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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was DARK. And it was BEAUTIFUL. I think that if you are not sure whether or not you want to read Ellen Hopkins just DO IT. You will LOVE it.
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
fast-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My love for Ellen Hopkins only grew with this book. I loved everything about it and am completely in to Pattyn's story. I cannot wait to read Smoke and see how it continues!
There were glimmers of potential in this-- the writing was decent, the Western setting was interesting, particularly the part about the nuclear test sites and down-winders-- but this book mostly made my eyes roll with the angsty melodrama. Pattyn comes from a super religious and intolerant family. Her mom is lazy and mostly just a baby factory. Her dad is drunk and abusive and controlling and justifies it all via religion. Pattyn has no friends. Pattyn fools around with a boy after only one thing. She gets sent to live with her aunt for the summer. At her aunt's house she falls into instalove with the neighbor boy, Ethan. They just love each other SO much.
Just BARF, GAG, EYEROLL. The love story was cheesy beyond belief. I don't really know what to say about Pattyn's family situation, which was horrible and hopeless, but somehow didn't feel geniune. The role of religion in this was somewhat questionable-- sure people can use doctrine to puff up any crazy patriarchal idea they want, but really? Every Mormon in this book was awful, judgmental, spineless. I can't imagine that the entire Mormon community is filled with bad people condoning abuse, so this felt problematic at best. I was looking forward to this one as a book that might have a YA character questioning/exploring religion in a meaningful way and it wasn't. It was mostly a cheesy, doomed love story with just about every cliched bad thing that can happen to a teen character. Definitely not my thing.
Spoiler
A condom breaks. Pattyn gets sent back home. Her dad starts beating her. Oh, and she's pregnant. And everyone at school finds out. So she runs away with Ethan, but they get into a car wreck where Ethan dies and so does the baby. Pattyn decides in the final chapter she's gonna kill everyone that's to blame for this, but we don't actually see her go through with it.Just BARF, GAG, EYEROLL. The love story was cheesy beyond belief. I don't really know what to say about Pattyn's family situation, which was horrible and hopeless, but somehow didn't feel geniune. The role of religion in this was somewhat questionable-- sure people can use doctrine to puff up any crazy patriarchal idea they want, but really? Every Mormon in this book was awful, judgmental, spineless. I can't imagine that the entire Mormon community is filled with bad people condoning abuse, so this felt problematic at best. I was looking forward to this one as a book that might have a YA character questioning/exploring religion in a meaningful way and it wasn't. It was mostly a cheesy, doomed love story with just about every cliched bad thing that can happen to a teen character. Definitely not my thing.