Tag: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Book Review: 5 Fearless Things about FALLOUT by Ellen Hopkins
Crank #3
by Ellen Hopkins
Nikki’s Rating: 5 out of 10
Summary: Hunter Seth Haskins, 19 years old and living in Reno, Nevada with his maternal grandparents; Autumn Rose Shepherd, 17 and living in San Antonio, Texas being raised by her paternal aunt and grandfather; Summer Lily Kenwood, 15 years old and in the foster care system in Bakersfield, California. Three children all touched by meth by no fault of their own but through their mother. Kristina Snow has left her children to be scattered along the west coast as she runs amock with the monster with no end in sight.
5 Fearless Things about FALLOUT by Ellen Hopkins
(May Contain Spoilers)
1. Children of Addicts
Ellen Hopkins does an amazing job of providing a voice that is not heard very often. The children of the drug addicts. Stigmatized and ignored, the system has failed these children in so many ways. It was refreshing but difficult to read a book from their perspectives.
2. I Love You/I Hate You
One of the most important elements seen in Ellen Hopkins’s “Fallout” is the love-hate relationships all the children have with their parents who deeply wounded them in many ways. This is true in most, if not all, parent-child relationships in which the parent is the abuser or source of trauma for the child. The child’s life depends on the parent, especially the mother, and therefore the child loves the parent. And this is why no matter how much hurt a parent does to a child, the child still loves their parent, it is survival.
3. Biological Parents
Also captured in “Fallout” is the drive for a child to know a biological parent, even if the parent already abandoned/traumatized the child in the past, especially the mother. You will see this in not just foster children who may have some memories of the biological mother, but also in children who are adopted at birth and who have no conscious memory of her. As an adopted child, I can say this is absolutely true from my own experience.
4. Attachment
Finally, another concept that Ellen Hopkins explores in her novel “Fallout” is that of attachment issues experienced by children who have experienced trauma in childhood. Often having trust issues, these children may avoid getting close to anyone or simply sabotage relationships because they don’t believe they are good enough and deserve the other person’s love
5. Writing Style
Just like “Crank” and “Glass”, Ellen Hopkins’s wrote “Fallout” in free-verse poetry. Making the novel that more interesting and powerful.
As always, thank you for reading. I would love to hear from you so feel free to contact me or comment below. If you would like to support this blog and/or my paintings please become my patron.
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Book Review: 5 Gratifying things about GLASS by Ellen Hopkins
Crank #2
by Ellen Hopkins
Nikki’s Rating: 5 out of 10
Summary: Kristina has gotten clean. Clean from the crank, glass, ice, crystal, meth. She did this for her son. But now that he is born and they no longer share the same body, the monster calls. Believing that she can control her usage, Kristina goes back to meth and things begin to spiral. But this time it is not just her, she may destroy her son’s life as well.
5 Gratifying Things about GLASS by Ellen Hopkins
(May Contain Spoilers)
1. Poetry
Ellen Hopkins’s has a unique writing style of her own in which she tells the story in free verse style poetry. Sometimes the structures of the poems will create shapes or other words. Also, some poems could be read not only left to right but also other directions. This allowed multiple thoughts and feelings to be expressed on a single page.
2. Rationalizations
The concepts that one can “control” the drug, that they will only “try a little”, or that they can be around it without using are all very common thoughts amongst addicts that have gotten clean. Hopkins really captures these thinking processes and also how easy it is for an addict to believe it and then get caught up in the drug again.
3. LGBTQ+
As like many other Ellen Hopkins novels, “Glass” includes side characters who identify as LGBTQ+.
4. User to Dealer
Another easy trap for addicts is going from simply a user to dealing drugs and then looking at an immensely longer prison sentence and this is beautifully illustrated in “Glass”.
5. Chaos
“Glass” clearly shows the chaos, damage, and pain that drugs cause on not just the addict but the addicts’ friends and family. Disturbing to read but so worth it.
As always, thank you for reading. I would love to hear from you so feel free to contact me or comment below. If you would like to support this blog and/or my paintings please become my patron.
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