Gym Candy by Carl Deuker (2009-2010)
Mick Johnson lives and breathes football. But when lifting weights and taking vitamin supplements do not give him the edge he wants, he turns to steroids. Along with becoming bigger, faster and stronger, Mick must also deal with "roid rage," acne, and depression. When he realizes he's cheated his way to stardom, he tries to quit but with dangerous results.
I really enjoyed the book because though it was fiction it used real life examples and taught me to learn from the character’s mistakes. A connection I can make as in the story GYM CANDY is how Mick uses steroids to become the best in him and once he realized that he cheated his way to stardom, until it him that he wanted to better himself without the help of dangerous drugs it’s too late and tries to detonate himself. As for my connection I had a fellow student which wasn’t a friend but a classmate and had a promising future until he got intense pressure from his parents and in order to impress them he started the use of steroids and it got to a point where he depended on them and many people were concerned as for a different side of him showed, when he finally came to his senses his body was so worn out that it needed the use of steroids to live his active life and when he tried to quit he didn’t know what to do and ended up hurting himself and ruining his future. I liked the part of the plot when Mick realized that what he was doing was cheating and wrong and his attempt to free himself. The setting where Mick pulled the trigger on himself was powerful to me because it made me think how Mick was at the last stage of depression and he couldn’t take anymore that he believed that the only way out was death. I really appreciated the theme and how it showed what cheating to impress and how it can really break you and not take advantage of your own body. The character’s mood changed drastically throughout the story from when he was happy and content with himself until he takes drugs to make himself better which puts him in a deep depression. I predict that if the story ended as it did, Mick took a while to get back into his normal life but lived with regret until maybe one day accepted what he did and moved on with life.
ReplyDelete(C.L,10th grade,ATC)
Gym Candy is a book about a kid named Mick who decides that to attempt to better his sporting career, he will start taking steroids. However, the use of steroids, quickly take a downturn and make him have a negative attitude all the time. His friends try to convince him to stop, but to no avail. Eventually, it climaxes when a friend confronts him and the argument turns violent. Mick shoots his friend and then turns the gun on himself as a last resort; because he can’t find a way out of his steroid addiction. Mick’s steroid addiction reminds me of a friend of mine who once had a sort of addiction to drugs. However, unlike Mick, he managed to get over it and is now back to being good and healthy. The plot of this book is very enthralling to me because of it’s sort of dramatic writing and the way it keeps you interested. I personally was not expecting the ending and it was a nice sort of dramatic twist to end the book off with. It’s always nice to read a book without a happy ending every once in a while. Anyone who enjoys sports or very realistic situations would most likely love this book and I recommend it strongly.
ReplyDelete(J.S., 10th Grade, ATC)
I liked the book “Gym Candy” by Carl Deuker. I think it was one of the better books I have read. This book is about how some athletes take steroids to do better in sports. This relates to professional athletes that take steroids to do better in baseball and football. Almost every year someone gets caught taking steroids. The plot of the story is pretty good. This kid Joey is a very good football player who is a freshman at a high school trying to do better than the seniors. He takes steroids in high school to do better than them so that he can be the best player. He takes too much of it and it takes over his life. My prediction on the story is Joey will stop taking steroids because by the end of the book it he did horrible things because of it. He hurts himself and the people around him. He also goes thru rehab and helps him see that it was wrong to start steroid.
ReplyDelete(D.J, 10th grade,ATC)
I believe that Gym Candy was a depressing book because it had a lot of pressure on a young man called Mick Johnson his dad pressured him on everything he would do and criticize him because he wants his son to be the best and better than his surrounding like he was when he was younger. So what he does to do that is held him back a grade, made him train for football. When Mick starts increasing his weight training his dad has another idea. He decide to go to the radio station where he works and talk to the new owner of the local fitness center for a free memberships at the gym because it comes with the best deal. Mick starts working out with his own personal trainer. Peter, the trainer, has other ideas of how to help develop strength. Mick’s strive so hard that he felt that he wasn’t doing enough to make his father happy, which cause Mick very competitive toward nothing but else steroid use, with all its positive results and negative side effects. His game and his body did get stronger, his father was so happy but for how long will he be happy, because the use of steroids is not the best quality for success. I feel that many teens that play sports would find this book interesting.
ReplyDelete(BE, 10th,ATC)
Gym Candy is the inspiring story about how a teenager obsessed with becoming the best football player he can be becomes so indulged in his desire to excell and so tempted to try illegal substances that he ends up using steroids. The book is very interesting and engaging because of how realistic and feasable the main character is portrayed. The book reminds me of the movie Rudy because of Mick’s driving desire to be a great player and how he worked so hard to get there. In the book the characters have very compelling relationships with eachother making the plot even more convincing. The book ends with Mick in a rehab center for his steroid abuse and I predict that he will recover and try to become not just a better player but a better sportsman. Anyone who is into sports or compelling books would be intrested in this novel.
ReplyDelete(H.P 10th grade, ATC)
In my opinion, the book Gym Candy, was a very relatable, and understandably written book. The author made it very easy to relate Mick’s football career to the old days in my life when I played football. I played with much older friends, and was always the smallest in the group. I remember wishing I was bigger and older and stronger, and although I never resorted to steroids, I could place myself in the position of Mick, and feel relatively similar to the way he felt. While Mick tried his hardest to get bigger and stronger for his extremely bright future in football, he wasn’t satisfied with the results of working out alone, and then, wasn’t impressed with the results when he added vitamin substitutes. When he turns to ‘roids, he finally gets the results that he was looking for, and once he becomes the stronger, and faster football player, he finds it harder and harder to put down the needle. After his friend finds out about his abuse of ‘roids, he brings it up to Mick, and in a curious chain of events, Mick ends up grabbing his fathers gun, and attempting suicide. If this book were to have a seqel, I believe Mick would stay clean for awhile, but in his determination to return to football, he would find no other comfort other than the steroids. This book conveys it’s message to its readers powerfully, and with the realism of a blunt club to the head. I recommend this book to anyone who playes sports or is interested in sports.
ReplyDelete(G.M, 10th Grade, ATC)
I really enjoyed Gym Candy because it faces real life issues today’s upcoming sports stars have to deal with. The characters fit their roles well and brought out the book the meaning behind the book. Steroid usage is very common in today’s society of sports. Just like Mick in the story when athletes don’t get the results they want from daily exercises and vitamin supplements they turn to steroids. The book brings out the true facts about steroids and the effect of taking it. At first Mick was getting faster and stronger, but after taking them for so long he got the negative effects from it; like depression, mood swings, and acne.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of the book was well put together and gave you a good look on what environments athletes live in. The character that I felt led Mick to use steroids was his father. The dad pushed Mick the do his best and go all the way but Mick knew he could only go so far. I believe that in the future Mick will learn from his mistakes and his dad will realize that Mick does his best to please his father but sometimes can’t do as much as he would like. I’m sure Mick wouldn’t want to go back to his mood swings and hostile moments that he had when he use steroids. I recommend this book to all athletes that are having a hard time achieving the goals that they set for themselves in sports. This book will show them that no matter how hard it may seem to be the greatest drugs are never the answer.
(J.C, 10th grade,ATC)