Junk by Melvin Burgess

“Junk” by Melvin Burgess is the story of Gemma and Tar who run away from home and then become drug addicts.

This story takes place in different parts of England, nowadays. The main characters in the book are Tar and Gemma. Tar is a very caring, shy and a considerate person. Gemma is a very loud and a bubbly person. Tar decides to run away from home . Gemma wants to run away with Tar but although Tar wants her to come he is reluctant to let her come as he has no where to stay. A shopkeeper finds Tar and Gemma a squat to stay in with three other people, Richard, Vonny and Jerry. While having a party at the squat Gemma comes across two people Rob and Lily. They move in with Rob and Lily to soon discover they’re heroin addicts, and soon become addicts themselves. This book is full of ups and downs of the four as they try to lead decent lives, as they try to earn money without having to work and as they try to kick their addiction.

 

The book is told by various characters which is good because you get to hear the story from different points of view. I liked the characters but I disliked some of them. I didn’t like Lily because I found her very manipulative and bossy. I liked the rest of the characters too but my favourite was Tar. I liked Tar because he’s very caring, soft, shy, considerate and in a way he’s a very vulnerable character. His vulnerability shows by the way he always needs a little push in the right direction and always looks to people older than him for wisdom and advice. I thought the dialogue was very realistic as it uses English slang and it’s how English teenagers talk now. I thought the relations were very believable as well, especially Tar and Gemma’s relationship. Tar and Gemma’s relationship is a very up down relationship and by the end of the book you still don’t know what could happen between two. The book kept my interest right the way through to the end because the book is full of twists and turns. There is always something happening and just as everything is going okay there is always a twist or turn around the corner. There were also moments of suspense when there’s police knocking on the door and you’re left wondering will they get away or who’ll take the blame.

 

I found the ending of the book left me wanting to read more and find out what happened next because the ending leaves you wondering.

I found that the language may be hard for some readers to understand but some may find it easy enough with very good descriptions of people and places. I would give this book to teenagers because that’s who it’s about and it takes you through teenagers’ journey as they run away from home and try and lead decent lives.

By Andrea Golding

  The book ‘Junk’ by Melvin Burgess is a realistically written book in which two teenagers (Gemma&Tar) run away from home because of their parents. Tar who gets beat up by his parents has bruises all over his body, but Gemma who isn`t allowed to do anything runs away partly because of Tar.

Tar and Gemma run away together and end up 100 miles from their homes in Bristol. They start squatting and going to parties, getting drunk. With the parties the drugs come and mostly they are heroine. They meet friends who don`t want to make it easy for them to take drugs, however both of them try and "Once tried it is impossible to stop!". It gets really serious and police are involved numerous times however they always somehow manage to get away without going to jail.

At 17 Gemma gets pregnant and the baby is the reason both of the parents stop "Doing smack". At the end Gemma’s feelings start fading away and she wants to end the relationship between them. They decide it is the best for them to go back to their parents and that’s where they stay. Tar finds a new girlfriend, however, he still sees Oona (their daughter).

By Matthew Guzik

The book I am doing this review on is Junk by Melvin Burgess. This book follows Tar and Gemma, two fourteen year old teenagers who flee their homes to Bristol.

Tar flees home to leave behind his alcoholic, depressed mother and abusive father. Gemma leaves home to follow Tar and escape her "over-protective" mother and father. At the beginning all works out for Tar, he meets Richard, a man who opens squats for homeless people. Gemma follows, but then Gemma meets Lily and Rob, two teenagers addicted to Heroin. Soon Gemma and Tar are both addicted themselves. The story follows their fight to break free of the addictive drug and what great lengths someone addicted to Heroin will go to, to receive their next "hit".

The story is told in short chapters, each chapter told by someone else in the story, Tar, Gemma, Rob and Lily narrate the most chapters, although some of the other characters are, in some ways, stronger than the main characters.

I thought this book was very good, it told a very good, and in some cases, real  story of the lengths people will go to, to get their addicted drug. The only weakness, in my opinion in this book was the length. Some chapters were long and boring and brought nothing new to the story, just dragged it out. The author uses slang and local language to tell the story. Overall I thought it told a brilliant and true story and was very informative.

By Eimear Ryan