Impulse (original 2007; edition 2008)

I've never read a book quite like this one before. Told completely in prose, they lyrical strategy of story telling really does seem to deepen the characters' expressions, as sometimes the things we want to say cannot adequately be put into words. Definitely a character-driven story with less plot and more talking. ( )

The more I read of Ellen Hopkins, the more I am stupefied by her popularity. Every bad action is punished severely and only socially palatable kids get to have happy endings...while she may have an ear for the inner workings of the teen mind from time to time, her moralizing is completely off-putting. ( )

3.5 stars. The fact is, this is my third read by [a:Ellen Hopkins|2821144|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1317081848p2/2821144.jpg] and all of the books I've read so far have affected me quite deeply. I've discovered in this past year that I really like novels in verse, I couldn't imagine it being my thing before I first picked up [b:Burned|270807|Burned (Burned, #1)|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173303394s/270807.jpg|262533] but all the ones I've read have been all the more emotional, moving and effective because of it. Before I start on about what I don't like, I'll just say now: this book is worth your time if you are okay with the depressing, disturbing and occasionally gross.

But, there's this one thing that is the same in all of [a:Ellen Hopkins|2821144|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1317081848p2/2821144.jpg]' books, and to understand it best try and imagine the novel is two halves. Not a first half and a second half but various different parts of the novel that either fall into half one or half two. Okay, now half one is like the very first Saw film: original, shocking, disturbing, horrifying but good as well because it's so different. Half two is like the rest of the Saw films put together.

Ellen Hopkins is Jigsaw and she wants to play a game...



Half two is made up of the parts that made me think "surely Ms Hopkins is going to give these poor little buggers a break now?" I mean, honestly, how many ways can you find to torture a person? In the same way that I quickly became tired of the Saw series and it's tendency to just keep inventing new and exciting ways to horrendously kill people, there were parts where I thought [a:Ellen Hopkins|2821144|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1317081848p2/2821144.jpg] went too far. This book was 666 pages long (ominous) but really didn't need to be, the story was good, the characters were interesting... everything else that happened was like seeing how bad their lives could possibly get.

In the words of Bruce Nolan: "[a:Ellen Hopkins|2821144|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1317081848p2/2821144.jpg] is a mean kid sitting on an ant hill with a magnifying glass..."

Let's take Tony. Tony was repeatedly raped by his mother's boyfriend, he runs away and ends up popping pills and trying his hand at prostitution in order to get by, he then attempts suicide and gets carted off to Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital. There the doctors try and re-connect him with his long-lost father but Tony's unsure of his sexuality and his dad's some uber-religious and homophobic nutter. What next for this poor kid? Like I wouldn't have felt sorry for him had he just been raped! [a:Ellen Hopkins|2821144|Ellen Hopkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1317081848p2/2821144.jpg] doesn't know when to stop, it's like "right, he's been abused, drugged up, prostituted, discriminated against... I know, give him diarrhea as well!"

This book would be great to read if you think your life's shit. No matter how bad it gets for you, these kiddies have it so much worse. And if you think your life's worse than this, I recommend writing to Hopkins as you'll probably feature in her next book.

It's not like it isn't good. Half number one is fantastic: well-written, interesting, moving, gritty. And I can handle disturbing, it can usually get me hooked. I just feel that Hopkins uses the shock factor too much and it becomes less believable because of it.

( )

Told in three voices Conner, Tony, and Vanessa are going through the treatment program at Aspen Springs after attempting to commit suicide. All three stories weave together as they open up and begin to heal - though one digs deeper into his depression. As they face their demons, readers realize how different a person's surface and inner thoughts can be.

This fast read matches up to Hopkin's other novels in intensity and willingness to face what most people hide. Some parts are difficult to read because they do not hide the more disturbing facts, though it is never explicit. ( )

Mini Review:
This book was just all over the place. I love Ellen Hopkins & I love her writing but the characters were too unrealistic for me. I did like the sequel a lot and I will be happy to read more books by Ellen but this book was a fail for me ( )