Tricks by Ellen Hopkins + Contest!

Pub date - August 25, 2009.

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching . . . for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is that they can have all these things when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons. Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story - a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. (book back blurb)

I've never read any of Ellen Hopkins's books but I knew going into this one that she wrote on the grittier side of the YA line. She didn't take the mythical or fantastical route. She kept it real. Really real. So that much I knew. I can't vouch for the rest of her books but this one was something you slit your wrists to.

Halfway through it I contemplated not finishing the book. I just couldn't bear to read on. I hated reading about teens going through such absolute shit because, and what it really boiled down to was, a lack of something at home, usually love. I can't read too many of these books too often. Yes. It's too real. It's too heartbreaking. Yes, it's labeled as fiction but it's not a stretch to think that the stories in this book hit a little too close to home to a few too many teens out there. It's made me think more seriously about fostering when I move out on my own. Having children just isn't really my thing. But helping the abandoned, forgotten, rejected and unloved . . . how could I not? How can I ignore something like this? How can anyone?

As I said, this is my first Ellen Hopkins book so I don't know if the rest of her novels are in verse but this one is, rotating between the five different characters. With hindsight, the blurb is misleading. But I'll leave that for you to discover when you read it.

All of the stories start out innocent enough, about first loves, coming into your own, finding solace in a friend. But then they start to change and you see how they end up where they end up but at the same time you can't help but ask, "How the hell did they get here? Where did it all go wrong?" And it hurts to read because you see every single one of them spiraling away from their former selves because the support system that should be there isn't.

I was most compelled by Eden's story, the girl growing up in a born-again Christian family who falls in love with a boy that's genuinely good for her, just not good for her parents. It brings me back to religion and how such god-fearing people that teach the supposed word of god, who's supposed to be compassionate and loving, up and do what Eden's parents did to her. Thrown away like some soiled shirt that makes the wearer look bad. It's horrible.

My beloved Santa Cruz is the home base of Whitney, the girl that just wants to be loved. Even the happiness I feel every time I go to that beach town couldn't permeate the sour emotions and feelings Whitney associated with that town. For Ginger, it's amazing she's as well-adjusted as she is for the type of mother she has, if you want to call Iris a mother. Read the story and I'm sure you won't. Sean's story rings all too true, I'm sure, to many, many people out there. Again, for all the love religion is supposed to teach people, how parents can shun their children for who they are is disgusting. Cody's life was probably the most well-adjusted out of them all but things start to slide down hill and while his intentions are good, his methods are, well, not. Still, I can't help but put some blame on his mother. Losing someone you love is painful but it's your duty, as a parent, to not forget about your children. That situation reminded me of Katniss and Prim with their mother, how she shut down after their father died. It's a selfish act.

While most of my reading will still be confined to slightly more frivolous stuff, reading a book like this is not only eye-opening and heart-wrenching, it's a good slap to the face that I think everyone needs every once in a while. We're all prone to complaining about something in our lives, whatever it may be. But it could be worse. And these kids go through a hell of a lot worse.

Hopkins has an insane ability to tap into the minds of the down-and-out teen and tell their story exactly how it needs to be told without sugar-coating anything. There's no hiding for the reader because the characters have nowhere to hide themselves. Why should you get the luxury? I have a hard time calling the teens in this book characters because they're more than that. They're tangible and it's sad to say that they're more real than what the pages decree. And the way that such separate stories end up coming together at the end it just amazing. There aren't words for it. These children that lead separate lives are, in some way, supported by one another.

While I can't go out and gobble up all of Hopkins other novels because I'm not all for slipping into a depression, I will slowly indoctrinate myself to her work over time. Books like this shouldn't be ignored and good on Hopkins for writing it so real. Go read this book. Read it now. And then read it again. It only took me about a day to finish its more than 600 pages. I just couldn't put it down. You can't help but hope that everything will turn out ok in the end. But even in life, nothing is certain.

CONTEST TIME!

I have an extra ARC of Tricks by Ellen Hopkins to give away. You want it? Here's what you have to do -

Comment with your contact info to enter (blogger profile is fine)
+1 for new followers
+2 for current followers
+2 for linking back/posting about this contest
+2 for answering the question, "What's the one book that moved you the most and why?"
+3 for referring someone to the contest
+3 for being the person referred

Be sure to tell me specifics otherwise I won't know how to tally up the points! Contest is open to US residents only and it ends 7/5.