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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I have a lot of thoughts about this book and they are a bit conflicting too. I didn't know this is a rather well-known book. Like, I'd say in Goodreads terms it has a lot of ratings and I had never heard anything about it except for its name??? And it's also quite highly rated which... I can't quite relate to.
You know how singing a beautiful song
with dead-on pitch,
or getting every test answer right,
including the extra credit brainteaser,
makes you feel like you could take on the world?
You know how waking up to perfect skies,
enough sunshine to warm you, not
enough to bake you,
or watching a silent fall of quarter-sized snowflakes
gives you delicious shivers of pleasure?
Somewhere on my stroll
with the monster,
I'd lost these things.
Crank is by no means a disappointing book but I think I expected something different than what I got. This book chronicles how Kristina becomes a drug addict and a lot of awful stuff happens to her. It's told from her point of view and in verse form.
The verse form is what intrigued me and what made me pick up this book and I think it's such an interesting way of writing a Young Adult book. It's also a great way of conveying and showing what Kristina goes through. Hopkins' style is really enjoyable to read (even though it's a bit difficult when your ebook fucks up the formatting).
The form also meant, though, that plot and thoughts are rather condensed and a lot that would appear in a "normal" novel was left out. Some of those things I really missed. I think it's sometimes really hard to follow Kristina's choices and especially in the second half of the book a lot of what she does is omitted and I really would have liked to read about them. Focus on what happens to her besides her drug addiction would maybe have made for a fuller picture of her story... Also, I know the focus of the story is on her but I really wouldn't have minded getting more information on the people around her and their reactions. With some (especially friends and her siblings) it seems like they're dead unless they're interacting with her.
The plot is... quite harsh but it's also about an important topic and it's not just about drugs but also broken lives and abuse and relationships and responsibilities. There is a depth to how the main topic is tackled that really showed Hopkins knows what she is talking about. To me, this was most obvious in the first half of the story, the second half just generally lacked in a lot of parts.
My biggest complaint is Kristina herself. She's quite cliché in so much of what she does and to me, she's not relatable and kind of uninteresting. She's supposed to be smart but all of her decisions seem stupid and avoidable and she's genuinely unlikeable for a large portion of the book.
I don't want to complain any more than that, this book is certainly insightful and well-written for the most part, I just wonder if it's actually helpful to people who are at risk and I wish the characters were crafted in a way that made this story not just sad but also more terrifying...
You know how singing a beautiful song
with dead-on pitch,
or getting every test answer right,
including the extra credit brainteaser,
makes you feel like you could take on the world?
You know how waking up to perfect skies,
enough sunshine to warm you, not
enough to bake you,
or watching a silent fall of quarter-sized snowflakes
gives you delicious shivers of pleasure?
Somewhere on my stroll
with the monster,
I'd lost these things.
Crank is by no means a disappointing book but I think I expected something different than what I got. This book chronicles how Kristina becomes a drug addict and a lot of awful stuff happens to her. It's told from her point of view and in verse form.
The verse form is what intrigued me and what made me pick up this book and I think it's such an interesting way of writing a Young Adult book. It's also a great way of conveying and showing what Kristina goes through. Hopkins' style is really enjoyable to read (even though it's a bit difficult when your ebook fucks up the formatting).
The form also meant, though, that plot and thoughts are rather condensed and a lot that would appear in a "normal" novel was left out. Some of those things I really missed. I think it's sometimes really hard to follow Kristina's choices and especially in the second half of the book a lot of what she does is omitted and I really would have liked to read about them. Focus on what happens to her besides her drug addiction would maybe have made for a fuller picture of her story... Also, I know the focus of the story is on her but I really wouldn't have minded getting more information on the people around her and their reactions. With some (especially friends and her siblings) it seems like they're dead unless they're interacting with her.
The plot is... quite harsh but it's also about an important topic and it's not just about drugs but also broken lives and abuse and relationships and responsibilities. There is a depth to how the main topic is tackled that really showed Hopkins knows what she is talking about. To me, this was most obvious in the first half of the story, the second half just generally lacked in a lot of parts.
My biggest complaint is Kristina herself. She's quite cliché in so much of what she does and to me, she's not relatable and kind of uninteresting. She's supposed to be smart but all of her decisions seem stupid and avoidable and she's genuinely unlikeable for a large portion of the book.
I don't want to complain any more than that, this book is certainly insightful and well-written for the most part, I just wonder if it's actually helpful to people who are at risk and I wish the characters were crafted in a way that made this story not just sad but also more terrifying...
Kristina Snow, the narrator of ‘Crank’, hasn’t seen her dad in eight years. She is almost sixteen when she leaves her mom Marie, stepdad Scott, and her two siblings Leigh and Jake in Las Vegas. She lands at the Albuquerque Airport in New Mexico for a three-week visit over the summer. Kristina’s memories are all golden about her father, so she has built up a deep resentment over her mom’s divorce. She doesn’t notice that her mom and stepdad and siblings are a normal middle-class family.
She is shocked when she sees her father. He smokes, swears, and isn’t as good looking as she remembers. He lives in a bad neighborhood. His small apartment has cockroaches. He doesn’t have an air conditioner. And he smokes cigarettes. He says he doesn’t believe in love. He works in a bowling alley, exchanging shoes. Later, she ends up snorting meth and smoking weed with him. But he isn’t the first person she has done this with.
She meets a young man on the stairs on her first day with her dad. He is beautiful! He introduces himself as Buddy, but his real name is Adam. She knows it is True Love. However, he has a girlfriend. There is some drama, of course. But. Sex! Drugs! Never before has this happened. By the end of her visit, they swear love forever, and to write each other. She wonders how they will be lovers, though, since they live in different states.
She DOES bring back to her suburban Las Vegas home a new secret friend with her: crank (meth). It is a friend which over the next few months changes her entire life. But it’s ok, right? She loves being Bree, her new persona. Bree is challenging, gregarious, sexy. Bree has new cool friends. Bree has multiple boyfriends. Bree skips classes because she partied all night with her friends and dealers.
She can quit anytime, right? Her savings are gone, but her mom will never notice her credit card is missing or the charges for awhile. Her grades will not be sent home for months, so her spotty attendance will not be noticed at home for awhile.
Life feels so good high!
“Life was good
before I
met
the monster.
After,
life
was great.
At
least
for a little while.”
‘Crank’ by Ellen Hopkins is book one in the Crank Trilogy series. It is fantastic (the writing) and horrible (the subject) at the same time. Emotion and drama is expressed very vividly by the free verse style and in the visual shaping of sentences and paragraphs into wedges, off-kilter words and slopes on the white spaces of the pages to reflect inner mental states. Surprisingly, nothing of the story is lost by the use of verses and arty visuals. The story felt real, like reading an actual teen girl’s diary. Of course, since the fictional characters are composites of real people, including some in the author’s family, the plot is a compressed one where everything bad that can happen, happens in a short time. It can feel like it is a soap opera to some more protected or middle-class readers. However, to me there was nothing wrong-footed or overdone at all. This stuff happens to many individuals for real. Kristina’s slide down into Bree’s life occurs every day.
I highly recommend this novel.
She is shocked when she sees her father. He smokes, swears, and isn’t as good looking as she remembers. He lives in a bad neighborhood. His small apartment has cockroaches. He doesn’t have an air conditioner. And he smokes cigarettes. He says he doesn’t believe in love. He works in a bowling alley, exchanging shoes. Later, she ends up snorting meth and smoking weed with him. But he isn’t the first person she has done this with.
She meets a young man on the stairs on her first day with her dad. He is beautiful! He introduces himself as Buddy, but his real name is Adam. She knows it is True Love. However, he has a girlfriend. There is some drama, of course. But. Sex! Drugs! Never before has this happened. By the end of her visit, they swear love forever, and to write each other. She wonders how they will be lovers, though, since they live in different states.
She DOES bring back to her suburban Las Vegas home a new secret friend with her: crank (meth). It is a friend which over the next few months changes her entire life. But it’s ok, right? She loves being Bree, her new persona. Bree is challenging, gregarious, sexy. Bree has new cool friends. Bree has multiple boyfriends. Bree skips classes because she partied all night with her friends and dealers.
She can quit anytime, right? Her savings are gone, but her mom will never notice her credit card is missing or the charges for awhile. Her grades will not be sent home for months, so her spotty attendance will not be noticed at home for awhile.
Life feels so good high!
“Life was good
before I
met
the monster.
After,
life
was great.
At
least
for a little while.”
‘Crank’ by Ellen Hopkins is book one in the Crank Trilogy series. It is fantastic (the writing) and horrible (the subject) at the same time. Emotion and drama is expressed very vividly by the free verse style and in the visual shaping of sentences and paragraphs into wedges, off-kilter words and slopes on the white spaces of the pages to reflect inner mental states. Surprisingly, nothing of the story is lost by the use of verses and arty visuals. The story felt real, like reading an actual teen girl’s diary. Of course, since the fictional characters are composites of real people, including some in the author’s family, the plot is a compressed one where everything bad that can happen, happens in a short time. It can feel like it is a soap opera to some more protected or middle-class readers. However, to me there was nothing wrong-footed or overdone at all. This stuff happens to many individuals for real. Kristina’s slide down into Bree’s life occurs every day.
I highly recommend this novel.
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is written in a very unique style. More first hand poetry/verse. Although unique it makes it berry difficult to develop the characters. The main character to me in this book was the “monster” meth. The book lacked the effects that addiction and drug use has on both the user and those around them. I’m not sure if it was the style of writing but it almost doesn’t come across as a warning against drugs.
I did find it interesting enough to read in an afternoon, just didn’t relate fully to the characters.
I did find it interesting enough to read in an afternoon, just didn’t relate fully to the characters.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ellen Hopkins's Crank is largely a book about perspective. The raw, lyrical verse of a teenaged girl battling a meth addiction and enduring the perils of growing up too fast resonates, while also showing how the descent into addiction ripples through an entire family. Crank immerses readers in Kristina’s shifting mindset, with every poetic line capturing how her perspective distorts under the influence of drugs, turning danger into temptation and consequences into afterthoughts. At the same time, it forces readers to consider addiction not just from Kristina’s viewpoint, but from the eyes of her family, who watch helplessly as she unravels. The novel challenges how we perceive control, identity, and the fine line between choice and compulsion.
Whether you've been Kristina/Bree, or you've been a member of her family, Crank evokes something deeply visceral. Ellen Hopkins crafts tale of addiction that is both brutally ugly and unexpectedly beautiful. The juxtaposition between Kristina and Bree in Crank is so impactful because it highlights the devastating transformation caused by addiction. Kristina starts as a bright, well-behaved girl, but as she adopts the persona of Bree, she descends into reckless, destructive behavior. This split identity makes her struggle feel more tangible, showing how addiction doesn't just change a person's actions—it fractures their very sense of self.
If you're not careful when you read this book, it has the potential to damage your heart and your psyche. Major trigger warning - make sure you're in the right headspace before you pick it up, but watch how transformative this novel is on your perception of addiction.
Whether you've been Kristina/Bree, or you've been a member of her family, Crank evokes something deeply visceral. Ellen Hopkins crafts tale of addiction that is both brutally ugly and unexpectedly beautiful. The juxtaposition between Kristina and Bree in Crank is so impactful because it highlights the devastating transformation caused by addiction. Kristina starts as a bright, well-behaved girl, but as she adopts the persona of Bree, she descends into reckless, destructive behavior. This split identity makes her struggle feel more tangible, showing how addiction doesn't just change a person's actions—it fractures their very sense of self.
If you're not careful when you read this book, it has the potential to damage your heart and your psyche. Major trigger warning - make sure you're in the right headspace before you pick it up, but watch how transformative this novel is on your perception of addiction.
I remember seeing this series back when I was in high school but never getting around to experiencing them. What a captivating book to stand the test of time. I didn’t know what to expect, but reading how someone turns down a dark path was actually quite riveting. I definitely want to finish this series now.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wasn't wholly sure what to expect, going into this. I wasn't anticipating reading the entire thing in a single day, despite knowing how fast I read through things written in verse. This was engrossing, raw and emotional, and it has the sort of unrelenting, unflinching teeth I appreciate from books that came out when I was a teenager. The one thing I will say people should be aware of when going into this is that a rape occurs in the story; just be careful and take care of yourselves. I knew this was a book about meth addiction, and was prepared for that, but the rape did catch me somewhat off-guard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Alcohol
First of all, I want to say that this book was very powerful. It is an excellent book, but it made me very uncomfortable and I was slightly confused by the style of writing, mainly because I’ve never actually read an entire book of prose. It made me uncomfortable in the sense that the topic and the emotions were very deep. As a high school teacher, it definitely made me look at life from a different perspective and made me scared for my students and what they are exposed to on a regular basis. I did not want to be unfair in my reading, because the person who recommended the book for me really enjoyed it and, like I said it is an excellent book. But for me, it was too heavy and when I turn to reading, I want to escape the heaviness of my every day life. I commend the author on broaching such a personal and heavy topic. I am sure that people will continue to enjoy the book as well as the other books in the series.