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A review by paragraphsandpages
People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
4.0
“It doesn’t matter how the gun
fell into the wrong hands.
It only matters that it did.”
People Kill People follows the story of the essence of violence and a gun, and how these two work to affect the lives of 6 distinct people. Told in a combination of verse and second person prose, Hopkins manages to weave a tale that both grips you and frightens you, all while discussing the truth of violence and weapons.
I’ve been reading Hopkins’s books for a few years now and while you would think I would have gotten used to the depth and darkness in each of her novels, each one continues to both surprise and frighten me. The combination of topic, characters, and writing style always work to reveal dark truths in our society in a way that truly affects the reader, at least in my opinion. People Kill People is not a deviation from this trend, though I must admit it’s not her strongest work, despite my high hopes for it. Additionally, Hopkins moves away from writing only in verse to also bring in second person prose, and this combination draws in the reader even more than other novels.
My favorite part of this novel has to be the contrast of voices and style it is written in. The story is brought to us by this “essence” of violence, or the urge within humans to be violent and hurt each other. Hopkins personifies this urge and gives it a voice, and this voice is who guides us between the main human characters of the novel. It is this essence/urge that speaks in verse and narrates the introductions of the characters, as well as commenting on the events after we’ve heard part of the story from a certain character. The characters themselves are written in second person, and it works to literally insert us “into the characters’ skins”. While this is often off putting, as second person prose is hard to do well, Hopkins use of it only strengthens the novel. Part of the purpose of this book is to show that everyone and anyone is capable of violence, that it’s an innate part of us, and this second person perspective highlights this by putting you in the shoes of people considering violence. It brings you closer to the subject and more understanding of their actions or almost actions, an understanding which sometimes scares you. All in all, the writing style works extremely well with the story Hopkins told and the effect she wanted to have.
In terms of character and story, there isn’t all that much for me to comment on. Not all the characters were likable, if even any were, but that also wasn’t the point. You were still able to understand their motives and where they were coming from, most of the time. The story was also interesting, but the specific events that happened weren’t always important, just how they pushed the character further and further to violence.
My only issue with the book is that, compared to Hopkins’s other books, the ending fell flat. Like the synopsis and beginning of the book says, someone dies and someone else was the killer, and while I was definitely surprised by who filled each role, the impact of this death/kill seemed to be little, mostly due to how the rest of the book was written. We continue to see the rest of the characters after this death, from how it impacted them personally to where they end up later. However, it seemed like, in the end, this death didn’t even matter and had no lasting consequences for any of the characters we see. It made the ending so much weaker and I find myself now wishing that the book had ended just after the death, rather than giving us this longer, more explained ending. It just worked to weaken the story overall.
In the end, I really liked this novel and I cannot wait to see what Hopkins writes next! (Though there are still quite a few of her novels I need to catch up on…)
fell into the wrong hands.
It only matters that it did.”
People Kill People follows the story of the essence of violence and a gun, and how these two work to affect the lives of 6 distinct people. Told in a combination of verse and second person prose, Hopkins manages to weave a tale that both grips you and frightens you, all while discussing the truth of violence and weapons.
I’ve been reading Hopkins’s books for a few years now and while you would think I would have gotten used to the depth and darkness in each of her novels, each one continues to both surprise and frighten me. The combination of topic, characters, and writing style always work to reveal dark truths in our society in a way that truly affects the reader, at least in my opinion. People Kill People is not a deviation from this trend, though I must admit it’s not her strongest work, despite my high hopes for it. Additionally, Hopkins moves away from writing only in verse to also bring in second person prose, and this combination draws in the reader even more than other novels.
My favorite part of this novel has to be the contrast of voices and style it is written in. The story is brought to us by this “essence” of violence, or the urge within humans to be violent and hurt each other. Hopkins personifies this urge and gives it a voice, and this voice is who guides us between the main human characters of the novel. It is this essence/urge that speaks in verse and narrates the introductions of the characters, as well as commenting on the events after we’ve heard part of the story from a certain character. The characters themselves are written in second person, and it works to literally insert us “into the characters’ skins”. While this is often off putting, as second person prose is hard to do well, Hopkins use of it only strengthens the novel. Part of the purpose of this book is to show that everyone and anyone is capable of violence, that it’s an innate part of us, and this second person perspective highlights this by putting you in the shoes of people considering violence. It brings you closer to the subject and more understanding of their actions or almost actions, an understanding which sometimes scares you. All in all, the writing style works extremely well with the story Hopkins told and the effect she wanted to have.
In terms of character and story, there isn’t all that much for me to comment on. Not all the characters were likable, if even any were, but that also wasn’t the point. You were still able to understand their motives and where they were coming from, most of the time. The story was also interesting, but the specific events that happened weren’t always important, just how they pushed the character further and further to violence.
My only issue with the book is that, compared to Hopkins’s other books, the ending fell flat. Like the synopsis and beginning of the book says, someone dies and someone else was the killer, and while I was definitely surprised by who filled each role, the impact of this death/kill seemed to be little, mostly due to how the rest of the book was written. We continue to see the rest of the characters after this death, from how it impacted them personally to where they end up later. However, it seemed like, in the end, this death didn’t even matter and had no lasting consequences for any of the characters we see. It made the ending so much weaker and I find myself now wishing that the book had ended just after the death, rather than giving us this longer, more explained ending. It just worked to weaken the story overall.
In the end, I really liked this novel and I cannot wait to see what Hopkins writes next! (Though there are still quite a few of her novels I need to catch up on…)