters in particular: Tar, Gemma, Lily and Rob. Lily and Rob are senior users of junk. Partying, taking drugs, even prostitution is nothing new to them. Tar, the protagonist, is sensible and responsible but unlucky. Unlucky to be born into a family with alcoholic parents; unlucky to have met Gemma, his girlfriend, who introduced him to drugs' unlucky to be the only one caught. He represents the typical teenager: confident to say `no' to drugs but slowly being dragged in due to peer-pressure. `The thing I have to remember is that I'm weak and that they're weak' said Tar after being in the `detox' centre for a while. Is he strong enough to stand firm and quit drugs or is the temptation towards heroin too strong for him to handle?

The novel Junk is easy to understand and is suitable for people of all ages. I would strongly recommend this novel to teenagers who are curious about drug-taking. It is a fast-paced book that depicts the daunting reality of drugs. What I find fascinating is the way Burgess describes the characters and the settings which provide the readers with an image that is very real. `As for the people here... some are pure invention, some are seeded from real people and then fictionalized, some are fictitious with bits of real people stirred in,' commented Burgess in the introduction of his novel. Burgess, using the style of a teenager, writes his novel in the form of diary entries by different people. Furthermore, his style includes conversations and slang words which help make his fictional characters more realistic.

To conclude, Junk is a compelling novel of truths about drug-use and certainly a must-read for teenagers.

This book actually messed me up when I was reading it. It is such a powerful book, and I just thought so much at times "sort yourself out" about the characters. Richard is such a good person and Tar is a loser for taking the dirty smack and giving in to it. Read it now, you should do!

Junk really is more than just a book. After I read it once I read it again and I read parts of it every day. It really is an inspiration to new thoughts and attitudes about life. The book doesn't judge drugs immediately but makes the reader make his or her own conclusion about that stuff, which is really good.Junk can truly give so many new ideas into your life. It can change your life. read it.

After reading the reviews for this book I quickly went out and bought it. It really is a great book. There's only 71 pages but alot happens. It's written in the way a play is. You feel so many emotions reading this book. Although it is a little confusing it's a great book! It's about this guy Tar who runs away from home at 14 and his girlfriend later runs away to be with him. It shows how they grew up and changed within themselves and the good and bad choices they made and how they quickly became addicted then tried to send it.

"Tar (to audience) Love is forever! Yeah, well I don't beliebe that any more. Being an addict. . . now that's forever. It was a love story. Me, Gemma and Junk"