Book Review Seven: Crank

Crank by Ellen Hopkins, published by Simon Pulse.

This may be my last Ellen Hopkins book for a while. Unless they put one on the strip shelf at work, or I find a decent cheap used copy. I'm not saying this is the last I'll read, just that I think I need a break. They're good, they're powerful and beautiful. However, they're also overwhelming. I may want to get away from my boring routine called life, but I don't want to do it by getting hooked on drugs or being abused. That's a change I would like to avoid, and unfortunately that's what happens when I read her books. I get so involved in the character's struggle (in this case Kristina/Bree) that I forget about Michaela. I become the abused. I become the addict. I become obsessed with the monster. I would prefer some time off from feeling like I'm stumbling, tumbling, crashing, burning, caught in a pit with wild wolves...

So, back to the story! Crank is the first installment in the Kristina/Bree trip with the monster (or crystal meth). If you can remember, I read Glass a while back and that was slightly confusing in the beginning because it followed Kristina's journey after Crank. Well, here I am with the full scoop and I have to say, it didn't disappoint. I expected more craziness and debauchery (I know, I know, she falls head over heels for crystal meth, loses herself in the high, constantly skips classes, sneaks out, lies to her family all to support this drug habit and I expected more? But if you read Glass it makes Bree look like a good schoolgirl in Crank). Kristina's first dive with the monster happens when she's on a visit with her biological estranged father in New Mexico. She falls for a boy there who introduces her to the monster, to Bree, and to love.

Through the course of the novel she becomes hooked, scores new connections, suffers heartbreak of the small and the volatile. She is violated, she is a willing victim, she is fearless and scared to death. She is in control, she is so far gone she doesn't know who she is anymore. This novel will take you on a journey and it will grab hold of you. Kristina will force you to confront her demons, which in turn will start a spiral of questions and doubts about everything you ever thought you knew about addicts. It's true, they're seduced by pleasure, by the adrenaline, by the feeling of being alive. But unless you can hear it firsthand or feel it yourself, I doubt you'll be able to understand. That's how I felt before this novel. I just couldn't comprehend. I just wondered, "so you feel good, what's the big deal?"

Here's an excerpt to get my point across:

Ecstasy Is Hard To Describe

It's like falling

softly floating

into a on your deciphering

pool of back codes

crystal circular in the

mountain beneath clouds

water vibrant spinning

sky dizzy

fast.

It isn't at all like going

clear throwing

out of yourself hallucinating

your in front black

head of a widows

lunatic runaway and black

mad train helicopters

insane behind you

crazy.

It's a lot more like jumping

into accepting

your own past forgiving

brain, failures yourself

ferreting freeing and those

what's self you love

inside destructive and even

demons those you

despise.

(pg. 428).

I'm grateful that I now understand a little more. If anything, I realize you can't fully understand it until you try it, but let Kristina's story be a message: you can't just try crystal meth and be done with it. It's a monster and it lets itself into your head. It becomes a part of you and you can't just escape or push that part away. You are now part of a life-long constant struggle for inner control and yes, sometimes you win. And sometimes the monster does.

edited to say: I have tried like five times to get that poem to look exactly as it does in the novel and for some reason I just can't get it to stay indented. Try and read them as 3 columns going vertically not horizontally. If you know how I can fix it, please let me know!

Book Review Six: Just Listen

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, published by The Penguin Group.

Okay, I put Sarah Dessen on my new favorite authors list. This novel was also exceptionally well-written. I didn't like it as much as TTAF (The Truth About Forever) but it was still captivating, charming, and full of deep dark truths. Bad things do happen to everyone, and that means they can happen while you're still too young to know what to do about them. You can either choose to bottle them up and pretend they don't exist, or confront them head on by fronting a brave face through a long struggle. In this novel Annabel Greene had a horrible trauma happen to her and it'll take the reader halfway through the novel to discover just what it is that Annabel is hiding. (I guessed it pretty early on, so you might too.)

What I appreciated was that Dessen allowed the reader a chance to see what had happened through Annabel's eyes before Annabel herself even thought about bringing it to the surface. It was like a small step of courage for her to relive it and I appreciated that she could share it with us first before the other characters in the novel.

This novel seems to speak about relationships more than anything else. (If you think the book is purely about the music then maybe you should go back and re-read it). There's the faulty relationship between Annabel and her mother. Her mother still looking at Annabel as a young girl with a modeling dream and refuses to see that she is all grown up and dreaming on her own. Annabel's relationships with her sisters are just as troubling. She has two older sisters who are polar opposites. While there is a huge focus of the family on Whitney's problem: an eating disorder, and Kirsten's exciting new discovery: she wants to go back to school, Annabel feels left in the dust. She is ostracized at school since her friendship with Sophie, the most popular girl in their grade, ended bitterly over the summer. Her loneliness and isolation allows her to befriend Owen, a major music enthusiast who is just as isolated from the high school world as Annabel.

Owen and Annabel seem an unlikely pair from the beginning but they form an honest friendship revolving around finding your identity. Owen believes it can be found through honest communication and the world of music, whereas Annabel was used to putting on a face that everyone wanted to see and saying the words everyone wanted to hear. Through a trusting and at times, uncomfortable friendship with Owen, Annabel learns who she really is and how much she can handle after all. She surprises herself and readers in this gripping tale about a young woman's journey to figure out her place in the world.

On a side note, the music that is featured in this novel does not sound like anything I would ever listen to. I loved Owen as a character but as an enlightened listener, no thank you. However, the title did work perfectly; Just Listen could refer to just listening to what your memories are telling you, just listen to your family and friends when they have a problem, or just listen to the music, that's what it was intended for. Don't judge, just listen. Give it a chance. It could blow your mind.

Favorite Quote: "I was beginning to see, though, that the unknown wasn't always the greatest thing to fear. The people who know you best can be riskier, because the words they say and the things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well," (pg. 67).

P.S. I just realized what I really like about the two novels by Sarah Dessen I have read so far is that the young girl may be struggling and she may meet a young, cute, insightful guy, but that guy doesn't rescue her. You may think you like novels where the guy comes and rescues the girl and they live happily ever after. It's not the truth. It's not reality. It'd be nice if life worked that way, but alas, it doesn't. What happens in these novels is more realistic: the guy comes along and offers witty, charming insight and the girl starts to think and she comes to terms on her own. She learns with his help and she makes life changes and discoveries and falls in love, but it's due to her own strength and determination. Very feminist. Which of course means I love it. And I love insightful hot male leads.

Book Review Five: Tangled

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler, published by HarperTeen.

So this is my second book by Carolyn Mackler. My first was Vegan Virgin Valentine which I mainly loved because it was set in Brockport, NY where I went to college. How exciting is it to read a book about a place you actually know? Pretty freaking exciting, in my opinion. I loved recognizing street names and restaurants, and pretty much feeling connected to this character because I could actually envision her walking the streets I had once walked. I don't remember much about that book now, nothing against the book just that I have an awful awful memory and have read many books since.

Tangled also took me on a trip back to Brockport (located about a half an hour from where I live now and where my boyfriend still goes to school). Basically the book is centered around four characters: Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen. They are all different, yet inter-connected. Jena's mom is friends with Skye's mom who has them all go on vacation to a resort. There they meet Dakota, whose brother is Owen. Jena and Dakota fool around, he blows her off for Skye, who is an actress and apparently gorgeous.

First we deal with Jena's self-esteem issues and her struggle to feel like she is living. She thinks her life isn't important or adventurous so she collects quotes from famous people to live vicariously through. Then we get to Dakota who is dealing with the death of his girlfriend from the year prior. He learns some things about his relationship with her that he wishes he hadn't. He also starts making bad decisions which cost him suspension and a week with his insensitive/tough grandparents. Then we get to Skye who isn't as superficial as she looks. We learn that having the perfect life doesn't always equal happiness and sometimes emotions are better than having none at all. Finally, the book ends with a look at Owen's life. He didn't have it the best growing up as Dakota's younger brother. He was beaten around a lot and that resulted in him being reclusive and living a life online with his blog: Loser with a Laptop. We discover his connection with Jena and how sometimes bad circumstances can turn around and bring you happiness after all.

It may sound like I just gave a lot away, but I promise there is a lot left for you to discover in this complicated novel. I've always been a fan of how strangers are connected and can influence each other's lives without realizing it, so this novel fascinated me from the start. I wasn't altogether impressed with the language of the characters, probably hoping for some third-person awe-inspiring beauty in words. But I realized that it had to be written in first-person point of view through each person. It wouldn't be the same novel if it wasn't. We wouldn't be able to tell what they were actually thinking, thus giving way to their very real and very age-defining emotions. Mackler's handle on the teenagers vividly displays just how confusing and messy lives can be when you're in high school. It also accurately describes how everyone wants to fit in, but really no one fits in, not even when you're on the "inside."

I think this novel is a touch of fresh air. It definitely can help teens realize that we're all struggling with something inside, we're all trying to hold it together.

I honestly didn't love every character or every moment of this novel. I personally only really liked the last part with Owen, but I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and he seemed the most real in a likeable sense to me. It's a good read though, quick and thought-provoking.

p.s. My favorite quotes from the novel were:

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." -241, Nietzsche

'"It's like you wake up one morning, O, and decide that how you've been in the past doesn't have to define who you are in the future.'"-250

Book Review Four: are these my basoomas I see before me?

are these my basoomas i see before me? by Louise Rennison, published by HaperTeen.

If this is your first time hearing of Georgia Nicolson and her confessions of luuurve then you have to go back to the beginning and read all of the 10 confessions in this series, starting with angus, thongs, and full-frontal snogging. First of all, the titles are hilarious enough to inspire you to read them, from on the bright side, i'm now the girlfriend of a sex god, to dancing in my nuddy-pants and then he ate my boy entrancers (which, by the way, are fake eyelashes). But the books themselves are more than hilarious. They are adorable, witty, clever, charming, and full of twists on English words that will make you wish you knew Georgia and could speak her language. I swear whenever I am done with one of Rennison's books I want to tell people about my snogging adventures and how I have to go to the piddly-diddly department (the bathroom). Luckily for us American readers there is a glossary in the back full of terms we may not recognize and Georgia's own way of explaining them to us. She's an original character, she's a hoot and a half. She's feisty, obsessed with boys, and still struggling to find her self. She has problems with her parents who she thinks should stop meddling in her life and just lend her money and rides, after all, isn't that all parents are good for?

Georgia is not only a character but larger-than-life. Everything is written as if Georgia were real: the dedication, the glossary, the note at the beginning, any notes at the end, and Louise Rennison's website. It definitely gives the reader a connection to the character and makes for an unusual twist on the barrier between character and author. At times it makes me wonder who is Louise Rennison? Why doesn't it just say written by Georgia Nicolson? But alas, I must admit that Rennison is that talented that she even fooled me. I want Georgia to be real. I don't want this final confession to be the last I hear of her (which I may not have to worry about because they made the first book into a movie! I'll have to watch that soon and let you know how it stocks up!).

Here is my only warning to you: if you are a teenage girl who sometimes likes to be silly, who likes to pretend she has an accent, who wishes she had countless adventures with love ... then clear your calendar! Once you start reading you won't be able to put these books down. You'll devour them (I read this last book in one day) and you'll be caught laughing to yourself or proclaiming "Oh Georgia" to an empty room. You should not read these in public for fear of being judged as a crazy person.

Language and Geographic barriers aside, Georgia is like any American teenage girl. She wants to go out and have fun. She makes fun of her parents, she's annoyed by her little sister and her crazy cat. She worries about make-up, pimples, school, her teachers, boys, and her friends. But everything in her life comes out as funny because there is no one quite like Georgia. She makes herself the center of attention in her group of friends and is always on-again-off-again with her best friend Jas, who is, according to Georgia, in love with her owl collection and her boyfriend, Tom. But no matter how self-obsessed Georgia may seem at times, constantly telling her parents that they are too old to be acting the way they are, or turning every conversation back to herself, or causing trouble in her classes in an effort to amuse herself, she has this insatiable charm. You can tell that she truly cares about her friends and family. She protects her little sister even though she's constantly intruding in Georgia's life or messing up her room. She cares about Angus, her cat, even though he may be the most bizarre and wild pet I have ever heard of.

This final book makes Georgia finally decide between Masimo, the Luuurve God, and Dave the Laugh. It's up to Georgia to decide who she really loves. Does she only love Masimo because of the kissing (since they can't tell they have anything in common due to the language barrier) or does she really love Dave the Laugh because she can be her outrageous spontaneous self around him? I won't spoil it for you, but I will tell you the ending is adorable, I laughed the whole way through, and I'm sad to see it end.

p.s. I love when Dave the Laugh calls Georgia kittykat and sex kitten. Too cute for words.

Book Review Three: The Truth About Forever

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, published by The Penguin Group.

I freely admit that this is the first book I have read by Sarah Dessen. I knew she was an up-and-coming young adult author and I just hadn't read anything by her yet. Typically I don't read the same books as the rest of teens. I don't read the Clique series, or the Princess Diary series, or Twilight. I do, however, judge a book by it's cover. It's wrong, I know, but if I like the front cover I'm motivated enough to read the back of the book. If I like what the back says, then I'll read it. Most of the time that's what works and that's how I find really good authors.

That wasn't the case this time. I had heard about her a lot, and seen her books on the shelves enough times to note that she would be good. Then a co-worker suggested her and said she deals with serious issues in a new way. I was interested but had a lot of other books to read in my way. Then my boyfriend got me The Truth About Forever as a Christmas gift and I couldn't stall any longer. Here it was, my chance to see if she was as good as everyone claimed.

She isn't. She's BETTER. Trust me, I haven't loved a book this much since Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. Which was this past summer, so it was nice to fall in love with characters again. It had been a long while since I loved something so much that it was the last thing I wanted to do before I went to bed and the first thing I wanted to read in the morning. I couldn't stop reading, but at the same time I didn't want to finish. That meant it would be over, and then what? I'd lose those characters that I had grown so attached to. Sometimes I find it just unfair that I read fast, it makes it that much worse to find something special and finish it in a short amount of time.

But back to the novel ... Macy is alone for the summer while her boyfriend, Jason is at Brain Camp. He is perfect and has inspired such perfection in her. She thinks of perfection as control and stability and therefore strives by it. She needs her rigid schedule to keep calm in her life since her dad's death the year before. His unexpected passing, and her key role in the moment, are what have made such an impact on her life. She is a changed Macy because of it, and not for the better. Her relationship with her mother is pivotal in the novel, as is her new job with Wish, a local catering company.

Wish brings about new characters to disrupt Macy's controlled life. She begins to thrive in chaos instead of order and finds thrill in mishaps and disasters. She makes new friends who begin to teach her a few things about truth, happiness, and being extraordinary. I don't know if I'll be able to say any more without giving some key moments away. I don't have that kind of self-restraint, especially when I love something so much.

What I will say though, is read it. If you like the unexpected, if you like a book that makes you smile to yourself, if you like staying up until 3 am because you can't wait to find out what happens next, you have to read this book. It redefines the way you look at life, being perfect, and friendships. It may take some trauma to bring people together in life, but what they can learn from each other and fresh life-changing summers is enough to make it worth it in the end.

Edited to say: I do have How to Deal by Sarah Dessen, which I hadn't read but did love the movie it was made into. It was a quirky teen movie starring Mandy Moore. It's on my list of books to read, but I already recommend it based on how good the movie was. :]