Smashed

Robb hits the ground running in this stark, hard-hitting novel. Jamie is just about to turn sixteen-on the cusp of adulthood with a caring girlfriend, a loyal best friend in Adil and a 6 year old sister who adores him. What could be better? For Jamie, the answer to that question is easy: his Dad not punching his Mum. Since the night his father lost control again and left Jamie’s mum with a black eye and a determination to divorce him, Jamie has picked up the heavy burden of The Man Of The House. His interpretation of this fearsome role is stereotypical-he must protect and comfort his mother and sister and try to maintain a relationship with a self-obsessed father who has been irrevocably diminished in his eyes. To add fuel to the flames he wants to end the relationship with his girlfriend Nadia, whose attentions were initially flattering but now seem suffocating.
He confides in no-one, seeks help from no-one. What supports him through these testing times is alcohol. As he comes to rely on it more and more his perceptions of his own behaviour are changed.  He becomes Super Jim, entertaining, charismatic, hilarious, when in reality he is a sad drunk who doesn’t know where to turn for help. Robb’s narrative style illuminates the book with black humour, accurate descriptions of the interactions of family life and, most telling of all, Jamie’s unsteady internal dialogue which rides waves of panic and excesses of drunkenness, shot through with feelings of isolation and worthlessness. Robb’s observations of character are spot on, involving the reader in wholly realistic scenarios. This is a bleak and moving book but with an injection of hope at the end: help is there if only you look to your friends. 
Jamie finds strength in his changed relationship with Nadia and his long friendship with Adil, realising that his problems are much less frightening if he shares them, opens up about his feelings-something his father simply cannot do. He becomes the adult he felt he had to be, but on his own terms.