Slam

Currently I'm reading Slam, by Nick Hornby. When I posted about Hornby previously, I mentioned that I loved several of his books, but How to be Good didn't really do it for me. While I'm only halfway through it, Slam may fall in the same category as How to be Good. While it's humorous reading, it's also told from the POV of a 15-year-old boy. I'm finding it hard to relate. This boy has gotten himself in loads of trouble and the book follows him during this time in his teenage life.

Hornby wrote from a teenage boy perspective, at least part of the time, in About A Boy. But, I think either he was more mature then Slam's character, or else the alternating between the two main characters in About A Boy, one an adult male (which I've said Hornby excels at), made it easier on me.

I'm going to finish the book, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it in the end. But, I can't help feeling a little disappointed when one of my favorite authors comes out with his or her next book and it leaves me unsatisfied. I know it's happened to me before. Do you know what I mean?

UPDATE (Nov. 13, 2007): I finished Slam over the weekend. In the end, I did enjoy the book, for the most part. The boy matured a bit, his heaps of trouble remained but he learned how to deal with it all in a respectable manner. However, I do hope Hornby retreats back to his forte for his next go around. I do love the English speaking though: full stop, bollocks, etc. The dialect always sticks in my head for days after and I have to try really hard not to speak that way aloud - I could never pull it off.