Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Crank

Author: Ellen Hopkins site

Pages: 537

Released: 10/05/2004

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Format: Paperback

Source: Library

“Life was good before I met the monster. After, life was great, At least for a little while.

Kristina is the perfect daughter; gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul-her life.”

-from cover

It all began when Kristina (protagonist) went to visit her long absent father. It’s not the heartwarming, reunion she was hoping for. Going to the bowling alley every night, watching her father follow around drug dealers and “partying” isn’t exactly her idea of fun. She meets the “hot” boy next door, Adam, and introduces herself as Bree. Bree becomes an alter ego for Kristina to blame her destructive behavior on. They play boyfriend girlfriend for a week, then he introduces her to drugs. Everything goes downhill from there. Soon enough she’s hooked. Though her little fling doesn’t follow her home, the monster does. The “monster” is Kritina/Bree’s addiction. Crank basically follows Kristina’s downward spiral into drugs, and all kinds of other trouble.

Crank is a New York Times Bestseller and has plenty of hype surrounding it. If you haven’t heard about it by now, you’ve probably been living under a rock, or illiterate.  So is Crank deserving of the hype? Absolutely.  It is unique in many ways. The writing style   is definitely very creative.  Written in poems with more than one way to read its pages, and discover hidden meanings. 

This book is definitely a good to turn you off of drugs. There is one thing that doesn’t make sense to me; why does she get into drugs in the first place? I don’t find the explanation in the book satisfactory. It revolves around her getting together with Adam in the first place. Even though he already has a girlfriend, he basically makes a grab for her and she lets him. Her physical attraction shouldn’t be enough to make Kristina go along with all the things Adam has her do. And claiming “Bree made me do it” doesn’t sound very convincing.

The other thing that bugs me in this book is that it makes it seem as if 90% of the population is doing some sort of drugs. I find that very hard to believe

My misgivings aside I really did enjoy this book. It really is a books that anyone and their sister should read. This book is very thick, but very fast moving, a real page turner. And I liked that all the “cute” boys weren’t perfect. In fact, some of them were downright horrific.  It has certainly earned it’s praise.  

                            

Review: You Are My Only by Beth Kephart

Title: You Are My Only    

Author: Beth Kephart site

Publisher: Egmont USA

Release/Published: 10/25/2011

Format: Ebook

Source: NetGalley

It book is definitely very unique. You Are My Only is written from the perspective of two people.

Sophie is homeschooled and moves around a lot. Her mother is very strict and doesn’t want her out of the house. However, Sophie begins to break the rules. She leaves their house and meets the boy next door, Joey. As Joey and Sophie become friends, Sophie begins to see how strange her life really is. Not being able to go outside, her mother wanting her to be perfect, them moving around all the time. At home the only books she’s allowed to read are books on advanced subjects like Archimedean solids. But at Joey’s house, thing are so different. Joey’s aunts are so loving. They read Willa Cather and bake cookies; Sophie’s even encouraged to think creatively. Why are Sophie and her mother running? What is her mother hiding?

Emmy is a new mother that has just discovered her baby’s missing, taken in broad daylight from her front lawn. All that’s left of her is one yellow sock. The police haven’t had any luck and her abusive husband, Peter, is furious. Emmy goes off on her own to look for Baby. She meets a nice man named Arlen whom saves her life and helps her look for Baby.  However, the police find this behavior very suspicious and consider her a suspect. After a mental breakdown, a judge deems Emmy incompetent to stand trial. She is then sent to a mental institution. How will she find Baby now?

You are My Only’s rhythmic and poetic style was kind of confusing at first. It was hard to follow in the beginning. But I kept on, and I’m glad I did! After my brain got used to the writing style, I couldn’t put it down. The plot paired with the unique prose writing makes this book both simple and eloquent. Even though I guessed what the connection was between Emmy and Sophie, I liked that that’s one of the big mysteries of the book. If you find it kind of obvious, not to worry: there are other surprises. I wish it was slightly longer though. But overall, I’d give this book 3.5/5 stars. It’s definitely worth reading.