The Book Addict Reviews: Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Genre: Young Adult, Poetry, Family Life
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website | Goodreads
Rating: 4 stars
Picked this book up in a Paperbackswap game.

In A Nutshell:
As I closed Tricks, I literally cried for these characters. I was so taken with the loss of hope they each expressed. The loss of hope that led them to prostitution, gambling, and drugs was overwhelming. I kept coming back to the thought that we as a society have to figure out how to ensure that everyone has hope. Everyone has a chance. Everyone has choices. And everyone has value.

Review:
The more I read Ellen Hopkins, the more I gain a love and appreciation for poetry. Her poems allow her to express the thoughts and emotions of her characters in a way that I have not seen in traditionally written stories. When something happens in my own life, when I have to think through my feelings or emotions; I do not always think in complete sentences. A lot of times it is fragments, images, or just words tumbling out. I get that feeling about Ellen Hopkins’ characters from her poetry. It feels very authentic and allows me to connect to her characters in a way that I don’t see myself connecting to characters in other stories.

Tricks is not an easy story to read. Her characters are struggling with their sexual identity, the relationships with family members, death of a parental figure, abuse, and misguided affections. In many ways, they feel like they have lost their hope that things can be better or different, and that can be hard to read. But I learn from it. I learn a lot about how teens think. As an adult, I could see the flaws in their thinking and in the decisions they made that led them to prostitution, gambling, and/or drug abuse. But I could see how the teens in Tricks could feel as though they had no other choice. And I think we as a society owe it to our teens (to everyone really) to ensure that they do not lose their hope.

Recommendations:
After my review of Identical by Ellen Hopkins, I told you all that I wanted to read more of her books.  Tricks increased my desire to read all of her books.  Next on my list: