Review: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Impulse
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pub. Date: January 23, 2007
Length: 672 Pages
Series: Impulse #1
Summary (from goodreads):

Sometimes, you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act -- suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade.

Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills.

And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle, the gun -- and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life -- but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

My thoughts: "Memory is a tenuous thing. . . . flickering glimpses, blue and white, like ancient, decomposing 16mm film. Happiness escapes me there, where faces are vague and yesterday seems to come tied up in ribbons of pain. Happiness? I look for it instead in today, where memory is something I can still touch, still rely on. I find it in the smiles of new friends, the hope blossoming inside. My happiest memories have no place in the past; they are those I have yet to create." ~ from Impulse

One word: Wow.

Ellen Hopkins is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She writes these powerful, hard-to-read-at-times stories in verse, yet still manages to make me love them and draw me in completely. I loved everything about Impulse... except one thing, the ending. I don't mean how it ended, but the way the ending felt. It didn't seem very final at all and seemed to lack the right emotion. Or maybe it didn't and I'm just in denial XD

Review: Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Identical 

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Pub. Date: August 2008

Length: 592 pages

Summary (from goodreads):

Do twins begin in the womb?
Or in a better place?
Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family- on the surface. Behind the facade each sister has her own dark secret, and that''s where their differences begin.

For Kaeleigh, she's the misplaced focus of Daddy's love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites -- and she is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex.
Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept- from each other or anyone else. Pretty soon it's obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must step up to save the other, but the question is- who?

My Thoughts: I was first introduced to verse writing when I read Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams. This stuff is powerful. Its raw and full of emotion and leaves nothing that needs to be said out. I've never read anything by Ellen Hopkins before, not even Crank. It's not that I don't want to read it, it's just that... well there isn't really an excuse as to why I haven't read a book  I've so desperately wanted to read for years. (My library doesn't even have it!) So, when the opportunity came for me to read Identical, I grabbed it.
"When I look into a mirror, it is her face I see. Her right is my left, double moles, dimple and all. My right is her left, unblemished." And so begins the story of two sisters, Kaeleigh and Raeanne. Their parents are married, but only by name. And their father loves Kaeleigh, but not in the way he should.
This is the type of story where the less you know before you read, the better. Although I was a little suspicious through the entire thing, the ending surprised me. It isn't the type that leaves you feeling amazing at the end. Its grimy, its disgusting, its powerful, its amazing, and I loved it.
I have read a lot of books; a lot that haven't left a definite impression. The ones that have are rare. Do you want to know exactly how many? Six. Just six books out of all the ones I've read. Identical got to me in a way most books never do. It's one of those books that will stay on my mind and continue to for a long, long time.

Review: Identical by Ellen Hopkins

 Title: Identical 

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

 Pub. Date: August 2008

Length: 592 pages

Summary (from goodreads):

Do twins begin in the womb?
Or in a better place?
Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family- on the surface. Behind the facade each sister has her own dark secret, and that''s where their differences begin.

For Kaeleigh, she's the misplaced focus of Daddy's love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites -- and she is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex.
Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept- from each other or anyone else. Pretty soon it's obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must step up to save the other, but the question is- who?

I was first introduced to verse writing when I read Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams. This stuff is powerful. Its raw and full of emotion and leaves nothing that needs to be said out. I've never read anything by Ellen Hopkins before, not even Crank. It's not that I don't want to read it, its just that I've been running low on money lately and my library doesn't have it, so I haven't been able to read it. So, when the opportunity came for me to read Identical, I grabbed it.
"When I look into a mirror, it is her face I see. Her right is my left, double moles, dimple and all. My right is her left, unblemished." And so begins the story of two sisters, Kaeleigh and Raeanne. Their parents are married, but only by name. And their father loves Kaeleigh, but not in the way he should.
This is the type of story where the less you know before you read, the better. Although I was a little suspicious through the entire thing, the ending surprised me. It isn't the type that leaves you feeling amazing at the end. Its grimy, its disgusting, its powerful, its amazing, and I loved it.
I have read a lot of books; a lot that haven't left a definite impression. The ones that have are rare. Do you want to know exactly how many? Four. Just four books out of all the ones I've read. Identical got to me in a way most books never do. It's one of those books that will stay on my mind and continue to for a long, long time.

Rating:

5 Moons