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Books : Slake's Limbo
Rating: 
- Erin's Book Review
In school, we read as a group, Slake's Limbo (by Felice Holman), a great book, but I did not realize it until the end. Slake's Limbo is about a boy stuck between living in the subway and his real home where he really belongs.
Then main character, Aremis Slake lives in New York City. Slake is a 13-year-old boy, who became an orphan at 13 years old. Bullies picked on Slake because of the fact that Slake was small, even when they did not have a reason. Slake just wanted there to be a year, when the leaves stayed on the trees. While Slake was walking through a neighborhood he never saw before, he walked into Central Park. Then Slake grabbed a bunch of long dried grass and started tying leaves to the maple tree. Then a park attendant shouted at Slake. Slake was so scared that he ran into the subway at Columbus Circle.
Aremis Slake, instead of staying in the subway until things cooled down, he stayed for 121 days. During those 121 days Slake met new faces, rats, waitresses, and people who cared for him. Slake always thought of the negative; he never thought that something good could happen in his life. He never really cared about anyone; he never thought anyone cared about him; a few of the 121 days while in the subway, the waitress started to give Slake larger amounts of food for the same amount of money everyday that he ordered food.
When Slake found a "home", a hole in the wall, he daily started collecting useful objects: glass things, paper things, metal things, art things, clothes, and everything else to decorate a home that suits his personality. If Slake did not live in the hole in the wall he would have to sleep/rest on the subway trains all day long.
The thoughts and opinions I had were focused on what I agreed with, disagreed with, and how things could have been changed. I agreed with a lot. Even though I couldn't really understand what Felice Holman meant sometimes, I knew she was trying to explain Slake's tough life. I liked Slake, he was a good character and he was an interesting character, and he met new faces while he lived in the subway. Slake did not talk to anyone hardly - he really only talked when he ordered his meal of the day. I first thought he was shy, but I realized he was just scared. I enjoyed the setting because it was different then any other setting in a book. I think the book went a little fast, the book ended too soon. And I thought the book wasn't that great until the end of the book, which was because the book was not exciting or interesting to me until the end because the book did not make sense until the two stories tied together. I hope you find it a great book before I did.
Slake's Limbo relates to Phoenix Rising (by Karen Hesse). It is the book Nyle read to Ezra. Ezra was one of the two evacuees living with Nyle and her grandmother. Nyle is a farm girl that lives with her grandmother in Vermont. If you read Phoenix Rising then Slake's limbo is a good book to read. Ezra was afraid of going outside, almost the same as Slake, but Slake was afraid to go above ground. Slake changed and did not always think about the negative. Ezra overcame his fear, he went outside, and he tried to do things like everyday people. If you think about it, Slake's Limbo could be called Phoenix Rising because Slake changed like Ezra. Both of them overcame their fears.
I would definitely recommend Slake's Limbo to pretty much anyone who read Phoenix Rising and enjoyed it. I also recommend this book to people planning on reading Phoenix Rising, or people looking for an interesting book, a book that talks about people approaching their fear.
Rating:
- Adam's awsome review
Slake's Limbo by Felice Holman is one of the best books I've read. I think it teaches you to never let fear hold you back. It takes place in New York City. It's about a 13-year-old boy named Aremis Slake and a motorman named Willis Joe Whinny.
Slake got chased for almost his entire life. One day when he was being chased for no reason by bullies, he went down in the subway and got on a train. But instead of getting off at a transfer point, he got off at a place he'd never been and went to Central Park.
One of Slake's dreams was that "The leaves will stay on the trees this year," so Slake took pieces of grass and started to tie leaves back on the trees. But soon a man saw him and called the cops and Slake ran down in the Subway without a token and got on a train again.
Soon Slake got off at Grand Central Station and got chased again, so he went back down in the Subway without a token again. But instead of going on the train, he jumped on the tracks and found a hole in the wall and lived there for one hundred twenty-one days.
Willis Joe was a man who dreamed of being a sheepherder in Australia. It all started when he and his friends went to see a movie about it. But one day Willis Joe's father broke his hip and Willis Joe had to do all of the heavy work. Soon he got a job at a car garage. Later his father told him to be a motorman so he'd get paid more. He figured that he would need to save up for his trip to Australia. Years later, he started to see people in the Subway as sheep because he thought that their souls were blurred.
When Slake was down in the subway, he accidentally got a job selling newspapers and sweeping up a diner. He started to sell papers when he took some off a train and a man saw him with them. The man paid 15 cents for it. He got the job in the diner when the manager saw him there every day. I think that living in the subway changed Slake's life by teaching him to face his fears and not let it hold him back.
But one day when Slake was riding a train on the lower tracks, a train on the upper tracks was hit by fallen cement close to Slake's cave. When he went to the diner to work, the waitress said they were going to close up all of the holes in the wall, including Slake's! Slake went for about two and-a-half days without food or water because of fear of loss of his home and depression. On his third day, he heard hammering. The workers were coming! Or so he thought. Before Slake went out on the tracks, he took a piece of cardboard, spray painted a four letter word on it, and went out.
The hammering sound was really Willis Joe fixing a door on the train. When Willis Joe started the train, he saw Slake with a sign. It said: STOP. So Willis Joe stopped the train and brought Slake to the hospital.
When Slake woke up, he was in an air tent. A few weeks later, he left the hospital before he was supposed to and headed to the subway. But he remembered that his cave was gone and stopped. He didn't know were he was going, but the general direction was up.
The part I liked most was when Willis Joe saved Slake's life because that's the nicest thing you could do for anyone. I felt sorry for Slake when his best-and -only friend Joseph got hit by a truck, because after Slake had nobody. I liked how Felice Holman wrote two stories that had nothing to do with each other in the beginning, but linked together in the end. I noticed that above ground after Joseph died, no one cared for Slake, not even his aunt, but in the subway, he was cared for by some people. I would think that family would care for you more than complete strangers. On a scale of one to ten, I rate this book a ten. I hope you go ahead and try the book.
Rating:
- billy's book review
Slake, a teenage boy, lived with his aunt, who didn't care very much about him; he has very low self-esteem and his only friend Joseph, a mentally challenged boy, wandered into a street and got hit by a truck.
One day Slake runs into a pack of bullies walking through an alley taking a shortcut home. He walks back trying to get away. That's when they started to chase him. He ran as fast as he could to a nearby subway. Slake dashed down the stairs and ran through the turnstile before the security guard could say anything; he darted onto a train and took off before the guards or the bullies got to him. Slake was unaware of his future decision to live in the subway until he builds enough courage and trust in himself to come out, 121 days later.
Slake found a nice little cave in the subway and decided to live there. He found a lot of stuff like metal coat hangers that he bent into things that he can use.
He finds newspapers on benches in the subway and sells them. Over time, he finds daily customers and gets to know them a little. I think it was very important that Slake interacted with people that wouldn't pick on him like all the kids, because it showed him that not everyone in the world is bad.
He uses money from selling papers to pay for his food at a nearby restaurant. The waitress in the restaurant always gave Slake a little bit more food than he ordered. I think she kind of understood Slake's position. She showed a lot of empathy by helping Slake even though her boss definitely wouldn't approve of it.
I think Slake is stupid; I would never make the decision he did. I think he should've dealt with life and stood up for himself instead of running away. He should have worked hard in school and made some friends.
I think Slake's Limbo was a good book, because Slake ended up coming out of the subway and started to live life like a normal kid. I would give it a seven out of ten. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I enjoyed reading it.
I think the message of the story was never give up. I think Slake gave up and ran into the subway. He could've stayed above ground and dealt with his problems. I liked the way Felice Holman sort of wrote two stories: the Willis Joe story and the Slake story, and had them tie together at the end.
Rating: - mikey's review
In the book Slake's Limbo the main characters are Aremis Slake and Willis Joe Whinny. Slake is a thirteen-year-old boy who wakes up every day with fear inside of him. He is small so people beat him up. Slake was so small people hunted him and hounded him for the fun. Slake has had one friend. His name was Joseph, but a couple months after they became friends Joseph got hit by a bus. Slake felt like he was alone in the world because he had no friends and he wasn't very social with other people. Slake was also an orphan because his parents were poor and couldn't afford to keep him.
Willis Joe wanted to be a sheepherder (in the beginning of the book). Willis Joe does not want to go home to his wife and children so he stays in the subway as much as he can. What are the odds of Slake and Willis meeting and helping each other's lives? Could Slake change Willis's life forever (and vice versa)?
The setting takes place mostly in the subway. In the subway Slake finds a hole in the wall and he decorates it with mobiles and he hangs things on the wall. He also finds pop cans and fills them up with water in the boy's bathroom. Slake makes money by selling old newspapers, then he buys food at a restaurant and he takes sugar cubes to eat for a snack later. Slake also gets a job at the restaurant so he works to get food. Slake stays in the subway for 121 DAYS and doesn't come out! Slake gets new clothes by selling newspapers to an old lady and she gives him clothes to wear so he doesn't look too bad. After almost all the time he spent in the subway he realized that he had a place to call home and he never had a place to call home before.
In the beginning of the book Slake is afraid of everything. By the end he realizes that if you're not in fear, your life is more fun and not always "watch out for this and that." You are also not running away from people that are trying to chase you if you're not afraid of them.
Toward the end of the book, Slake is in the hospital and he leaves to go outside. Slake starts to go down into the subway but he stops midway and comes back up because he realizes that he isn't afraid of everything anymore. He also realizes that he doesn't need the protection of the subway anymore and that the sky is blue instead of gray there are also birds on the rooftops. Slake also realizes that he is happy for the first time in a long, long time. I thought this was a very good ending to this book because in the book Slake was never happy before and now he is. He also was not worrying at all. My opinion on this book is that it was pretty good but not the best I have read. In other words, I liked it but didn't love it.
I liked this book because it is very exciting and on the edge. On a scale of one to ten I would give this book a 7 ½. I think this book is pretty tough to read and has lots of really hard to understand language that you wouldn't use a lot today (but it is much easier if you read with other people). It is also easier if you talk about it with other people that have read the book and will understand what you're talking about. I hope you take my advice and READ THIS BOOK!
Rating: - Book Review Slake's Limbo
Hostile, Spell-bounding and heart pounding! These are the elements of Slake's Limbo, by Felice Holman. This story is about a young man, about 13 years old, running away into the cruel violence of the New York City Subways. No, it has nothing to do with the dance Limbo. Slake tries to pick up some quick cash by selling newspapers to citizens, but a strange man wearing a turban is on to Slake and how he is stealing the newspapers! Now not only does this kid have to survive in a cruel environment, he has to hide his identity from suspicious city folk. This is VERY INTENSE! In conclusion, Slake's Limbo is a suspenseful and fun book.
- Erin's Book ReviewIn school, we read as a group, Slake's Limbo (by Felice Holman), a great book, but I did not realize it until the end. Slake's Limbo is about a boy stuck between living in the subway and his real home where he really belongs.
Then main character, Aremis Slake lives in New York City. Slake is a 13-year-old boy, who became an orphan at 13 years old. Bullies picked on Slake because of the fact that Slake was small, even when they did not have a reason. Slake just wanted there to be a year, when the leaves stayed on the trees. While Slake was walking through a neighborhood he never saw before, he walked into Central Park. Then Slake grabbed a bunch of long dried grass and started tying leaves to the maple tree. Then a park attendant shouted at Slake. Slake was so scared that he ran into the subway at Columbus Circle.
Aremis Slake, instead of staying in the subway until things cooled down, he stayed for 121 days. During those 121 days Slake met new faces, rats, waitresses, and people who cared for him. Slake always thought of the negative; he never thought that something good could happen in his life. He never really cared about anyone; he never thought anyone cared about him; a few of the 121 days while in the subway, the waitress started to give Slake larger amounts of food for the same amount of money everyday that he ordered food.
When Slake found a "home", a hole in the wall, he daily started collecting useful objects: glass things, paper things, metal things, art things, clothes, and everything else to decorate a home that suits his personality. If Slake did not live in the hole in the wall he would have to sleep/rest on the subway trains all day long.
The thoughts and opinions I had were focused on what I agreed with, disagreed with, and how things could have been changed. I agreed with a lot. Even though I couldn't really understand what Felice Holman meant sometimes, I knew she was trying to explain Slake's tough life. I liked Slake, he was a good character and he was an interesting character, and he met new faces while he lived in the subway. Slake did not talk to anyone hardly - he really only talked when he ordered his meal of the day. I first thought he was shy, but I realized he was just scared. I enjoyed the setting because it was different then any other setting in a book. I think the book went a little fast, the book ended too soon. And I thought the book wasn't that great until the end of the book, which was because the book was not exciting or interesting to me until the end because the book did not make sense until the two stories tied together. I hope you find it a great book before I did.
Slake's Limbo relates to Phoenix Rising (by Karen Hesse). It is the book Nyle read to Ezra. Ezra was one of the two evacuees living with Nyle and her grandmother. Nyle is a farm girl that lives with her grandmother in Vermont. If you read Phoenix Rising then Slake's limbo is a good book to read. Ezra was afraid of going outside, almost the same as Slake, but Slake was afraid to go above ground. Slake changed and did not always think about the negative. Ezra overcame his fear, he went outside, and he tried to do things like everyday people. If you think about it, Slake's Limbo could be called Phoenix Rising because Slake changed like Ezra. Both of them overcame their fears.
I would definitely recommend Slake's Limbo to pretty much anyone who read Phoenix Rising and enjoyed it. I also recommend this book to people planning on reading Phoenix Rising, or people looking for an interesting book, a book that talks about people approaching their fear.
Rating:
- Adam's awsome reviewSlake's Limbo by Felice Holman is one of the best books I've read. I think it teaches you to never let fear hold you back. It takes place in New York City. It's about a 13-year-old boy named Aremis Slake and a motorman named Willis Joe Whinny.
Slake got chased for almost his entire life. One day when he was being chased for no reason by bullies, he went down in the subway and got on a train. But instead of getting off at a transfer point, he got off at a place he'd never been and went to Central Park.
One of Slake's dreams was that "The leaves will stay on the trees this year," so Slake took pieces of grass and started to tie leaves back on the trees. But soon a man saw him and called the cops and Slake ran down in the Subway without a token and got on a train again.
Soon Slake got off at Grand Central Station and got chased again, so he went back down in the Subway without a token again. But instead of going on the train, he jumped on the tracks and found a hole in the wall and lived there for one hundred twenty-one days.
Willis Joe was a man who dreamed of being a sheepherder in Australia. It all started when he and his friends went to see a movie about it. But one day Willis Joe's father broke his hip and Willis Joe had to do all of the heavy work. Soon he got a job at a car garage. Later his father told him to be a motorman so he'd get paid more. He figured that he would need to save up for his trip to Australia. Years later, he started to see people in the Subway as sheep because he thought that their souls were blurred.
When Slake was down in the subway, he accidentally got a job selling newspapers and sweeping up a diner. He started to sell papers when he took some off a train and a man saw him with them. The man paid 15 cents for it. He got the job in the diner when the manager saw him there every day. I think that living in the subway changed Slake's life by teaching him to face his fears and not let it hold him back.
But one day when Slake was riding a train on the lower tracks, a train on the upper tracks was hit by fallen cement close to Slake's cave. When he went to the diner to work, the waitress said they were going to close up all of the holes in the wall, including Slake's! Slake went for about two and-a-half days without food or water because of fear of loss of his home and depression. On his third day, he heard hammering. The workers were coming! Or so he thought. Before Slake went out on the tracks, he took a piece of cardboard, spray painted a four letter word on it, and went out.
The hammering sound was really Willis Joe fixing a door on the train. When Willis Joe started the train, he saw Slake with a sign. It said: STOP. So Willis Joe stopped the train and brought Slake to the hospital.
When Slake woke up, he was in an air tent. A few weeks later, he left the hospital before he was supposed to and headed to the subway. But he remembered that his cave was gone and stopped. He didn't know were he was going, but the general direction was up.
The part I liked most was when Willis Joe saved Slake's life because that's the nicest thing you could do for anyone. I felt sorry for Slake when his best-and -only friend Joseph got hit by a truck, because after Slake had nobody. I liked how Felice Holman wrote two stories that had nothing to do with each other in the beginning, but linked together in the end. I noticed that above ground after Joseph died, no one cared for Slake, not even his aunt, but in the subway, he was cared for by some people. I would think that family would care for you more than complete strangers. On a scale of one to ten, I rate this book a ten. I hope you go ahead and try the book.
Rating:
- billy's book reviewSlake, a teenage boy, lived with his aunt, who didn't care very much about him; he has very low self-esteem and his only friend Joseph, a mentally challenged boy, wandered into a street and got hit by a truck.
One day Slake runs into a pack of bullies walking through an alley taking a shortcut home. He walks back trying to get away. That's when they started to chase him. He ran as fast as he could to a nearby subway. Slake dashed down the stairs and ran through the turnstile before the security guard could say anything; he darted onto a train and took off before the guards or the bullies got to him. Slake was unaware of his future decision to live in the subway until he builds enough courage and trust in himself to come out, 121 days later.
Slake found a nice little cave in the subway and decided to live there. He found a lot of stuff like metal coat hangers that he bent into things that he can use.
He finds newspapers on benches in the subway and sells them. Over time, he finds daily customers and gets to know them a little. I think it was very important that Slake interacted with people that wouldn't pick on him like all the kids, because it showed him that not everyone in the world is bad.
He uses money from selling papers to pay for his food at a nearby restaurant. The waitress in the restaurant always gave Slake a little bit more food than he ordered. I think she kind of understood Slake's position. She showed a lot of empathy by helping Slake even though her boss definitely wouldn't approve of it.
I think Slake is stupid; I would never make the decision he did. I think he should've dealt with life and stood up for himself instead of running away. He should have worked hard in school and made some friends.
I think Slake's Limbo was a good book, because Slake ended up coming out of the subway and started to live life like a normal kid. I would give it a seven out of ten. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I enjoyed reading it.
I think the message of the story was never give up. I think Slake gave up and ran into the subway. He could've stayed above ground and dealt with his problems. I liked the way Felice Holman sort of wrote two stories: the Willis Joe story and the Slake story, and had them tie together at the end.
Rating:
- mikey's reviewIn the book Slake's Limbo the main characters are Aremis Slake and Willis Joe Whinny. Slake is a thirteen-year-old boy who wakes up every day with fear inside of him. He is small so people beat him up. Slake was so small people hunted him and hounded him for the fun. Slake has had one friend. His name was Joseph, but a couple months after they became friends Joseph got hit by a bus. Slake felt like he was alone in the world because he had no friends and he wasn't very social with other people. Slake was also an orphan because his parents were poor and couldn't afford to keep him.
Willis Joe wanted to be a sheepherder (in the beginning of the book). Willis Joe does not want to go home to his wife and children so he stays in the subway as much as he can. What are the odds of Slake and Willis meeting and helping each other's lives? Could Slake change Willis's life forever (and vice versa)?
The setting takes place mostly in the subway. In the subway Slake finds a hole in the wall and he decorates it with mobiles and he hangs things on the wall. He also finds pop cans and fills them up with water in the boy's bathroom. Slake makes money by selling old newspapers, then he buys food at a restaurant and he takes sugar cubes to eat for a snack later. Slake also gets a job at the restaurant so he works to get food. Slake stays in the subway for 121 DAYS and doesn't come out! Slake gets new clothes by selling newspapers to an old lady and she gives him clothes to wear so he doesn't look too bad. After almost all the time he spent in the subway he realized that he had a place to call home and he never had a place to call home before.
In the beginning of the book Slake is afraid of everything. By the end he realizes that if you're not in fear, your life is more fun and not always "watch out for this and that." You are also not running away from people that are trying to chase you if you're not afraid of them.
Toward the end of the book, Slake is in the hospital and he leaves to go outside. Slake starts to go down into the subway but he stops midway and comes back up because he realizes that he isn't afraid of everything anymore. He also realizes that he doesn't need the protection of the subway anymore and that the sky is blue instead of gray there are also birds on the rooftops. Slake also realizes that he is happy for the first time in a long, long time. I thought this was a very good ending to this book because in the book Slake was never happy before and now he is. He also was not worrying at all. My opinion on this book is that it was pretty good but not the best I have read. In other words, I liked it but didn't love it.
I liked this book because it is very exciting and on the edge. On a scale of one to ten I would give this book a 7 ½. I think this book is pretty tough to read and has lots of really hard to understand language that you wouldn't use a lot today (but it is much easier if you read with other people). It is also easier if you talk about it with other people that have read the book and will understand what you're talking about. I hope you take my advice and READ THIS BOOK!
Rating:
- Book Review Slake's LimboHostile, Spell-bounding and heart pounding! These are the elements of Slake's Limbo, by Felice Holman. This story is about a young man, about 13 years old, running away into the cruel violence of the New York City Subways. No, it has nothing to do with the dance Limbo. Slake tries to pick up some quick cash by selling newspapers to citizens, but a strange man wearing a turban is on to Slake and how he is stealing the newspapers! Now not only does this kid have to survive in a cruel environment, he has to hide his identity from suspicious city folk. This is VERY INTENSE! In conclusion, Slake's Limbo is a suspenseful and fun book.
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