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mmseitz822's review against another edition
5.0
I REALLY enjoyed this book. I liked how it was written in stanzas like a poem (poetry is a theme throughout the novel) but still reads like a book. The plot really kept me hooked - a young woman in love and dating a marine who is constantly deployed but trying to make the relationship work even though they are almost always apart. I really liked the main character, Ashley. I was happy with the ending though I can see why some readers wouldn't be. I won't say more than that for fear of spoiling it for future readers. Anyway, I love love stories and this is a good one! The author does a lot so readers can really feel the passion between Ashley and Cole. Check it out!
jslavensky's review against another edition
5.0
Best book I've ever read by far!! I love the light it sheds on the war and having a relationship with someone during active duty. My father was in the army and I've had close friends in high school enlist in the army, and Air Force, so this hits close to home. I wrote regularly to a friend once a few years back that wanted a relationship while he served in the Air Force but unfortunately I was with someone else. I couldn't imagine being with someone that served and risked their lives while their loved ones worried at home! God bless all of those that have served and are still serving and risking their lives for us! You all and your families hold a special place in my heart!
sunshine608's review against another edition
3.0
It took some time getting used to the verse style of this book and I'm about 90% sure that my ebook version had some major formatting issues ( or else I got less from this than I thought).
Overall I found the story enjoyable although sometime it did get confusing going back and forth in the verse style. The ending left a lot to be desired though.
Overall I found the story enjoyable although sometime it did get confusing going back and forth in the verse style. The ending left a lot to be desired though.
kdurham2's review against another edition
4.0
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
My second Ellen Hopkins book and this one was just as good as the last, if not even better. Centered around the war abroad, this book takes you into a relationship between a young woman and a new Marine as they try to live through deployments and very minimal time together. The book unravels with many details that affect her relationship from his commitment level to past experiences her parents have had with the military - I never realized how many outside factors can affect a relationship beyond the two who are involved.
My second Ellen Hopkins book and this one was just as good as the last, if not even better. Centered around the war abroad, this book takes you into a relationship between a young woman and a new Marine as they try to live through deployments and very minimal time together. The book unravels with many details that affect her relationship from his commitment level to past experiences her parents have had with the military - I never realized how many outside factors can affect a relationship beyond the two who are involved.
bmg20's review against another edition
4.0
A review copy of Collateral was kindly provided to me by Atria Books.
'Each returning soldier is an in-the-flesh memoir of war. Their chapters might vary, but similar imagery fills the pages, and the theme of every book is the same - profound change. The big question became, could I live with that kind of change?'
Alternating between the past and present, Collateral tells the story of Ashley and a marine named Cole. How they met. How they fell in love. How Ashley was transformed by Cole's deployment and how she struggled to make it through by using pills and alcohol to quiet her constant fears. Collateral was a deeply moving story that tells the tale of the one left behind in time of war, and how life can be when you love a soldier.
Collateral is a realistic story in every sense because the war depicted within the pages is the exact war we're all living with today. Just as dark, gritty, and emotional as her other works with just enough hint at reality to make you wonder just how fictional it really is. Collateral does showcase the ‘worst-case scenario’ of loving a soldier, but that certainly makes it no less tangible. My heart ached for Ashley, her pain being so evident. I loved the snippets of Cole’s poetry, being able to see his outlook on his life in contrast with Ashley’s. Ellen Hopkins is truly an amazing writer and I'm so thankful for her stories. She uses no different words than any normal person but the way she uses them ends up turning them into something truly profound.
'Alone in this untamed
empty place, I free
a relentless volley
of words. They
rage
against the pages, a torrent
of what was, what is,
what yet may come.
And when at last the spirits
recede,
I find echoed
in their retreat, stories
I dare not give voice to -
nightmares set adrift
in my paper harbor.'
'Each returning soldier is an in-the-flesh memoir of war. Their chapters might vary, but similar imagery fills the pages, and the theme of every book is the same - profound change. The big question became, could I live with that kind of change?'
Alternating between the past and present, Collateral tells the story of Ashley and a marine named Cole. How they met. How they fell in love. How Ashley was transformed by Cole's deployment and how she struggled to make it through by using pills and alcohol to quiet her constant fears. Collateral was a deeply moving story that tells the tale of the one left behind in time of war, and how life can be when you love a soldier.
Collateral is a realistic story in every sense because the war depicted within the pages is the exact war we're all living with today. Just as dark, gritty, and emotional as her other works with just enough hint at reality to make you wonder just how fictional it really is. Collateral does showcase the ‘worst-case scenario’ of loving a soldier, but that certainly makes it no less tangible. My heart ached for Ashley, her pain being so evident. I loved the snippets of Cole’s poetry, being able to see his outlook on his life in contrast with Ashley’s. Ellen Hopkins is truly an amazing writer and I'm so thankful for her stories. She uses no different words than any normal person but the way she uses them ends up turning them into something truly profound.
'Alone in this untamed
empty place, I free
a relentless volley
of words. They
rage
against the pages, a torrent
of what was, what is,
what yet may come.
And when at last the spirits
recede,
I find echoed
in their retreat, stories
I dare not give voice to -
nightmares set adrift
in my paper harbor.'
fromtheyellowchair's review
1.0
I could go on forever about why this book is bad. Aside from the weak writing, it has some of the worst representations of mental illnesses I've ever seen. Any character depth was built around wildly inaccurate stereotypes.
"One woman at the shelter was married to an Army vet. It took more than two years for his PTSD to kick all the way into gear. He never scared me, she said. But one day, it was like the light went out in his eyes. I swear I was looking evil in the face. I thought he'd kill me. He claimed it was the heat that set him off, taking him back to Fallujah."
Portraying veterans or people with PTSD in general as completely unstable individuals who could lose control and attack a loved one at any minute and OCD as simply a preference for things to be in order is harmful and borderline offensive.
If the author put half as much time researching mental illnesses as she did researching details of a soldier's life that were completely inconsequential to the plot, she could have put together a somewhat decent novel.
"One woman at the shelter was married to an Army vet. It took more than two years for his PTSD to kick all the way into gear. He never scared me, she said. But one day, it was like the light went out in his eyes. I swear I was looking evil in the face. I thought he'd kill me. He claimed it was the heat that set him off, taking him back to Fallujah."
Portraying veterans or people with PTSD in general as completely unstable individuals who could lose control and attack a loved one at any minute and OCD as simply a preference for things to be in order is harmful and borderline offensive.
If the author put half as much time researching mental illnesses as she did researching details of a soldier's life that were completely inconsequential to the plot, she could have put together a somewhat decent novel.
jenhern920's review
4.0
It was an interesting story of military men and the women they love. The toll war takes on all of them. Being married to a soldier myself I felt a connection to this story. Deployments affect everyone and war changes people.
sngick's review
4.0
This was the first Ellen Hopkins book I've read despite constantly ordering and purchasing her YA novels for my students and library. I've always been reluctant to try her YA novels because I perceive them as depressing and sad.
I decided to read Collateral because it was a love story. I'm a sucker for a love story and appreciate a good romance to lose myself in every once and a while.
The verse novel style made for a quick read but didn't lessen my involvement with the characters and story. My heart ached for Ashley as she fell for her marine and devoted herself to him during his 4 tours of duty in Afghanistan. I hoped for a happy ending but knew it probably was not going to happen. The emotions in this book are raw and intense. The characters are fairly well developed. The differences in writing styles for Ashley's thoughts and Cole's poetry was apparent. I also appreciated the changes in fonts for writers and even to depict different emotions and time periods.
I would recommend this book to adults who say they don't read or don't have time to read. The strong male & female main characters and military subject matter make it seem appealing to both men & women, but I doubt many guys will give it a try. I can now understand why my students enjoy books by Ellen Hopkins.
I decided to read Collateral because it was a love story. I'm a sucker for a love story and appreciate a good romance to lose myself in every once and a while.
The verse novel style made for a quick read but didn't lessen my involvement with the characters and story. My heart ached for Ashley as she fell for her marine and devoted herself to him during his 4 tours of duty in Afghanistan. I hoped for a happy ending but knew it probably was not going to happen. The emotions in this book are raw and intense. The characters are fairly well developed. The differences in writing styles for Ashley's thoughts and Cole's poetry was apparent. I also appreciated the changes in fonts for writers and even to depict different emotions and time periods.
I would recommend this book to adults who say they don't read or don't have time to read. The strong male & female main characters and military subject matter make it seem appealing to both men & women, but I doubt many guys will give it a try. I can now understand why my students enjoy books by Ellen Hopkins.
cstoeger's review
4.0
Wow. As a girlfriend of a boy in the Army, I can relate and understand how the main character, Ashley, copes with a boyfriend in the Marines. Although the story ends on a particularly sad note (and no, he doesn't die), and it felt kind of abrupt, the ending felt real. Sometimes, that's all that matters.
glendaleereads's review against another edition
3.0
I love Ellen Hopkins young adult novels so I really though this was going to blow me away like her other books, but eh it fell short. Her other adult novel Triangles was good and I enjoyed reading Collateral but it seems like Hopkins rushed the ending. Yes I understand that this book is written in verse but she builds up this relationship between the main character Ashley and her marine boyfriend Cole and its this relationship that you know as a reader is probably not going to end well so throughout the whole story I am expecting this explosive conclusion to this five year relationship and all I got was a few stanzas of it.
Overall, the story line was interesting and the prose terrific as always with Hopkins but in my honest opinion, I think Hopkins should stick to the genre Young Adult, it just works better for her style of writing. Adult Fiction in verse? its just to hard to capture everything, especially with the topic of this book.
Overall, the story line was interesting and the prose terrific as always with Hopkins but in my honest opinion, I think Hopkins should stick to the genre Young Adult, it just works better for her style of writing. Adult Fiction in verse? its just to hard to capture everything, especially with the topic of this book.