Perfect by Ellen Hopkins review

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect? A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

From Goodreads

This is a companion novel to Impulse & while not necessary to read that one first, it might help some of the relationships presented here make more sense. Just food for thought. :)

These characters overlap all over the place. Cara is the twin sister of Conner (the gunshot suicide attemptee in Impulse) who has her own issues with her perfection-demanding parents & a desperately needy boyfriend. None of that matters to her though when she realizes that what she really needs is to accept herself & forget everyone else who has tried to mold her into their ideal.

Kendra is the girlfriend that Conner dumped & made look like a fool because he was getting it from every woman he could find. She's got it stuck in her head that had she been a perfect enough model that he wouldn't have strayed, so she's taking serious risks in multiple ways to ensure her "future happiness".

Sean is the desperately needy boyfriend of Cara who has their whole future planned out together. He's even basing his college plans on hers & trying to ensure their success by juicing himself into oblivion. Too bad it costs him way more than he bargained for.

Finally we come to Andre who is the son of Kendra's plastic surgeon & the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Kendra's substance-abusing younger sister. He's hiding what he truly desires to do because of what his parents expect of him.

All of this leads to a lot of confusion on the reader's part. As a companion novel I was hoping to see more of the original cast members than in just the final few "chapters" of the book. Worse though was the fact that I felt like I needed a graph to keep up with who was with whom & which person was related to someone else. Needless to say for as little action as seemed to take place, this book had a lot going on.

Enough of the negative though. Ellen Hopkins' poetry has yet to cease amazing me. Her word choice & placement allows the reader to really empathize with the characters in a whole new way. While there was less of an official "poetry fell" to the work this time, the essence was still there. My favorite part of her writing definitely has to be the "hidden" messages in her chapter introductory poems. I always wanted to read those first to see what the character was really trying to say.

The story could be hard to follow at times, but the ending made it worth it. Nothing was tied up in a pretty bow and I think that was the point. None of the issues presented in this book are easily solved & she doesn't sugar-coat that fact. Her books are always a nice dose of reality. There are hard things in this world that everyone is struggling with & teenagers are no exception. If you're a fan, read on. If you haven't enjoyed her work before I strongly suggest starting with Burned or Identical first. I think those are my favorite books so far of those she has written.

Waiting on Wednesday: Perfect (Impulse #2) & Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

It's a Waiting on Wednesday double-header celebrating the ever-awesome Ellen Hopkins! She's actually got two books coming out in the next two months & I can't wait to get them both! Perfect (Impulse #2) is releasing on 9/13 & Triangles (an adult book) is releasing 10/18. I think I'm really going to enjoy Perfect because it sounds like one of the best books to put forward in my library for my YASaves display I'm planning. :D

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.

Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood.

Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?

From Goodreads

In this emotionally powerful novel, three women face the age-old midlife question: If I’m halfway to death, is this all I’ve got to show for it? Holly, filled with regret for being a stay-at-home mom, sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea, a single mom and avowed celibate, watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband? Then there’s Marissa. She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts. As one woman’s marriage unravels, another one’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s is reconfigured into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all three of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness before it is through.

From Goodreads

How AMAZING do both of those sound?! It looks like her adult novel is going to have the same style as her teen novels & deal with the same kind of pull & tug that I have come to relish in her characters. And Perfect promises to have the same roller coaster of emotions & experiences that make her books so unique. What are you waiting on this week?

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

To lighten what will surely be a heavy post, a quote a great 80's movie, "Teenage suicide, DON'T DO IT!" (Brownie points and kudos to you if you get the reference. If you don't, click here.)

Vanessa, Tony, & Conner meet in a very unlikely place for teens to be. They meet at Aspen Springs, a private psych hospital, because they all tried to off themselves. There are lots of other teens here just like them, but these three manage to form a sort of bond even with gender separation and so many regulations it makes their heads spin.

Their stories unfold in an alternating narrative that Hopkins uses a lot in her prose-written stories.

Vanessa is a stresser. She stresses out about lots of stuff, big and little. In order to help manage her anxiety level, she has become a habitual cutter who slices her self open to deal with her troubles. The release is so intense that Vanessa forgets to worry about crazy mother, MIA father, and the secret deed that haunts her to this day. Unfortunately, this last time she cut too deep and her misery and pain flowed out so much that she almost died. It was almost a peaceful and easy death, except that her little brother walked in. Now Vanessa has to face reality and find a new way to deal with what life throws at her.

Tony never had the stability that other kids complain about. His life was a revolving door of his mother's latest loser boyfriend. The last loser was the worst of all. He ruined Tony's sense of self and forced him down a dark path. Finally tired of selling himself to get his fix and wanting to sleep through the memories of a tumultuous childhood, he took a bottle of pills. Sadly, they didn't do the trick and now Tony must come to terms with his place in life and chose his path.

Conner just couldn't hack it with his family, the pressure of performance, and his failed love life. The push to do better and be better finally got to him when it was uncovered that "the love of his life" did not have the same feelings for him. As a last act of defiance, he blew a rather large hole in his chest. The physical hole was patched up by a top notch medical team, but Conner finds himself at Aspen Springs dealing with the emotional hole that is left behind.

Each has their own story to tell and each struggles through their treatment. Through it all, they share a part of themselves with each other and find the courage to take the next leap; only not everyone lands safely on their feet.

Another fast-paced novel from the master craftswoman Ellen Hopkins, Impulse is aptly named. Suicide really is like an impulse that takes control and makes people want to inflict harm on themselves. Hopkins comes through with a breath-taking way of dealing with the issue and isn't afraid to let the true grit shine through. Her characters are quite diverse and represent a pretty good range of the almost 5,000 teens who commit suicide every year.* It is almost eerie to find that you as the reader might share some common attributes with these tormented characters. Vanessa, Troy, & Conner will break your heart, but will move forward with you in tow. An agonizing and harrowing read, Impulse is not for the faint of heart.

If you or someone you know is depressed or considering suicide, please call the numbers below. Remember that there are people who love you and want to help you. You are not alone and you can move forward.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
Hopeline: 1-800-442-HOPE (1-800-442-4673)
There is also a listing of specific types of hotlines here. Postpartum (after a child's birth), veterans, teens and more can find specific help at those numbers.

All numbers are for the US, but the websites can point you in the right direction for international numbers as well. Be safe.

*Source