Reviews

Collateral by Ellen Hopkins

lucillemeeps's review against another edition

2.0

This book was disappointing for me. The relationship didn't feel real, not even when it was supposed to be young and fresh and good. Almost every interaction seemed to end in somewhat violent or aggressive sex, and then those scenes were too cliche and over the top, granite hard penises and gspot orgasms right from the get go. There's also something that sort of gets me about when a character writes a poem that is praised by another character in the book. Essentially the author is writing about how awesome her own poem is. This book just didn't have the same magic for me that Hopkins' other books have had. I didn't feel moved by the events, wasn't drawn in by the characters or invested in how their lives turned out. Even the language didn't move me as much as her other works have. Here's hoping that the next book she writes will be a little more in tune with her earlier ones.

marydrover's review against another edition

5.0

It’s been a while since I really and truly enjoyed one of Hopkins’ novels when it didn’t surround drugs, which should be awful, but I don’t care, I’ll admit I find literature–and film–regarding drug abuse incredibly interesting. I loved every second of this, though, and it was just such a joy to read. Hopkins is definitely one of my favorite authors, and I’ve read every thing she’s published, and I always want more. This hooked me from the very beginning and kept me latched on until the very end, which was incredible. It was really quite amazing.

michele_ann_'s review against another edition

4.0

This was a good book however, I predicted the ending. One of my only critics is that the story did not really connect at times. We would do time jumps and the "present" did not match up. I wish there was more to Darian and Spencer's story. I think a great sequel to this book would involve Darian and Spencer or Cole's perspective during this timeline.

victoria_tsonos's review against another edition

4.0

This book surprised me, as it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. First of all, like all of Ellen Hopkins writing, it was perfection. Her poetry is absolutely stunning, and she has the most beautiful prose I have ever read. I loved that there were little inserts of poetry written by Cole and Ashley; it made them seem more real to me. However, I was slightly disappointing by the plot. there were too many flashbacks that caused the actual present story to move along at an incredibly slow pace, and the climax that I was waiting for didn't happen until the very end, and I mean the last 10 pages, and when it did happen it was done and over in 3 pages. After that, the story just ended, which made it incredibly rushed, and I had to double check to make sure that my copy wasn't missing any pages. The ending was just so extremely unsatisfying, it made me really sad. I did not like Cole's character at all, he made my skin crawl and the things he said just made me so mad, and Ashley's reactions just made me want to shake her. I did like Ashley's transformation and growth throughout the book, and ultimately she made the right choices and redeemed herself at the end. I kind of wish that there was a sequel for this so that I could get more and not be stuck with the ending of this one. I feel like this was a very unique story of real life situations that happen all the time, and I have never been around situations like these, which made it all very unique and interesting to read about. Overall, I enjoyed it, I just can't get over that ending though!

aqtbenz's review against another edition

4.0

Beautifully heartbreaking.

I don't often like novels written in verse, but it suites this story well, with so much emotion wrapped up in it. It's also my first Ellen Hopkins read, but certainly won't be the last.

This book gives a raw look to military relationships, the waiting, the hurt, the loss. I was torn throughout the book between cheering for Ashley and cole to finally be together and begging her to break it off. I can't even image what it must be like. A great read!

whimsicallymeghan's review against another edition

2.0

The story of a boy and girl. The girl fell in love with the boy who happened to be a Marine Soldier. Ashley loves Cole, but when he’s gone all the time she’s left all alone. Her friends are army wives too, and they warn her about marrying Cole, but she doesn’t listen until something bad happens. The novel was very insightful on women who date or marry soldiers, but the plotline was somewhat boring, and the reader didn’t really know where the story was going, or what the point of the story was. The characters were well rounded which made it easy to love some, and very easy to hate some. Overall, if you’re interested in a quick read with a relatively good plot, well then read the novel. It’s definitely not one of Hopkins best works, but all authors have that off book.

booksandbosox's review against another edition

3.0

Telling the story of deployed militia and the family they leave behind, I found Collateral to be quite a departure from the norm for Hopkins. This is only her second foray into adult literature but so far, I haven't found her adult novels as compelling as those for young adults. This book is different from her usual fare for a number of reasons. First, it focuses on only one character - well, not exactly, but there's only one narrator. Additionally, this book is much more political than any of her previous titles, focusing as it does on the military and the war in Iraq. Finally, this book is nowhere near as dramatic as her other books. Usually, a Hopkins book focuses on drugs, sex, religion, abuse, or other dangerous or controversial behavior and topics. Perhaps this book is dramatic in a different way. Regardless, I didn't find this as engaging as her other titles. However, I did feel that the poetry in this book was particularly well done - I don't always actually notice the poems, as engrossed as I am in the story, but I did in this one. This is sure to appeal to teens as well as adults.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy received via Edelweiss.

alittlebrittoffun's review

2.0

*I added this book to my "to read" list in December so it really took me about a week to finish it

Anyway, it pains me to say this but I did not like this book. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that by the time I got to the ending, I hated it. I love Ellen Hopkins. I became obsessed with her after reading Identical and then slowly fell in love with all of her books and have now, read them all. She's an amazing storyteller and through all of her stories I get some kind of truth and knowledge and I love it but still, I didn't like this.

I don't know it it was the political nature of the book or what but it just bothered me a lot. I felt that the ending was such a cop-out with the scary marine coming back from his tour of duty and turning violent. It was just all so cliched and ridiculous. I wanted to like this book and even after reading the premise of it and thinking I wouldn't I really gave it a chance but it just didn't set well with me.

cassidyclaybrook's review against another edition

4.0

I've read all of Ellen Hopkins books, and this one was definitely different. I really enjoyed the book and the ending as well. I think the book would have been better from multiple points of view though, and not just one.

katelindsay's review against another edition

4.0

Love! I'd read some of Ellen Hopkins YA novels, but this is a completely different kind of story. Wonderful!