REVIEW: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

INFORMATION:

Title/Author: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Series: Crank (#1)

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Release Date: October 1, 2004

Genre: Young Adult, Poetry, Contemporary

ISBN: 9780689865190

SYNOPSIS:

In Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the “monster,” the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or “crank.” Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne’er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: “there is no perfect daughter, no gifted high school junior, no Kristina Georgia Snow. There is only Bree.” Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won’t, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

MY THOUGHTS:

This was my first book by Ellen Hopkins, and I will be totally honest, I didn’t like it as much as I expected to. I had been looking into Ellen’s books for a while and this one always caught my eye. But it wasn’t as intriguing and gripping as I believed it would be.

Something that I really loved about this book is that it wasn’t written in “normal” sentences and paragraphs. The author wrote it through poetry. Each poem was between 1 – 4 pages which made it a super quick read. I even think that there were no more than 100 words per page. So although the length of the book is intimidating, it really doesn’t take any longer than one sitting to read.

This book was also a true story. Although it wasn’t entirely true since the author changed some things but, it is actually a story about Ellen Hopkin’s daughter. The whole story is an honest and terrifying story of her daughter’s battle with “crank.” It is definitely a scary concept, but I think that it is great that she wrote about it. I believe that everyone should know about the full effects drugs can have on someone’s body. It can completely change you as a person.

I will admit, I disliked most of the characters in this story. They were a bit… too much for me? I don’t know if that is possible but I was a bit frightened to read about them. I feel like if you have read the book you would totally understand what I mean. The book dealt with drug dealers, people under the influence and even people that were the total opposite: normal. Ellen even wrote about a character with an alterego.

While I was reading this novel, my rating of it kept going down. It never stayed at a steady number. But I still don’t know what to rate this book. I really disliked the whole concept of the novel but, it was very powerful. So powerful that people are even forced to read this in school. Although it isn’t an uplifting tale, it definitely proves how scary drugs can be. If you fear drugs, read this book and it will make you never want to get anywhere close to them.

I think that overall, this book deserves 2.5 stars. Although I stated above that I didn’t know how to rate it, that’s what I think it deserves. I know that there will be some people that will rate it a 5 and others would rate it a 0 but, I don’t think that it is deserving of either of those ratings. So, I will settle with 2.5 stars.

If you want a quick, but bone-chilling story for a change in your usual novel choice, I would definitely suggest reading this novel. But beware of the subjects used in the novel. I believe that it ‘should’ be read by people 15 or older. (and yes I just said that as a 14 year old.)

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my review. Don’t forget to like, comment and follow for even more posts!

Happy Reading!

~Alaina