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A review by zephyrsilver
Collateral by Ellen Hopkins
1.0
I have read nearly all of Ellen Hopkin's books. I fell in love with them. Identical, Impulse, and Burned all hold special places in my memory. They were wonderful books. They were inspiring. I always enjoyed her poetry, her stories, the messages behind them.
This one I couldn't stand. I forced myself to read it. Dreaded reading it the entire five hundred pages.
First off, it's just a flat out love story. The only twist is that he's a marine. I like war stories. This is not at all a war story. Just a one-sided love story.
Ashley drove me crazy. She's a jealous, petty young woman. She's meek and a push-over. Mostly, she's spiteful in her jealousy. She drove me crazy. She's incredibly possessive of her boyfriend, but terrified of him. She won't speak up when he does something to upset her. Unless it involved an ex-girlfriend or some decision he made without her.
Cole was not likable. My friends and I in high school always jokingly had a list of things that means to stay away from a guy. One of those was, if he writes poetry, he's probably not mentally stable. Of course, this was a joke and a very long list, but that was one thing on the list. Still, I thought about that a lot when Cole admitted he liked writing poetry. Well let me tell you, we were right. He is rude, misogynistic, aggressive, and sadistic. He did absolutely nothing right with me at all. I never liked him.
Their relationship was incredibly unhealthy. It all revolved around sex and making out. I don't think they had any conversations that didn't revolve around his service. It was mostly just sex. And a lot of it. It got really tiresome reading about how "wonderful" he made her feel in bed. (Also, he only ever commented on her physical attributes. Never seemed to care about anything other than her body).
A lot of the characters were incredibly forgettable. So many times I was internally screaming "Wait, who is this?!" because the character was briefly introduced about two-hundred pages prior, and I'd forgotten them.
And then of course, the ending. It was so friggin predictable, it was pathetic. Ashley was shocked though. I wasn't. There was so much foreshadowing to it that it really was just boring.
Also, I noticed Hopkin's poetry wasn't as unique. Maybe it's because I'm just used to it by now? But I remember her making shapes with her words and really making it poetic and beautiful. Her work always reminded me of e.e. cummings, and I loved it. This was so unimaginative. It hardly seemed like poetry at all. Just oddly formatted text.
Just, overall incredibly disappointing.
This one I couldn't stand. I forced myself to read it. Dreaded reading it the entire five hundred pages.
First off, it's just a flat out love story. The only twist is that he's a marine. I like war stories. This is not at all a war story. Just a one-sided love story.
Ashley drove me crazy. She's a jealous, petty young woman. She's meek and a push-over. Mostly, she's spiteful in her jealousy. She drove me crazy. She's incredibly possessive of her boyfriend, but terrified of him. She won't speak up when he does something to upset her. Unless it involved an ex-girlfriend or some decision he made without her.
Cole was not likable. My friends and I in high school always jokingly had a list of things that means to stay away from a guy. One of those was, if he writes poetry, he's probably not mentally stable. Of course, this was a joke and a very long list, but that was one thing on the list. Still, I thought about that a lot when Cole admitted he liked writing poetry. Well let me tell you, we were right. He is rude, misogynistic, aggressive, and sadistic. He did absolutely nothing right with me at all. I never liked him.
Their relationship was incredibly unhealthy. It all revolved around sex and making out. I don't think they had any conversations that didn't revolve around his service. It was mostly just sex. And a lot of it. It got really tiresome reading about how "wonderful" he made her feel in bed. (Also, he only ever commented on her physical attributes. Never seemed to care about anything other than her body).
A lot of the characters were incredibly forgettable. So many times I was internally screaming "Wait, who is this?!" because the character was briefly introduced about two-hundred pages prior, and I'd forgotten them.
And then of course, the ending. It was so friggin predictable, it was pathetic. Ashley was shocked though. I wasn't. There was so much foreshadowing to it that it really was just boring.
Also, I noticed Hopkin's poetry wasn't as unique. Maybe it's because I'm just used to it by now? But I remember her making shapes with her words and really making it poetic and beautiful. Her work always reminded me of e.e. cummings, and I loved it. This was so unimaginative. It hardly seemed like poetry at all. Just oddly formatted text.
Just, overall incredibly disappointing.