Customer Reviews

Slave Day

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Slave Day" by Rob Thomas is an excellent read for teenagers and young adults. If you were a childhood fan of the Sweet Valley High or Babysitter's Club collections, you'll enjoy how this novel takes high school life to the next level. Focused on Lee High School in South Carolina, the book offers insight to the minds of eight different people: seven students and one teacher. Rob Thomas tells the story of a controversial school event, "Slave Day", where participants can purchase Student Council members as their complete and utter servant for 24 hours. However, conflict arises when Keene Davenport, an African-American student, is angered by the degrading affair and plots to put a permanent end to Slave day. Each character falls under a typical high school stereotype: there's the popular cheerleader and football player couple, the computer geek obsessed with sci-fi, and the history teacher who doesn't cut you any slack. But the characters aren't over-exaggerated or unbelievable. Thomas's authentic detail and description allow you to relate to the individuals. I found myself thinking, "Wow, I know someone exactly like that person". Another aspect of this book that I enjoyed was the humor. There was a scene where Mr. Twilley, the aloof history teacher, was chasing a student while wearing an Indian headdress and carrying a cap gun; all in the strange spirit of slave day. There were several other amusing episodes that kept me snickering to myself throughout the novel. I'd have to say the only shortcoming of this book was its abrupt ending. Overall, I give it a 9 out of 10 for the fun time I experienced reading it.

Rob Thomas is like the Midas of teen lit. Every book Rob Thomas touches turns to gold. This is no exception. The plot and idea for the book is very diffrent and interesting, and the book keeps you guessing and interested. It's fast-paced, with many plot twists and great dialog, as usual for him.
But, it isn't as good as his books like "Rats Saw God". It tries to be funny, but doesn't always succead, and some of the characters can be aggrivating. Those are the only draw backs, though. Still an awsome read.

Slave Day by Rob Thomas, an excellent novel with quality points of view from eight different students and teachers at Lee High School. This story is ideal for mature, young adults, as it does contain some sexual situations. Structurally, as I mentioned before, the book is divided into eight separate and unique points of view, including seven students and one teacher. Each of the characters represents a typical high school student, such as the computer geek, the sexy brunette, and the self-absorbed jock. One literary device used was repetition, for example, if an action of one of the characters caused a disturbance, and then the point of view switched to another one of the characters, the new character would notice the actions of the previous. One of the most prevalent emotions stirred is humor, which is used to keep the reader's attention. Tommy, the trailer trash high school student bought Mr. Twilley, one of the teachers as his slave for the day. He made Mr. Twilley perform acrobatic stunts in front of the student body, causing mass hilarity. For my overall impression, I found this novel to be enthralling and absorbing, an excellent read for a young high school student. In the end, all parties are satisfied, although I will not tell you in which ways. One thing I did find problematic about the story is the happy-go-lucky conclusion. It seems that the ending of every novel should leave room for wonder and guess, but perhaps a good ending is a prerequisite for young adult literature.

The pacing of "Slave Day" never lets up as the story unfolds from the points of view of a wide spectrum of characters, each with a voice that rings funny and true. Nobody's perfect, nobody's all bad. All are flawed but changing as each takes a risk on slave day, pushing the envelope of their lives a little further with surprising results. The risks taken are not as extreme as in TURTLE DIARIES nor do we see the changes all occur in that day, but, by the time the day comes to a close, we can predict that no one's life will be quite the same. This is a great read for high school students from any clique, non-clique, or ethnicity, for any teacher, or for anyone else wanting to hear contemporary voices to snap you awake. I loved it.

The book Slave Day By Rob Thomas is very unique. Most books are narrated by one character. However eight students a jock, his girlfriend a couple of jokesters and one strict history teacher narrate this book.All of the characters either work or attend Robert E. Lee high school in southern Texas. I really liked the fact that there was more than one narrator. Each year the school holds an event called "Slave Day".

At the beginning of each "slave day" and assembly is held. During this assembly student council members are "auctioned" off. These "slaves" must spend the entire day with the person who bids the highest for them. The "slaves" must also obey their "masters". Many "masters" have their slaves carry their books and announce them when they enter a room. However some "masters" are a little more creative. I thought this book did a good job displaying modern ideas of racism but didn't totally focus on this issue.

I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone under twelve because it does have some sexually material. By the end of the book many characters have changed. Whether they have changed for the better or the worst you'll have to read the book yourself.

Slave Day was the thrird book that I have read by Thomas, the first was Rats Saw God. I must say that the second two books could never compare to the first. Even still I really enjoyed this book. I absoultly loved the eight first person narritives, it helped with speeding up character devolopment. It also let in many sup-plots which are just as interesting as the main one. Another thing I liked was that the two books, Slave Day and Doing Time, both took place at the same high school during the same year. I would strongly suggest this book to any one who likes realistic ficton with a lot of teenage humor.

No one at Robert E. Lee High School had ever opposed the annual "Slave Day" fund raiser. They had just let it run its course, watching student body representatives and teachers auctioned off to the highest bidders to serve as anything from book carriers to chauffeurs throughout the course of the day. At least, no one had opposed it until Keene Davenport came along.

A strong supporter of black rights, Keene disagreed with Slave Day and all it represented, including its blatant references to real slavery of the past. He couldn't understand why Shawn Greeley, Robert E. Lee's first African-American student body president, didn't see Slave Day as the inhumane show of racism that it was. Shawn supported the exhibition, and had no problem accepting the task of leading it. So when Keene 's planned boycott turned into a miserable failure, he resolved to buy Shawn and teach him the real meaning of Slave Day, no matter the cost.

Told from the alternating viewpoints of seven students and one teacher, Slave Day shows what one day in High School is like through the eyes of a computer nerd, a class clown, a cheerleader, a spirited beauty, a jock, a student body president, a black rights supporter, and an aging history professor.

Slave Day is a superb work. I found considerable truth in its plot regarding social injustice and was fascinated by how differently one situation could be viewed by various characters depending on their perspective. Rob Thomas did a magnificent job of maintaining the originality of each narrator, giving them independent thoughts, outlooks, and linguistic style. He changed his voice and sentence structure from chapter to chapter in order to fit the intelligence level and social position of every character believably, a feat which even the great writers of our time have difficulty achieving.

In all, I would give this book a nine out of ten. Each plot line was engaging, and the chaos of high school was very well represented. Slave Day really made me think, and surprised me in many ways. I would certainly recommend this book to other readers, but I must caution that there is some very sensitive material in it. If parents have a problem with somewhat graphic inappropriate scenes, their children should wait a few years to read this book. However, if there are no maturity concerns regarding content, then Slave Day is a great summer quick-read for all ages.

I really connected with this book. Each character is completely different, yet strangely similar. Each person has a goal for Slave Day, and in a way, all of the goals are fulfilled. Rob Thomas was extremely effective in intertwining the stories of the characters. All in all, this was one of the best books I have ever read.

Upon reading this book, i have come to the conclusion that this is the first book i have ever read, that even remotly sounds like the things that go through my mind. I am a normal teenager, (I like to think) and most books I have read sound like the perfect characters that authors try to portray. But the kids in this book almost came to life for me, and they had real thoughts and emotions. They did real things that most kids would do. Because of this, I was able to relate to the characters in this book better that I have ever been able to with any other book I have read. I compared the situations that they were in to what I would do. I compared how they handled situations to how I would handle them. Also I got the best of all the worlds. I got the rich "princess" type, the human rights person, the preppy boy, the crappy teacher, all the different types of people were there, so it gave the reader a wide spread of everything.

An easy read for young adults, about a young man in high school fighting against Slave Day because he thinks it disrespects his black ancestors. The book is well writen but was not for the stop and go reader, you lose track of what is happening if you don't read large chuncks at a time.