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2010 YA Challenge

Book Review: Glass by Ellen Hopkins

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Ellen Hopkins is fast becoming a favorite author for me. Even though I don’t normally like novels told in verse, I do really enjoy hers. After reading Crank, I had to pick up Glass right away and find out what came next for Kristina in her fight against the ‘monster’ (crank – crystal meth). I’ve been completely taken by Kristina’s life and struggles with her drug addiction. At times I am horrified by her behavior but you have to stop and think it’s the drug causing her actions. It’s such a highly addictive drug and lifestyle once you’ve been sucked into it.

Kristina has been doing pretty good where the crank is concerned. She’s trying to take care of her son Hunter while living at home with her mother and working at the local 7-11. The only thing is she’s feeling pretty unattractive after having the baby and she thinks, what can it hurt? Just a little here and there will help her lose weight and give her more energy to care for her son. This time though things fall into place much easier for Kristina. She finds it much easier to get the drugs and a better quality drug at that. In no time at all she is completely immersed in the ‘life’ again with no regard for her life and more importantly for her son’s life.

While Kristina has been assuming that nobody knows she’s back on the crank, she is surprised to find out that her mom and Scott knew all along. At one point Kristina puts her son Hunter in danger and her mother finally blows up. She tells Kristina to go and get her life together; that she can’t have Hunter until she is capable of properly caring for a baby. So Kristina leaves vowing she’ll get herself together and get her son back one day.

She ends up living with the cousin of her latest boyfriend and life turns into one continuous loop of drugs and sex. She knows she’s heading down a bad path but she hasn’t the power to stop it and just lives day to day – hit to hit. Selling drugs seems to be the best and easiest way to survive but that never leads to a good end. This installment leaves us knowing that there is more to come and that’s what we get with Fallout, which is available now.

As with Crank, Glass drags us full tilt into the world of a drug addict with first class seats. You can feel the hopelessness in the pages of Kristina’s life. I found Glass even more disturbing than Crank except for being relieved that her son was being taken care of. The life Kristina is living is horrific. There is no care for anything that we, as human beings, normally care about like a clean place to sleep, a job, food and proper care for our kids. She doesn’t care (the drug doesn’t let her/can’t let her) – she only cares about getting her drugs. Such is the life of a drug addict.

I already have Fallout and plan on reading it as soon as I can. I’m definitely anxious to find out how it will all end for Kristina. Will she get off the drugs? Will she get her son back? Will she rebuild her life? Or will she just sink deeper into the life of drugs?

Again, I think these are good books for teens to read but I would still recommend a parent reading them first. Not all parents are appreciative of the blunt directness with which Ellen Hopkins writes. As an adult, I was shocked by some of it but then again this is not a life I’m in any way familiar with. Glass by Ellen Hopkins is another great novel well worth reading and I’m glad I took Staci’s advice and gave both Crank and Glass a read.

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

My copy of Glass by Ellen Hopkins was purchased by yours truly.

Book Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

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I read Crank by Ellen Hopkins on a recommendation from my good friend Staci over at Life in the Thumb. I really wasn’t sure that this type of novel told in verse form was anything I would like since normally it’s not my thing. So, imagine my surprise when I started reading it and found myself sucked into the story to the point where I could not put this book down. I didn’t think an author could get a point across in verse as well as in a full length novel but in the case of Ellen Hopkins I was wrong. She can say more in a few words than some can say in pages. This novel reminded me quite a bit of Go Ask Alice which is a novel I read many, many years ago that still remains vivid in my memory.

Kristina seems to be a teenager with everything going for her – friends, good grades and never in trouble. Then on a fateful trip to see her father who really hasn’t had a part in her life for a long time, she is introduced to a life better left alone. Her father is a druggie, an absentee father and generally not someone you would want your kid spending time with. While there she is introduced to the ‘monster’ (crank – crystal meth). From this point on things are never the same for Kristina who further develops an alter ego, Bree, to handle her new life.

It is extremely disturbing to see just how fast this drug controls a life and destroys it. This drug is highly addictive and it’s said that from the first time you try it, you crave it. Such was definitely the case for Kristina. She entered a life where the number one priority was finding money and a way to get her next fix. As Kristina she is conflicted but as Bree she’s as a free as a bird to do what she wants. Bree is much more adventurous and daring than Kristina ever could be.

Kristina’s life is never the same. She risks her health, her family and her sanity – the drug makes her fearless. At one point she ends up raped by her drug dealer and becomes pregnant. She chooses to keep the child which is one issue I had. My other issue was why she was allowed to go visit her father in the first place. I don’t believe it ever said if he had the right to see his children or not but I would have moved mountains to ensure my kids didn’t get near him. You have to wonder though with a drug addict as a father if she wasn’t already genetically predisposed and may have headed down this path anyhow.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins is an intense and intricately woven story of the damage that drugs can do an individual and those around them. It shows us how the drug takes everything away – everything that was once important – your family, your future; and biggest of all, yourself. This novel is very powerful and while I finished reading it a while ago it is still very clear in my mind – that is the power of words. What gives it even more impact for me is that the author loosely based this story on her own daughter. If you’ve not read this series – there is Crank, Glass, and Fallout – you should. I think it’s an important story for both teens and their parents to read although it is quite graphic so I’d suggest a parent reading it first. I loved the book and moved quickly on to the next one, Glass, which I’ll review tomorrow.

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

My copy of Crank by Ellen Hopkins was purchased by yours truly.

Book Review: Pretty Little Liars #6 – Killer by Sara Shepard

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Killer is number six in The Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. I have been following this series from the beginning and will probably continue to do so. It’s a series for young adults but I’ve really enjoyed it. This series follows four young girls: Spencer, Hannah, Aria and Emily as they try to find out who this ‘A’ is that keeps tormenting them. They thought ‘A’ was revealed but it turns out that someone new has taken up stalking them and a new nightmare just might be beginning.

The premise for this series is that when the girls are a bit younger and friends with the all popular Alison, she ends up dead. It’s later discovered that she had been murdered and the girls started receiving strange and often threatening texts from an unknown ‘A’.

I’m not going to go back in the story at all, just skim what’s happening now. In this installment the girls find a dead body in the woods behind Spencer’s house which they believe to be Ian Thomas. They call the cops and go back out into the woods – no body. It’s gone. Now Ian was charged with Alison’s murder but is he really the killer? Was that really his body in the woods and if so, where has it disappeared to?

Things are changing for the girls. Spencer has found out something about her past that may have dire consequences and the other girls are all experiencing changes as well. This book seemed to focus a lot more on the girls than on the mystery of ‘A’. I missed the mystery and suspense of all the trouble ‘A’ causes but I still really enjoyed this installment. I like this series because even though these girls for the most part have more privileged lives they still experience all the same problems and insecurities as all young girls do.

Killer leaves us wondering who we can trust if anyone and the cliffhanger at the end is ‘killer’ indeed. I think I have one more book to catch up in the series and I’m anxious to find out where the story goes and what happens to the girls next!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

My copy of Killer by Sara Shepard was purchased by yours truly.