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Student
A lot can happen in three years. ''Student' follows Allison from Merseyside on the day she gets her A level results to her university finals three years later, with one chapter per term. Allison fights off a sexual assault, loses her virginity, takes drugs, goes to gigs and parties, makes and breaks friendships, and has a near nervous breakdown. There's little about studying. This is a raw, intense and truthful novel about late adolescence in an urban setting (contemporary Nottingham), with lyrical moments and a positive note. It's never exploitative or sensationalist. This is a crossover book - it's suitable for older young adults and university students, and will ring true for students and ex-students from any generation.
'We have almost no university literature in the UK. David Belbin is ideally placed to help start it off, and this book is a valuable addition to the YA range. Anyone who has been or is at university will relate to the characters. The full range of experiences from that first year after leaving home are all here - isolation, friendship, sex, loyalty, heartbreak, happiness, despair. Some succeed, some fail; of them struggle. The book is full of honesty and insight, and you never know until the very end who is going to make it and who is going to fall by the wayside.' Melvin Burgess
'Tense, honest and pacy - exactly the things you'd expect from a David Belbin novel. I couldn't put it down.' Nicola Monaghan
'Fleeing a dysfunctional home life, an ex-boyfriend and an attempted rape, Allison starts her first year at Nottingham University intent on making a clean break from her past. As you might expect, sex, drugs, cheap booze and ill-advised games of 'Truth and Dare' form the meat of her extra-curricular education, but Belbin is too canny a writer to slew the book to devolve into nothing but the cliches of student life. Each chapter is a snapshot of Allison's life over the course of her three year degree, and we see her grow, change and stumble onward through the extended adolescence to find some kind of maturity on the other side. Allison makes for a smart, vulnerable and honest protagonist, and Belbin depicts her unsteady emotional development with a sure voice and no trade of indulgence. Required reading for ex-students.' Robin Lewis, LeftLion
'A beautifully written page-turner, the most sensitive portrayal of uni life I've ever read. 'Student' is absolutely up to date, spot on and believable - touching. Best 'campus' novel in years.' Jonathan Taylor, author of Entertaining Strangers & Take Me Home
'We have almost no university literature in the UK. David Belbin is ideally placed to help start it off, and this book is a valuable addition to the YA range. Anyone who has been or is at university will relate to the characters. The full range of experiences from that first year after leaving home are all here - isolation, friendship, sex, loyalty, heartbreak, happiness, despair. Some succeed, some fail; of them struggle. The book is full of honesty and insight, and you never know until the very end who is going to make it and who is going to fall by the wayside.' Melvin Burgess
'Tense, honest and pacy - exactly the things you'd expect from a David Belbin novel. I couldn't put it down.' Nicola Monaghan
'Fleeing a dysfunctional home life, an ex-boyfriend and an attempted rape, Allison starts her first year at Nottingham University intent on making a clean break from her past. As you might expect, sex, drugs, cheap booze and ill-advised games of 'Truth and Dare' form the meat of her extra-curricular education, but Belbin is too canny a writer to slew the book to devolve into nothing but the cliches of student life. Each chapter is a snapshot of Allison's life over the course of her three year degree, and we see her grow, change and stumble onward through the extended adolescence to find some kind of maturity on the other side. Allison makes for a smart, vulnerable and honest protagonist, and Belbin depicts her unsteady emotional development with a sure voice and no trade of indulgence. Required reading for ex-students.' Robin Lewis, LeftLion
'A beautifully written page-turner, the most sensitive portrayal of uni life I've ever read. 'Student' is absolutely up to date, spot on and believable - touching. Best 'campus' novel in years.' Jonathan Taylor, author of Entertaining Strangers & Take Me Home
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
15 people want to read
About the author
David Belbin
67 books21 followersBelbin's work is known for breaking boundaries and dealing responsibly with difficult social issues that affect teenagers. He first attained success with a number of books for Scholastic's Point Crime series.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 17, 2013
I don't even know how to start this review I guess I would start by being honest. I didn't like this one at all. It had me all kinds of confused and wondering what the hell is going on here. After reading the blurb and finding not one review about the book(that should had been my clue)I went ahead and read it and now I wish I can go back in time and take it back. I'm not trying to take anything away from the author but on this one it was a miss.
The main character of the book is a girl named Alison is supposed to be somebody that her mom,dad and friends are scared to talk to. And she has the boyfriend not boyfriend Mark who she wants to have sex because she has known him for a while and feels she can trust him. She is also going to college and yeah lets throw in a almost rape scene. Then lets give it some characters that are beyond undeveloped some drugs and sex her parents and then 2 deaths the end.
As a reader I never understood why everybody was so afraid to talk to her and what friends the girl didn't have any outside of Mark and their friendship was never really explained. I never got her need to have sex especially after she has it for the 1st time. And what was the thing with the drug usage? Everybody in the book did some type of drug with even thinking twice.
As far as her parents go she never has one conversation with her mom which i find that hard to believe they lived in the same house and that was her mom. According to the book they may live in the same house but they never ever run into each other! Oh yes lets not forget her dad (think this is the reason behind the "darkness"& drugs)book probably should had explored this relationship better seeing how it was the only parent she had interactions with.
The relationship with Mark was beyond undeveloped never even explained how the meet for the first time. And as a reader are we rooting for them to be together. What makes him so special? At one point in time the book states she keeps him grounded but how if we have no insight into his life and why he would need to be grounded.
And then at one point the books gives us other characters and at one point i am honestly lost and confused on who the hell should be talking. Her relationship with Adain actually sparked a little interest for me and then the spark died. Never understood how even in their friendship it was weird he never really affection towards her at all after they sorta broke off the relationship.
Oh and then the situation with her mother being sick I mean what was that? I wanted to feel something at that moment but I can't feel something for a character that we are never really informed on. At one point in time they don't even mention her mom. This would have been a perfect time for her and father to really start to heal. But nope didn't happen at all.
Like I stated before I'm really not trying to talk anything away from the author but this book was not good at all and then it was super short and cost 3.67. I wanted to love it heck i even wanted to just like the bloody thing but that was not going to happen. I could say so much more but I'm tired.
The main character of the book is a girl named Alison is supposed to be somebody that her mom,dad and friends are scared to talk to. And she has the boyfriend not boyfriend Mark who she wants to have sex because she has known him for a while and feels she can trust him. She is also going to college and yeah lets throw in a almost rape scene. Then lets give it some characters that are beyond undeveloped some drugs and sex her parents and then 2 deaths the end.
As a reader I never understood why everybody was so afraid to talk to her and what friends the girl didn't have any outside of Mark and their friendship was never really explained. I never got her need to have sex especially after she has it for the 1st time. And what was the thing with the drug usage? Everybody in the book did some type of drug with even thinking twice.
As far as her parents go she never has one conversation with her mom which i find that hard to believe they lived in the same house and that was her mom. According to the book they may live in the same house but they never ever run into each other! Oh yes lets not forget her dad (think this is the reason behind the "darkness"& drugs)book probably should had explored this relationship better seeing how it was the only parent she had interactions with.
The relationship with Mark was beyond undeveloped never even explained how the meet for the first time. And as a reader are we rooting for them to be together. What makes him so special? At one point in time the book states she keeps him grounded but how if we have no insight into his life and why he would need to be grounded.
And then at one point the books gives us other characters and at one point i am honestly lost and confused on who the hell should be talking. Her relationship with Adain actually sparked a little interest for me and then the spark died. Never understood how even in their friendship it was weird he never really affection towards her at all after they sorta broke off the relationship.
Oh and then the situation with her mother being sick I mean what was that? I wanted to feel something at that moment but I can't feel something for a character that we are never really informed on. At one point in time they don't even mention her mom. This would have been a perfect time for her and father to really start to heal. But nope didn't happen at all.
Like I stated before I'm really not trying to talk anything away from the author but this book was not good at all and then it was super short and cost 3.67. I wanted to love it heck i even wanted to just like the bloody thing but that was not going to happen. I could say so much more but I'm tired.
December 2, 2014
THE BOOK DOESNT EVEN END. U DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE END WTF.
August 13, 2025
Tried a new genre, coming of age and I must say I disliked it to the core. The writing was a bit bland and the MC was very sufferable. I dreaded DNF'ing a book hence I pushed through
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews