Swollen

by Melissa Lion

Samantha only wants to be loved. By her father, by her best friend, and now by the new boy at school, Farouk. The more time Sam spends with him, the more she can’t stop thinking about him. To escape, Sam runs track at school, finishing every race, but never pushing herself to the limit.
Sam and Farouk spend afternoons at the beach where divers risk their lives to jump off high cliffs into the churning water below. Like the divers, Sam risks herself to be with Farouk, growing more and more attached to him, longing to feel safe enough to let herself go and show her true feelings.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Sports

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 10, 2004

About the author

Melissa Lion is a novelist and book critic. Her two novels, Swollen and Upstream were published by Random House. Her third novel is expected out next year. Her work has appeared in Santa Monica Review, Other Voices and an anthology titled, The Crucifix is Down. Upstream was recently optioned for a motion picture.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swollen has been a great book to read. I would really recommend this book to anyone who wants an off the seat moment throughout the entire book. From beginning to end, you find answers to the questions they set for you to look for. If this book was turned into a movie, I think it would be great, and a lot of people would want to see it, especially teenagers.
When Owen, the star jock of the high school, dies of a swollen heart, Samantha was starting to get a lot of mixed emotions-- glad that he is gone and not able to tell the school about their secret, and sad that she feels so empty. The gap is partly filled by the arrival of the new guy Farouk, who leads her to a whole different world of things that she couldn’t imagine doing, but opened a door of longings.
This book definitely kept me reading, because of all the drama that Samantha went through, it made me think about the real world, and my high school and friends. My favorite character would have to be Samantha, because she never gave up, and she just kept going. My least favorite would be, Farouk because he just left her at the very end for this tall blonde girl. It didn’t end the way I thought It was going to, I though Samantha and Farouk were going to live happily ever after, but he left her. I had a lot of emotions in this book, I felt happy sometimes, and a lot of other times I felt sad. My favorite line from the book would be “My mother had easily given me up to my father.... My father easily gave me up each time he asked me to lie for him”. I think this author wrote this book for teenagers who go through difficulties and for other teenagers to see what some kids have to go through in their everyday life.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is in many ways quite a gritty story -- promiscuity, unprotected sex, marital infidelity, self-mutilation, drug addiction, steroid use, abortion and suicide are all touched upon in some way. Yet somehow the author manages to get them all in without it seeming like an after school special. Samantha and her family and friends could be at any middle-class suburban high school. Although there wasn't much of a plot here and Noah's death didn't play as big a role in the story as I expected it would, I thought this was a very realistic portrait of how things are, especially the arc of Samantha's relationship with Farouk. In other words: win.

[Kat (sorceryofwords) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two things that put me off
•the length of chapter 10
•the fact that the ending didn’t make much sense

The male MC really confused me throughout the book and the ending made it worse, or i don’t know, maybe I wasn’t smart enough to get it😂😂

[James Crawford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure you've read books that you “just couldn't put down,” they were that good.

This is one of the books that you just can't really pick up. It's one of the very few that I almost gave up on, it was that boring.

There's not really any reason to care very much about any of the characters in the novel. Everyone has flaws, granted, but in this novel it's hard to find much of anything positive to say about any of the characters at all.

In addition, the book is stuffed to the gills with social problems. A divorce; a father's new girlfriend who gets pregnant; cutting; abortion; pot smoking; unprotected sex, etc. It's like “how many ways can we count the dysfunctionalities” in the people. There is just no one and nothing to really care about in the novel, no grand purpose, no overarching theme, just a collection of things people are doing that you don't really care about them or what happens to them.

One of the few books that I've read that I simply say just avoid.

[Tianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5.
I swear I just don't get this book.
Everything is so vague and nuanced with the characters without any of the issues in their lives being spelled out.
The worst part of this is that we don't get an actual reason why Farouk broke up with Samantha??? Was he just sleeping with her after he heard the rumour about her and Owen? Or did he really love her? If he did love her, why the heck did he pull away after they slept together for the first and only time??
But Sam was relatable, I know exactly how she felt throughout the book.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Character development was so weak in this novel that it actually started to piss me off. I was a teenage girl once, and I'll tell you what - they are emotional hurricanes. The best way that I can describe the main character's inner emotional dialogue is "numb." There was no passion or upheaval in this story even though it is exclusivy told from the POV of a teenage girl. Unbelievable. There was plenty of material here, just terrible execution.

[Joshua Vontran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and read through it fast as it kept my attention. This book taught me a good lesson that you should never change who you are for someone else. This book also taught me a little bit of how to treat women in my life well.

[Michaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just made me feel sad. Not the happy ending I wanted. A lot of extra stuff that doesn’t make sense or get answered in the end.

[MaryAnn Harlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be upfront this book touched some deep. long buried chords in me. In fact it completely depressed me. When I finished I had to go curl up next to my husband and just cry. And not Lurlene McDaniel, everybody dies cry. Just tears. Why? I don’t know, or more honestly have no plans of announcing why on a public forum. Sam is the invisible girl, who falls in love (with what turns out to be a mostly inappropriate boy, but really aren’t the ones who scar us mostly inappropriate?) It goes as first loves do, and while she has experience in physical relationships, this is a first love. Really what makes this book as good as I think it is is what is not said, what is in between the spaces. I think one review mentioned that Sam cannot be honest with herself much less the reader, and it is her blindness that allows the reader to really enter in the story. It isn’t easy, and I think the experience of the book is directly related to what the reader brings which I think is true of all books BTW (and which might explain why a middle aged man DID NOT get this). I haven’t said much about what this is about because I don’t think it matters all that much. The voice, the empty spaces, the tone, the mood all make this book one of the most affecting I read this summer.

[Neru Tamang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The protagonist is Samantha who is a good runner and who is not good in math and who call her self a "middle girl" and also her mother left her with the father. one day she meet a boy name Farouk and they start hanging out with the boy and the more she hangout with the him the more she start to think about him. and in track her record start to drop because she make excuse so she could hangout with the boy. the book mostly tells story about how the girl comes back to her normal life from the life that had changed sense the Farouk came to her life.

My favorite part from the book is when the girl meets her mother.I like this part because she haven't seen her mother sense her mother had left her.
I would recommended this book to people who like emotion because in the book there is lots of emotion part like when the boy stop talking with the girl,also when the boy sits with other girl in class, and when the boy stop giving ride to the girl.this book is awesome and also you will learn a lot from the book about life.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story about a teenager desperate for love. Her father can seldom be bothered with her, and when he is he sets a terrible example, often asking her to lie for him while he cheats on his girlfriend with other women. Her best friend cuts herself, and she expects any boy she's with to be like her father. Plus, she has a mother who didn't exactly do the best by her daughter in leaving her with her father. So, out of her desperate quest for unconditional love comes time with boys, and even a desire to become pregnant.

This is a decent book. While there's nothing really profound here, there is an honest look at what life is like for a teenager in this position. While reading it, you just know that Samantha's life would be better if only the people in her life were better towards her. I liked the ending, since I was left feeling sure that things were finally getting better for Sam.

With as fast of a read as this one is, I suppose it's worth picking up and spending an hour or two on.

[Gabe Neph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a young girl named Sam that is trying to find herself, along with love. After the jock at their school dies, a new mysterious boy named Farouk moves in. Sam takes a great interest in the mysterious boy. I would recommend this book to people looking for an in depth, emotional book.
I liked how Melissa Lion wrote this book to resemble and actually be somewhat like a teenage girl's life. Although some of the situations in this book could have been altered a little bit. The mysterious boy named Farouk was a nice touch to the story. He comes into Sam's life and takes her away from her best friend. I didn't like how difficult it was to figure out how the jock died.
Overall, it was a very good book. As I previously stated, Melissa Lion really relates the story to an actual teenage girl's life. I recommend this book to young adults that like a raw, emotional book.

[Lexi Bialik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swollen is great story of a teenage girl named Sam that is desperate to be loved by anyone. But she has a father that is a bad example upon her. He often asks her to cover for him cheating on his girlfriend with another woman. And Sam is scared to trust and fall for people cause she has trouble knowing what the outcome is going to be. This is because she thinks that everyone is like her father, and she doesn't want someone like him. Until she starts to fall for the new boy at school. With him, Sam can escape all of her family, friends, school, and everything problems. Sam feels amazing around him and can just be herself. Until he turns out to not be the man that sam thought he was. Overall, this book was great, and told a touching story about a young girl and her life.

[Sommer Ann McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very impacting and had a lot of deep issues in it. Ranging from a cheating father to a friend who cuts herself and feelings of inadequacy this novel spanned many parts of life. I loved the tone and the way Melissa Lion incorprated so many truthful feelings without making it feel bogged down. This book felt like a true look at someone's life and was very well told. One of the best realistic fiction reads I've had in a while. It takes everyday existence and morphs it into something that we can all relate to in some small way. No easy feat. I'd highly reccommend this book for those wanting an escape from their own lives, and something to think about.

[P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fantastic. It was well-written and believable and never too sappy. My only complaints would be that I got annoyed with Samantha near the end of the book, though I'm glad with the way things were tied up, even though it may not have been that picture-perfect ending some would hope for. Melissa Lion is a great writer, and it never felt like she was trying too hard to do anything - the words just were what they were. I appreciated the lack of cliches here and the depth of the story & characters. I would recommend this book to fans of Sarah Dessen's writing style and maybe even John Green's Looking for Alaska.

[Lupe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Swollen deals with real life issues. Samantha, is a teenage girl who is experincing with boy drama, she's a member of the track team and her dad is an unfaithful boyfriend. When a new kid comes to school, Farouk, Samantha falls head over heels for him. They spend so much time together thoughout the book. Hanging out all the time and walking along the beach together.

Its sweet and all but after a while it just gets old. The book talked too much about Farouk's and Samantha's attraction that soon their connection lost power. Also the book was flat it had no climax. It's not the worse book I ever read but I think that Swollen is not to its potential.

[Lexie Boydston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swollen Is about a boy named Owen; a runner who is found dead one day. His parents made a speech at his school claiming that his heart swollen up and he does of heart failure but everyone was shocked when they realized it was suicide.
"I run to feel my heart beat hard" this quote relates to the characters well because they're all trying to run away from something in their life.
This book connects to topics covered in class in our humor unit because it has a lot of dark humor about things that shouldn't normally be taken as funny
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a mysterious book that required a little more thinking

[Kricket · Rating 2 out of 5]

a cross-country running teenage girl gets her heart broken.

i can't decide if there's too much going on in this book (teen pregnancy! a different accidental pregnancy! cutting! suicide! infidelity!) or not enough (because not much is actually happening to the main character...) i didn't really identify with samantha and i wasn't sure what i was supposed to make of the way farouk treated her. it kept my attention while i was reading, but ultimately i'm not left with much of an impression.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took a few unexpected turns from the 'first-love-leads-to-heart-break' formula. The setting of coastal southern-California is brought out and adds to the story. There are some interesting side plots and secondary characters. This is an especially good look at how girls and women get to places where their choices, are obviously wrong - to an outsider - but they can't see it for themselves.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was major in depression, it started out with hope and dreams all those at the end were shut down and the main character didn't believe in the good people out there. I know i can't believe the theme of this story, because if the world was really like that, there wouldn't be families, there wouldn't be new found couples, and our world would drown in disgust and dispare. Don't read it, it's a waste of anyones time.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found my original blog entry, score!

2006: Swollen is a lovely example of a vaguely written, plotless YA novel. It rambled in several directions without ever really resolving anything, and I can’t even particularly tell you what it was about. There was a girl, and there was a lot of buzz about why an athlete at her school died, though they never really say. It was also kind of about her dad’s girlfriend being pregnant, and kind of about her year at school, and mostly incomprehensible.

[Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright but alittle to romancy and girly for me. Sammantha totally is a brat and doesn't even really care that a kid at her school dies. That kid could have been in love with her and she doesn't even seem to care. She even found he carved there inistials into a bridge! She just porays herself as a brat!

[Jia wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each and everytime I read this book over and over, I get different rush of feelings. Many times I get confused or rather tangled by the ending. Touching, moving and heart-lifting story that leaves a deep stain in my heart. I feel for Samantha each time I read this book. Sometimes I feel Farouk is a jerk and other time he's a gentleman and still loves her. *shrugs*

[Kelsey Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very intesting book to read. It was romantic, sad, and mystirous all at the same time. But did confuse me when they talked about OWen dieing at he bigining and then not really at all during the end. But i liked the mystery in farouk and the ramanticness in between them. And the story behing the father not wanted the baby. But this was a interesting book to read over all.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a parent of a 13 year old girl, this book is terribly depressing, and sad to me. It has started a few conversations though with my daughter about choices. (I read this book after my daughter brought it home from the library and read it.)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desperately longing to be loved, but afraid of being hurt, Samantha must conquer her fear of sharing her true feelings when she finds herself growing more and more attached to Farouk, the new boy at school.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that started me off reading. My schools library was holding a book bingo for students who made good grades and I won an ARC of this book. While I haven't read it in a couple of years, I remember how this book made my middle school self feel. Great story!

[Tim Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a very good book it was about a girl who met this guy who were both runners and one day this guy died and she met a new guy named farouk and those two were in love then this persian girl came and stole him from her and she was mad

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sparse book. The writing takes a weird turn towards the end, and I don't feel like most of the characters were really fleshed out the way I was hoping. Interesting father/daughter and step parent notes, though. Also, a Persian love interest that is seamless.

[Breanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a really good book it was sad but then got alot better and i cried at times but i am an emotional person and i am touched by books!! IT WAS AN AWESOME BOOK i even told my friend that she should read it!