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The final book in Hopkin’s trilogy switches from Kristina’s point of view to that of her three oldest children — Hunter, Autumn, and Summer. The oldest, Hunter, lives with Kristina’s parents while Autumn lives with her paternal grandfather and Summer moves from foster care to living with her father to back to foster care. Kristina’s youngest two children, David and Donald, live with her and their abusive father, Ron. All of her children have a high risk of addiction so their stories are mostly about the legacy of addiction and broken homes their mother has left them.
I spent most of this book angry at Kristina’s mother, Marie, for adopting her eldest grandchild and leaving the others to the wolves. Those of you familiar with the series will know that the series is a fictionalized version of Hopkins’ own life — Kristina is her daughter Cristal, Hunter is her (grand)son Orion, while Autumn and Summer are her grandchildren Jade and Heaven.
I struggled with this knowledge; I wanted to judge Hopkins as a person for the decisions her fictionalized self makes. Hopkins does state at the end of the novel that the Hunter in her life is thirteen not nineteen like the character in the book so this a more fictional tale than the previous two books. With this in mind, I am trying to shift my anger at Marie’s decision from the author to the character. (There are also probably legal reasons as to why Marie/Hopkins would only be able to adopt one child not explained in the book.)
Even so, I thought this was the absolute perfect ending to the series. To continue following Kristina would, I believe, turn very cyclical; the only change would be the addition of another guy and another baby. I loved how Hopkins shows the devastating effects of addiction for more than just the user, an issue missing from her previous two novels. Hopkins still manages to maintain the emotionally raw and painfully realistic aspects of her previous books despite the shifts in narration. I continue to be impressed.
Book Mentioned:
- Hopkins, Ellen. Fallout. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010. Print. 665 pgs. ISBN: 9781416950097. Source: Library.
Usually I enjoy Hopkin’s novels. The poetic prose manages to tackle drug use and other difficult topics in a way that seems but frightening — incredibly frightening – and beautiful at the same time. Her novels make me thankful for the life I lead and aware that one wrong turn could have sent me spiraling out of control like the characters in her novels. That’s how real her characters are.
However, I just could not get into her latest novel that follows the lives of five teenagers — three girls, two guys; four straight, one gay; some with good families and some with no one at all — as they discover the wrong kind of “I Love You”. The kind of “I Love You” sends you spiraling into the world of prostitution and drug addiction.
Maybe it’s because there were five characters, which made it difficult to follow along as the stories don’t interconnect until near the end of the novel. I felt like I was forcing myself to read some of the characters stories rather than enjoying them, and there wasn’t enough about the characters I was interested in. There are a lot of salacious details in this novel, and very little time is spent talking about the consequences of her characters’ actions, which is very different from her other novels were her characters do face consequences (pregnancy, disease, inability to beat their addiction).
So, no, I did not enjoy reading this one. And I suggest skipping this one in favor of her other novels.
Book Mentioned:
- Hopkins, Ellen. Tricks. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry, 2009. Print. 627 pgs. ISBN: 9781416950073. Source: PaperBackSwap.
When we last left Kristina/Bree in Crank, she had just given birth to her son, Hunter, and was optimistic that she could leave “the monster” behind and be a good mother to her son. But, funny thing about addictions, they’re just that – addicting. Glass makes a point of explaining – showing – what it means to be addicted to “the monster.”
“Walking with the Monster
Life
was radical
right after I met
the monster.
Later, life
became
harder, complicated.
Ultimately,
a living
hell,
like swimming
against a riptide,
walking
the wrong
direction in the fast
lane of the freeway,
waking
from sweetest
dreams to find yourself
in the middle of a
nightmare.” (pg. 1)
Kristina’s life becomes a downward spiral and, as Glass progresses, she stops being a “casual user” and becomes a full fledged drug addict. About three months after Hunter is born, Kristina starts using again, stops working towards her GED, starts ignoring her baby, and spends her time getting high and trying to find someone to love her. She supports her habit, her single attempt at being a mother, and her boyfriend’s addiction by selling the very thing she’s using. As the story progresses, her mother and stepfather kick her out of their house and file for sole custody of Hunter.
While Glass helps to answer some lingering questions left over from the end of Crank, it reads more like a filler book – one that moves you from Point A to Point B – and doesn’t provide as much insight as it does just one awful experience after another. And Glass‘ plot is like Crank all over again, right down to the ending. There’s still a bit of a twist, but I feel that was added as a segway to the story that will be told in the third book. {There better be a third book…I hope there’s a third book.} Glass is still a well-written book and I’m absolutely enamored with Hopkins’ use of free verse, but it’s simply not as good as Crank.
Heads up, one of the things I learned after reading Crank was the fact that with some of Hopkins’ poems, if you read the single words on the far side of the page downward, they form another sentence, another thought. For example, the quote of above also reads: “the monster became a living walking waking nightmare.”
Glass echoes this sentiment with all 688 of its pages.
Book Mentioned:
- Hopkins, Ellen. Glass. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2007. Print. 688 pgs. ISBN: Source: Library.
I resisted Crank when it was first recommended to me by Helen. After all, why would I want to read a book about a teenager who starts doing crank, starts tangoing with “the monster” when there are other more uplifting novels out there? But after she pestered me to read it again, and the recommendation was second by a sophomore I know, I decided to give it a try.
Crank is one of those books that just won’t leave you even after you turn the final page or even after it’s been two days since you finished it. It’s unforgettable and sweeps you into the whirlwinds of drugs, sex, and bad choices that have become Kristina’s life.
The way it’s written – free verse rather than a typical, normal narrative – creates a powerfully dramatic, raw, and real story. Some pages have only a few lines on them and on most pages the print only appears on the very right or is centered, but it’s simplicity is what makes it powerful and beautiful all at the same time.
“Crank, you see
isn’t any ordinary
monster. It’s like a
giant octopus,
weaving
its tentacles not
just around you,
but through you,
squeezing
not hard enough to
kill you, but enough
to keep you from
reeling
until you try to get
away. Try, and you
hunger for its
grasping
clutch, the way its
tendrils prop you
up, your need
intensifying
exponentially
every minute you
refuse to admit its
being.” (pg. 468-469)
Hopkins says in her author’s note that Crank was based on a true story – her daughter’s. She wrote the novel in order to understand what her daughter was thinking, and only decided to get it published in order to get teens to stop and think twice. And then think again. But she does more than succeed in this goal, she makes your breath catch in your throat, your stomach roll, and your heart break.
Read this. Now.
Book Mentioned:
- Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Simon Pulse, 2004. Print. 537 pgs. ISBN: 9780689865190. Source: Library.
This collection of thirty-six poems is, once again, eloquent evidence of Maya Angelou’s continuing celebration of life: Here are poems of love and memory; poems of racial confrontation; songs of the street and songs from the heart.
I really don’t know how to review poetry because poetry is one of those things I think you either “get” or you don’t. Poetry is all about interpretation.
That said, I didn’t “get” a lot of Angelou’s poems in Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. I have no idea what she was trying to get me to understand, and that’s part of the reason why I rarely read poetry. I did tab six poems I enjoyed, though.
Passing Time:
“Your skin like dawn
Mine like dusk.One paints the beginning
of a certain end.The other, the end of a
sure beginning.” (pg. 11)
A Conceit:
“Give me your hand
Make room for me
to lead and follow
you
beyond this rage of poetry.Let others have
the privacy of
touching words
and love of loss
of love.For me
Give me your hand.” (pg. 23)
Elegy: (dedicated to Harriet Tubman & Fredrick Douglass)
“I lay down in my grave
and watch my children
grow
Proud blooms
above the weeds of death.
Their petals wave
and still nobody
knows the soft black
dirt that is my winding
sheet. The worms, my friends,
yet tunnel holes in
bones and through those
apertures I see the rain.
The sunfelt warmth
now jabs
within my space and
brings me roots of my
children born.
Their seeds must fall
and press beneath
this earth,
and fine me where I
wait. My only need to
fertilize their birth.
I lay down in my grave
and watch my children
grow.” (pg. 63)
Book Mentioned:
- Angelou, Maya. Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. New York: Random House, 1975. 66 pgs. ISBN: 0679457070. Source: Gift.
