Ellen Hopkins

The disturbing novel "Identical" by Ellen Hopkins centers on the lives of Kayleigh and Raeanne, two identical twins. The unsettling and inappropriate relationships they have with friends and family, particularly with their troubled father, are explored in the book. They may have the outward appearance of the perfect American dream family, but they actually go through terrible suffering and have no way out.

Thanks to the book's poetic structure, this story transcends typical teenage drama. show more Even if readers don't personally relate to the characters, it has the ability to put them in relatable situations. The book's raw, unfiltered nature refuses to sugarcoat disturbing or unpleasant details, bravely presenting the characters' feelings as they go through terrifying situations.

I highly recommend reading "Identical" for its gripping plot and remarkable execution of plot twists. The book's impact was so profound that I found myself compelled to revisit its pages to fully appreciate the brilliance of its twists and turns. show less

I was introduced to Ellen Hopkins when the blogosphere was enraged over a teen lit festival uninviting her from the event. I wrote about that particular situation here. I became immediately interested in what she had to say because banning books is something that seriously pisses me off. Having no prior experience with Hopkins’ work, I wasn’t prepared for the poem-esque writing. I must say though, it worked so well and brought such depth and emotion to this story. She is a fantastic show more writer, and so very different than others in the YA genre.

This story isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s about a straight-laced teenage girl name Kristina who has never stepped a toe out of line. She visits her not-so-heavy-on-the-morals father who is pretty much a stranger to Kristina. Her father lives in the same building as Adam. And Adam is hot. Kristina has never approached boys before and is nervous as hell...

Enter Bree, Kristina’s alter-ego. Bree takes over, Kristina is gone. Adam likes Bree and quickly introduces her to his friend, the monster. AKA, Crank. Kristina’s life quickly spirals out of control as she enjoys her roller coaster ride with the monster. Unfortunately, her dad doesn’t help steer Kristina back to the shallow end of Hell, as shown by the scene where he enjoys crank with his daughter and friends in the back of the bowling alley where he works. Nice role model.

Kristina enters into a reality that no parent wishes upon their child. A reality full of divorce, addiction, rape, suicide, teen pregnancy. All the things we wish to shield our children from. However, shielding them from reality only hinders their ability to deal with it, should they find themselves in Kristina’s situation. You definitely need to gauge the maturity level of your child before you allow them to dive into Hopkins’ mind, but I think allowing them to see this harsh reality through a book – rather than personally experiencing it – is a much better route to take. I can’t imagine an adolescent putting this book down and looking forward to a date with the monster…

As someone with a background involving ‘party drugs', as I like to call them, this book was very personal and is so very important. While I never shook hands with the monster or any of his seriously sadistic friends, I have friends who did. One of my good friends in my Social Work cohort is a recovering meth addict. He was able to escape his relationship with the monster. Not everyone is so lucky.

I’ve read in various places that this story is loosely based on Hopkins’ daughter’s struggle with crank. That makes this book personal, and it shows. show less

To say that Hopkins has done it again barely covers how freakin' incredible this woman is! (Not just as a writer, but as an advocate against censorship).

She grabs your heart and clenches it ever so slightly until you realize a little too late that it's been pulled out of your chest. Simultaneously you are thankful that the book is over while still longing for more.

Glass is the continuation of Crank, the story of Katherine and how she gets hooked on Crystal Meth. I read Crank last year and show more found it heart-wrenching. Man was I surprised to find Glass even more so. Hopkins is not just real (it's loosely inspired by a personal experience) it's raw.

I know I sound dramatic here and I don't mean to. BUT IT IS DRAMATIC! Especially when you realize that Kristina, while dealing with the Monster (her euphemism for crank) she's raising a baby. Really? REALLY? And it's like, the whole time I'm reading it, I am fighting with myself. Of course I am pissed at Kristina, she's a mom now. But then I get angry at Kristina's mom for waiting soooo long, even though I know it's hard on the family too. It's this never ending saga of pain and everyone is hurting and falling off of the cliff.

Glass is not for the weak of heart, but if you choose to pick it up, I promise you'll be suckered into Kristina's world. I must get my hand on the finally installment. show less

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! you have been warned...
tw/cw: mentions of csa, rape, homophobic rhetoric, narcissistic parents, emotional neglect, abortion, and suicide

this is quite possibly the worst book i have ever had the displeasure of reading. i take major issue with the way these characters' stories are written and with the way certain topics are handled. i'll be going through character by character in chapter order: connor, tony, vanessa.

part i: connor is failed by... well, show more everyone

connor is probably my favorite character out of the three main characters. which isn't saying much because i disliked everyone in this book. but, he was done very dirty and i have a soft spot for characters like that. connor has a very rocky relationship with his parents. his mom and dad put a ton of pressure on him to get good grades, to look presentable, and to just, in general, be perfect. he has a twin sister, cara, who his parents clearly display favoritism towards as they repeatedly compare connor to her. it's evident that there is nothing he can do that will ever be good enough for them. which is what leads to his suicide attempt that lands him in aspen springs.

the therapists at aspens springs are just... terrible. they are always undermining the way connor feels about his parents to the point that it almost seems like they're "siding" with his parents. often they act confused as to why connor has an issue with his parents' behavior. like they're oblivious. despite the fact that they've seen up close and personal the way his mother is less concerned about his well-being after attempting suicide and more concerned about how this is going to affect his GPA. and his father shares similar sentiments. a complete disregard of his emotional state. yet, connor is the one who's the problem here. he's ungrateful for everything his parents have done for him. he needs to be more understanding of his parents' perspective. nobody is perfect and they've done the best that they can. "you cannot allow everyday stress to make you put a gun to your chest and pull the trigger," this is an actual sentence from one of the therapists. at no point do these therapists attempt to validate connor's feelings. it's not like his feelings are unreasonable. his parents are absolutely emotionally abusive. at one point, one of the therapists is baffled when connor is reluctant to go home for easter because "there's no history of abuse." huh? what credible therapist doesn't consider years of emotional neglect as a form of abuse?

i bring this up because at no point in the story is this disbelief in connor's pain challenged. connor challenges it but nobody backs him up. not even his so called "friends." after connor's successful suicide attempt (who's bright idea was it to bring a bunch of suicidal teenagers camping next to a cliff?) tony can't fathom why connor would've done it because he's rich and has everything. what? have you not been paying attention when connor vents to you about his parents? it's like nobody believes him and i don't understand what the moral of the story is supposed to be there.

part ii: tony is conversion therapied

this is a hot mess of a character... tony is introduced to us as being gay. the more we get to know him we discover that before he came to aspen springs he was doing drugs and living on the streets. there's a point where he mentions that when he gets out of there he's going to change his lifestyle because it's caused him a lot of pain. which doesn't sound crazy until you realize... he's talking about being gay. it gets even worse when it becomes heavily implied that being raped by a man when he was eight years old is what caused him to be gay in the first place. eventually, he ends up in a co-dependent relationship with vanessa and it's described as him finding true love, finally. that his love for her, a girl, comes more naturally then his love for guys did. that this just feels "right." it's written how you'd expect a story about a gay guy coming to terms with his feelings for other guys to be written, except in this case it's in reverse. tony was never really gay and he just needed to find the right girl to "fix" him. it's gross. and i can't help but question the author's intentions by depicting queerness in this way.

part iii: vanessa has an abortion?

toward the end of the book there's a scene where connor asks tony and vanessa if they have any secrets. vanessa mentions killing someone she loved but never met. she's referring to an abortion. thing is, this is news to me??? if it was mentioned earlier in the story it must've been mentioned very briefly because the vast majority of her story is her thinking about her mom. actually, it was straight up said earlier in the book that her "secret" was finding her mom overdosing on the kitchen floor and instead of getting help, she just walked away. she feels responsible for her mother's death and struggles with the guilt of that. she mentiones how everytime she thinks of her mom she drops into "the blue" which is how she describes her depressive lows. this abortion plays no role in the story until this one scene. it's written like it's been tearing her up inside but she never thinks about this throughout the book. it's so out of place that i almost wonder if this was a plot point for vanessa that got scrapped in favor of the mom suicide storyline. especially, when she describes dropping into the blue everytime she thinks of the baby which is exactly what she says about her mom.

also, i struggle with the fact that no one pushes back against her equating abortion to murder. i don't have a problem with her character thinking that, i have a problem with it going unchallenged. she never has to confront that belief. and, again, it makes me question the intentions of the author.

there's another scene/plot point i want to talk about that involves vanessa so, i'm adding it to her section. there's a couple of moments involving paul, one of the "caretakers" at aspen springs, which showcase him being an absolute creep. one scene he walks in on vanessa while she's in the middle of changing her clothes and tells her she has to take her meds before she can put any more clothes on. all while he's staring at her exposed lower half. then, in a later scene, vanessa pops her head out of her room to ask for permission to use the restroom but, no one replies. she makes the decision to go anyways without permission. when she enters the girls bathroom she hears two people shushing each from one of the stalls. she pretends to leave and that's when she hears paul talking to one of the girls. mind you, the patients here are all teenagers. so, vanessa has walked in on paul raping one of girls here and this is NEVER brought up again. vanessa never thinks about how paul being creepy with her has affected her. the girl in question never brings up paul being sexual with her. it's like it never happened. like it had no affect on any of the characters involved. i don't know why this was written into the story.

part iv: conclusion

i feel like this book doesn't know what it's trying to say or what it even wants to say. i'm sat here wondering what lesson i'm supposed to be taking away from this. i've walked away from this experience being a little hurt by what was written. tony's queerness being "cured" is in such poor taste. it bothered me so much, in fact, that i knew i needed to write this review. queerness is NEVER a choice. queer people can have trauma and still be queer. it would have been so much more impactful to have him meet a guy who liked him for who he is and didn't just want him for sex. he could've had this beautiful character arc where he goes from feeling like being gay is nothing but pain and misery to realizing that being gay can be joyous, and exciting, and loving. instead he feels like being gay is nothing but pain and misery which is why he has to leave it behind if he wants to heal. and the book just treats this as a good thing. it's bizarre.

little side note here at the end: this is very clearly written by someone who has never had to deal with mental health issues a day in their life because what do you mean vanessa is "getting high" on prozac after being on it less than a week... girl, that's not how antidepressants work... show less