Junk: Adapted for the Stage

By Melvin Burgess

Book Overview

Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn't want to be tied down - not to anyone or anything. Gemma wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, somehow, finally you have to come down. Commissioned and produced by Oxford Stage Company, Junk premiered at The Castle, Wellingborough, in January 1998 and went on to tour throughout the UK in 1998 and 1999."John Retallack's excellent adaptation of Melvin Burgess's controversial Carnegie Medal winning novel is splendidly unpatronising...a truly cautionary tale" (Independent)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 041373840X
• ISBN13: 9780413738400
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.0" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Read

"Dandelion, I love you." I'll never forget that. This book was a trip. I read it over 20 years ago and I believe it's time for a re-read.

Outstanding book that was nothing like I expected

When I picked this up, I was expecting some kids to think drugs were cool, then run with a fast sex, drugs, and rock n' roll crowd, have a huge tragedy strike, and then get the propaganda message that DRUGS ARE BAD (think "Go Ask Alice"). Boy, was I in for a surprise. This book is an easy read, but a much more complex tale than a simple parable about how drugs are bad. The two main characters, Tar and Gemma, leave home for things that every teenager in the world has felt in some way. Tar is abused, and leaves the hell of homelife for peace on the streets. Gemma represents every teenager who is smarter than her parents and resents their control over her life. She leaves for less justifiable reasons than Tar, but her emotions are ones anyone can identify with. There are a lot of people on the streets and in the squats--anarchists, straight-edge vegans, punks, pot smokers, and heroin users. Tar and Gemma find friends and their own form of a family, and it is very easy to see how they slipped into the world of drugs, namely heroin. This book has shocking events in it, but the characters are so numb to it all that they describe it in a subtle and offhand manner. Girls who sell the bodies for drug money in no way consider themselves prostitutes, because they have standards and they do it "on their terms," and on and on. The reader gets sucked up in this life and I found myself wanting to smack these characters and say, NO, what you are doing is not justifiable. This book has a beautiful ending that took me by surprise. No, the world is not covered in roses in the end, but neither has everyone succumbed to hell. I'd like to make a comment about the appropriate age for this book. My sister is a voracious reader. She's now 17 and was able to appreciate this book when we both read and discussed it, but she had tried to read it at age 9 or 10, and it was too much for her to handle at that age. This is a book for early high school, not for middle school readers.

Junk

When 2 teenage children run away from home together, they seek shelter in a squatting den with 3 others. But, the other squatters don't like Gemma, so Gemma and Tar move on, and find themselves under the care of 2 older people.A gripping tale of teenagers being drawn to the wrong corwd, and regretting it for the rest of their lives...

Great

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.

A Dangerous World Put Forward

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.