Review: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital is a place for people who have played the ultimate endgame. The suicide attempt survivors portrayed in this novel tell starkly different stories, but these three embattled teens share a desperate need for a second chance. Ellen Hopkins, the author of Glass and Crank, presents another jarring, ultimately uplifting story about young people crawling back from a precipice.

First sentence:
Sometimes
you're traveling, the only road
you've ever known,
and wham!

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I loved the other books I've read by Ellen Hopkins and I'd heard a few people say this is their favorite of her novels, so I had pretty high expectations. And while Impulse isn't a bad book, I was just sort of disappointed.

I'll start with the good stuff, which is mainly the writing. Like in the other books I've read by Ellen Hopkins, the writing is incredible, rich and beautiful. The metaphors are amazing and so many of the statements thought-provoking.

The beginning was confusing for me - it was hard to distinguish Tony's, Conner's and Vanessa's voices. I found myself flipping backwards to see who was speaking several times. It got a little easier after a while, but the voices and characters still seemed too similar. They all attempted suicide and they're all loners, but the rest of their personalities should have been different. The way it is, I never really connected with any of the characters.

Another thing that annoyed me is how little the reader knows about the characters' problems until the end. Of course I understand that Ellen Hopkins couldn't have told us within the first few pages why they attempted suicide because there would have been no suspense, but finding out about some things so late in the book made it impossible for the reader to see how the characters dealt with their problems and how they grew as people. I didn't see all that much of a development.That made it really hard for me to understand the characters or connect to them.

The romance is strange as well. The love triangle and how all of the characters change who they like so quickly but still talk about their deep connection and love just isn't believable.

***This next paragraph contains spoilers about the ending!***
I was pretty bored reading the last 100 pages or so as there is no real plot or development other than descriptions of the Challenge, which I honestly didn't care all that much about. The ending woke me up again, though, going WHAT? I didn't get the ending at all. Because it was hard for me to distuinguish each character, I didn't really get what went wrong with Connor's development that didn't go wrong with Tony and Vanessa, other than that Conner stopped taking his meds. But if that's what the book comes down to - the message being "take your meds if you're depressed" - well, then, that's just too simple a message to make an interesting read.

Overall, a very disappointing read for me. Great writing, but asides from that not enjoyable, at least for me. The characters are not fully developed, making it hard for me to get into the story. If you haven't read anything by Ellen Hopkins, I wouldn't recommend starting with Impulse. Then again, I've heard lots of people say this is their favorite Ellen Hopkins, so what do I know - decide for yourself!

If you disagree with me and liked this book, please leave a comment and let me know what you liked about it - maybe you can change my mind! (Obviously, comments from those who agree with me or haven't read the book are welcome as well.)

Review: Burned

Burned by Ellen Hopkins
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

Raised in a religious -- yet abusive -- family, Pattyn Von Stratten starts asking questions -- about God, a woman's role, sex, love. She experiences the first stirrings of passion, but when her father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control. Pattyn is sent to live with an aunt in the wilds of Nevada to find salvation and redemption. What she finds instead is love and acceptance -- until she realizes that her old demons will not let her go.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Just like in Crank and Glass, the only other Ellen Hopkins books I've read (review), the great prose is what I liked best about this book. It's captivating enough to make you want to flip the pages as fast as possible, but beautiful enough to make you want to savor every word. I have no idea how she does it, but her writing is mesmerizing, despite (or because of) the sparse style.

Even though the plot in Burned isn't as obviously important and powerful as in Crank, it's nonetheless fascinating to read about. My beliefs are nowhere near Mormon faith, but this books really made me question my own faith, and it's always a good sign if a book gets you thinking, in my opinion.

Pattyn was pretty easy to relate to. Like I said, my situation regarding faith is nothing like hers, as I don't have any of that type of pressure, but I could still understand each of her emotions, and most of her quesitons are ones I've found myself wondering about as well. The secondary characters were great and complex as well. I loved Aunt J and how we found out more about Pattyn's dad by hearing about her past. Ethan's character was good, too, for the most part. Again, I loved the connection he had to Pattyn's family and how that added another layer to the plot. I also enjoyed the romance between him and Pattyn, but would have liked to know about more about him as a person. The Ethan-losing-his-mother storyline could have been elaborated more, too.

While I loved Ellen Hopkins's writing, I thought her style fit Kristina's dark story a bit better than it fit Pattyn's. Not to say Pattyn's story wasn't dark - terrible things happen in this book as well - but especially the middle with the cute first-love storyline just didn't match the dark tone as well as Kristina's always-dark journey.

One thing I didn't quite get were Pattyn's journal entries. The author's style is so emotianal and close to the character anyways, I didn't really see the difference or the point of the journal entries. In some of these entries, Pattyn just writes about stuff that happened to her and that the reader already knows about, so I didn't really get what the reader was supposed to gain from those.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I was completely shocked at the ending. I kept thinking "she cannot just end this book like that", but then I saw on Goodreads that there's going to be a sequel, so I'm interested in seeing where she takes this story after that crazy ending.

All in all, this is another great book by Ellen Hopkins. Not quite as powerful as Crank and Glass, but it still has an important message, and the writing is amazing. I definitely recommend it!

Double Review: Crank & Glass

Crank by Ellen Hopkins
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Glass by Ellen Hopkins
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description for Crank:

Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina - she's fearless. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul - her life.


My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 
I was wary about Ellen Hopkins‘s books at first, as I hadn’t read any novel told in verse before. I do like poetry, it’s just that it takes me ages to analyze and really understand it, so I didn’t think this could be something I could just read to enjoy. There was no need to worry, though – the first few pages were hard to get through, but after that, I was hooked. I loved the sparse style, leaving out anything irrelevant to the story and making the reader pay close attention to every word. The writing was beautiful and captivating – hypnotic, even.

The story itself was painfully honest, frightening and fascinating. Even though what was happening was terrible, I couldn’t stop reading and finished both books quickly, despite their length.

Kristina was a completely realistic character, and so were her relationships with her family and love interests. In Crank, I could easily relate to and sympathize with her, as she was fighting the addiction and trying to do what’s best for herself and those around her. In Glass, though, I stopped sympathizing with her bit by bit, and towards the end, I really hated her. She was so selfish, becoming a ruthless dealer and criminal, and it was heartbreaking to see how she ruined not only hers but also her son’s life with her addiction. Usually, I need to be able to relate to a character in order to enjoy the book, but hating Kristina didn’t make me enjoy Glass any less – it just showed her journey and what and addiction can do to a person.
Knowing that this story was inspired by the author’s daughter’s experience makes these books even more powerful and emotional.

Needless to say, this book isn’t suitable for all ages, but l think this is an important book everyone should read eventually. The content is shocking, riveting and powerful, and the writing is just plain beautiful. I’ll definitely be reading more of this author’s books soon!