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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
I think I need to be done with YA for a while. That was one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. I like a book that is realistically hopeless, but damn. Recommended for people that hate happy endings.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
Hopkins ability to weave poems within poems always amazes me. I didn't love this story as much as others
I felt angry,
frustrated.
I felt I didn't belong, not in my
church, not in my home, not
in my skin.
Burned is pretty controversial. Before I say anything about the book, I would like to state that this book is about a dysfunctional Mormon family. Hopkins weaves truths from Mormon doctrine into the lives of her characters. She is certainly not saying that all Mormon fathers are drunks and beat their wives. She is also not saying that all drunks are Mormons. These are issues that can affect anyone in any religion. However, the Mormon teachings in the book, though extreme, are true of most Mormon groups. That said, I'll move on.
This book reminded me a bit of [b:Girl in Pieces|29236380|Girl in Pieces|Kathleen Glasgow|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469509467s/29236380.jpg|44527044]. It is the story of a troubled teen discovering herself and puzzling through how she feels about life, the world around her, and religion. Raw and unflinchingly real, Burned doesn't shy away from tough topics like alcohol, abuse, drugs, guns, nuclear testing downwinders, love, and beauty. I enjoyed to authenticity of Pattyn and the lyrical prose.
However, I was so bothered by the theme of insta-love that I couldn't take Pattyn's love seriously. I'll explain here:
Overall I enjoyed the book but felt that it was confusing in its dealings with modern issues, and misleading in its representation of God, and dangerously inaccurate in its portrayal of true love.
frustrated.
I felt I didn't belong, not in my
church, not in my home, not
in my skin.
Burned is pretty controversial. Before I say anything about the book, I would like to state that this book is about a dysfunctional Mormon family. Hopkins weaves truths from Mormon doctrine into the lives of her characters. She is certainly not saying that all Mormon fathers are drunks and beat their wives. She is also not saying that all drunks are Mormons. These are issues that can affect anyone in any religion. However, the Mormon teachings in the book, though extreme, are true of most Mormon groups. That said, I'll move on.
This book reminded me a bit of [b:Girl in Pieces|29236380|Girl in Pieces|Kathleen Glasgow|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469509467s/29236380.jpg|44527044]. It is the story of a troubled teen discovering herself and puzzling through how she feels about life, the world around her, and religion. Raw and unflinchingly real, Burned doesn't shy away from tough topics like alcohol, abuse, drugs, guns, nuclear testing downwinders, love, and beauty. I enjoyed to authenticity of Pattyn and the lyrical prose.
However, I was so bothered by the theme of insta-love that I couldn't take Pattyn's love seriously. I'll explain here:
Spoiler
She meets Ethan and the first thing he does is rake over her with his gaze. I felt that he was supposed to depict a wholesome true love for her, but all I saw was a boy filled with raging hormones who took advantage of a young girl in a vulnerable time of her life. It was hard for me to respect their relationship. He did redeem himself a bit when he was willing to care for her when he got her pregnant, but seriously.Overall I enjoyed the book but felt that it was confusing in its dealings with modern issues, and misleading in its representation of God, and dangerously inaccurate in its portrayal of true love.
One of my favorites by Ellen Hopkins. I related to the questioning of religion as a teenager and the teachers being ill equipped to handle that
Another one my 13 year old cousin told me I needed to read. I really liked the idea of how every page is a different poem (even though I'm not a huge fan of poetry.). It was neat to read (after taking the ridiculous amount of Lit classes I've taken) and see all the different types of poetry and figure out why the author used a particular style in particular parts of the story. It's a very quick read. I read all 400+ pages in one night.
Another excellent book from Hopkins. Told in the same style as her previous book _Crank_, Hopkins explains the story of Pattyn, a girl growing up in a Mormon family who has her first sex dream. When she brings the issue up to the church officials, she is reminded that even dreams are a sin which makes her question how her subconscious thoughts are a sin but the fact that her alcoholic father is beating her mother is not. As punishment, she is sent to live with her aunt in the country and there she finds more love and acceptance than she thought possible. The entire book was fascinating, from the discussion of religion to the events showing the movement to free thought, but I felt the ending was lacking. In some ways this can be seen as Hopkins urging me to pick up the next installment, but I was more confused and irritated by the ambiguous ending especially since everything until that point had been made extremely clear.
This is my favorite book of hers!! I loved this book. Hopkins puts romance, abuse, and so much more in this one book. I never saw this end coming. I still can't believe that it happened, but you will just have to read it to figyre out what it is...