Book #1 – Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Vague and poorly written book review follows… consider yourself warned. 

Crank is one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read… but it was very good.

Warning… minor spoilers ahead.

It’s written in freeform poetry style, so it can be a little difficult to read at times, but if you take your time with it, you should understand it fine.  I found that the poetry really helped with the pacing and the emotion of the story.

It’s the story of a girl named Kristina and how she got into drugs, particularly meth, and the effect it had on her life.  It’s loosely based on true stories, including the story of the author’s daughter.  As you can probably guess, it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter, including drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, suicide, rape, and more.  It is pretty graphic, but that’s part of why it’s such a good book.  It feels like you’re really getting inside Kristina’s head, and it helps you understand how people can fall into these traps.

I’ve read a lot of sad books that have unsatisfying endings.   Thankfully, Crank is not one of them.  It ends in a place that makes sense.  I can’t say much more without giving away the story.

When I read, I usually write down my favorite quotes from the book, so here they are!

(Warning… even more spoilers ahead!  I took out most of the quotes that reveal plot points, but there’s some stuff you may want to read for the first time when you read the book.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you…)

Alone,
          there is only one person inside.
          I’ve grown to like her better
          than the stuck up husk of me.
(pg 7)

Spare me
those Psych ‘01 labels
I’m no more schizo than most
(pg 8 )

Smile.  Nod.  Say
something witty
before he finds
out what an incredible
geek you are
(pg 49)

                                    Mom named me Adam.
Better.  We liked it.  So
why didn’t he use it?…
                                    Hard name to live up to.
Not really.  It isn’t hard
to fall from grace…
(pg. 52)

The bed was a monstrous box
spring.  Thin, mildewed foam,
two sprays of lysol, and one
thrift store sheet were all
that lay between
Bedzilla and me.
(pg. 59)

Flopped onto my back.  Found
the keyhole behind my eyes
squeezed through into sleep
Not slumber, but sleep just this
side of waking, where dreams
fuse with reality.
(pg 60)

It had been
a tempestuous week,
snared by emotions
rubbing me so raw
I hurt at night,
alone in the dark.
(pg. 84)

Wrote a four-page
letter to my sister,
told her I was in love.
With a boy.
I think I asked
for her forgiveness.
(pg. 125)

How could I explain
gut-wrenching insights to
someone so lacking
vision?

How could I admit my
part in the current melodrama
to a psyche devoid
of guilt?

How could I share the
way my heart was breaking
when my confessor
didn’t believe

in love?
(pg. 153)

Funny thing, your brain,
how it always functions on one
level or another.  How, even stuck in
some sort of subconcious limbo, it works
your lungs, your muscle twitches, your heart,
in fact, in symphony with your heart, allowing it
to feel love.  Pain.  Jealousy.  Guilt.  I wonder if it’s the
same for people, lost in comas.  Is there really such a thing

as brain death?
(pg. 199)

My face flushed
tears poked in my eyes
scar tissue twisted my heart,
wrapped itself around arteries,
closed tight around my jugular,
I coughed pain.
(pg. 228)

Listened to the sounds                     of my normality: familiar
footsteps in the hall;        whispers; laughter; baying
at the moonlight.
And it occured to me                           for one uneasy moment
that every move I had         made lately might have
started a landslide.
What if I couldn’t go back?           What if I died in the crash?
(pg 300)

Have you ever
had so much to say
that your mouth closed up tight
struggling to harness
the nuclear force
coalescing within your words?

Have you ever
had so many thoughts
churning inside you that you didn’t
dare let them escape
in case they blew you wide open?

Have you ever
been so angry that you
couldn’t look in the mirror
for fear of finding the face of evil
glaring back at you?
(forgot to write down the page number)

———-

I’m currently reading “The Wedding” by Nicholas Sparks because it was the first book I found laying around the house.  So far, I’m not crazy about it, but we’ll see.  I can’t WAIT to get the the library… tried to go pick up my holds yesterday, but it was closed by the time we got there.  But, that means that more will be available when I get there… I just checked my account, and they’ve got Impulse (Ellen Hopkins); Love, Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli); First Among Sequels (Jasper Fforde); and An Abundance of Katherines (John Green) waiting for me.  Yay!

My still to-read list is up to eighty-eight books!  Gah!  But I definitely still want suggestions.

And…. what do you want to see in the way of video updates?  The first video will be February 4th… do you want to see straight out reviews?  Or something artsy-ish?  Or do you want me to read a passage from each book?  Or what?  HELP!!!!

Love you all!

Kelly ~/`~

P.S.  Go show my friend Caitlin some love… she talked my sister into getting Crank from the library, and that’s how I got my hands on it!

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