Read for the 2009 YA Reading Challenge.
Sixteen-year-old Sam’s life is going pretty well. School’s not bad, he’s actually starting to think about what he might want to do with his life, and he’s dating Alicia, a really cool and pretty girl who he wouldn’t have thought he had a chance with. And then she gets pregnant, and she wants to keep the baby.
What follows is Sam’s journey to fatherhood. It’s a great little story, with genuine emotion: there’s plenty of denial before Sam is able to step up to plate and take responsibility for his actions. There’s a bit too much skateboarding for my tastes, but it makes Sam a more believable character. He’s a very real teenager, and his journey makes a good story.
This is actually my first Nick Hornby read, though I’m well familiar with the movie versions of a number of his other books. If he’s this good at capturing the voice of his main characters, I’m looking forward to reading his adult fiction.