The Book Addict Reviews: Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Genre: Poetry, Romance, Realistic Fiction
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Goodreads | Website
Rating: 4 stars
Borrowed from the library. 

In A Nutshell:
Ellen Hopkins has done it again.  She has written a wonderful book full of engaging characters.  I could not put it down until the very end. 

Review:
I started Triangles with some reservations. I love Ellen Hopkins' young adult books, but I worried that her style and her voice would not transfer well into adult literature.  I should not have worried.  Ellen Hopkins' handled this story and these characters with the same eloquence that has marked her young adult books.

Triangles focuses on three women.  They are linked by family or friendship, but they each live very different lives.  The variety and scope of their experience will allow the majority of readers to find someone they can relate to.  Someone who feels authentic to them.  Someone who will draw them into the story.  For me, that person was Andrea.  So many aspects of her story resonated with me--so many of her feelings about what was going on around her struck me as similar to the way I would react in a similar situation (SPOILER ALERT: well except for her reaction to Jace which I felt was very very bad!).

But Ellen Hopkins' use of three voices allowed me to learn that my view and perspective is not the same as everyone around.  Maybe other people will not react to adultery or attraction the same way I would--but that does not instantly make them wrong and me right.  We have different perspectives, different experiences, and different concerns.

And once again, I found Ellen Hopkins' use of poetry and verse allowed her a freedom of expression that I do not see in many romance novels.  It feels a lot more like the way I think before I have to structure them into sentences and paragraphs.  It feels very organic and raw--which is where these characters seem to be as they work through all of the events that happen over the course of the book.

And this book is full of action, events, and movements.  There is always something going on in the lives of these women, which helps with the realistic feel of the story.  At least I know that is how I constantly feel!

The one thing that I was not crazy about was the ending--I wanted more resolution, more of an idea of where the women, their families, their friendships, their lives ended up.  It felt very unfinished to me--which makes me think there may be more of this story coming?  (I really really really hope so!)

Recommendations:
I have another Ellen Hopkin book waiting near the top of my TBR pile:


But I just found out that she has a couple more coming out this year.  One for adults called Collateral (due out in November 2012) and one for Young Adults:

The Book Addict Reviews: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Genre: Young Adult, Poetry, Family Life, Social Issues
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website | Goodreads
Rating: 4 stars
Borrowed from the library. 

In A Nutshell:
Every time I start one of Ellen Hopkins' novels I know I am in for quite a ride.  Crank was no exception.  Because the topic is so heavy, it is hard to say I loved it--but I am glad I read it and cannot wait to read more!

Review:
Ellen Hopkins' novels are always hard for me to read and review.  Her style is so different from any other author I have read.  Her poetry allows her to get to the heart of the matter, to get inside the head and heart of her characters without having to be concerned about grammar and sentence structure.  It feels very raw, very emotional, and very real.

But her stories are not light-hearted or easy to read.  She addresses issues such as addiction and rape head on.  While I appreciate her honest and open handling of these issues, it is not always easy to read. 

I think what scared me the most when I read most when I read Crank was how quickly and how completely the monster took over Kristina/Bree's life.  We get glimpses of her life before--and it seemed fairly normal.  But suddenly she met the monster and it ended up taking over her life.  As a parent, I find myself asking what could I do to stop this situation from happening to my daughter?

We get mentions that Kristina was struggling with Bree before she ever went to her dad's house, but that is one thing that we did not learn more about as Kristina/Bree fell deeper and deeper into the grasp of the monster.  I am hoping that in the next installment we can learn more about that struggle--how did it start and does she eventually conquer it?

Recommendations:
I already have the next book on reserve at the library!

This book allows me to see what other authors thoughts were on both Crank and Glass.  I cannot wait to be able to read it!

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: