Early this morning I finished a book that I started reading last night titled Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins. It was recommended to me by my dear cousin, Paige. I have read most of Hopkins's other books which are comprised of poems that tell a story. The whole book is written in poetic form and the way Hopkins organizes them and uses them to tell the story of 5 teens on the verge of prostitution is truly genius.
The book tells the stories of Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger, and Cody, all teens from different areas of the US who all end up crossing stories in Las Vegas, otherwise known as Sin City. And the only thing they end up committing in Sin City is, well, sin. Hopkins teaches her young adult readers about the dangers of teen prostitution and how most of these teens end up abusing drugs and/or alcohol.
Although it is a book for young adults, I enjoyed it very much. All of Hopkins's books deal with some sort of substance abuse, suicide, or other dangerous issues. My favorite (and the first one I ever read by her) was Crank, which illustrates the life of a young teen who gets addicted to crack, among other things. After reading her books I often find myself thinking that they may not be very suitable for some teens. But then I think about my teenage cousin, Paige, and I come to the conclusion that perhaps only those teens who are slightly more mature for their age should read them. Personally, due to the graphic nature of the material, I think mature teens are the only ones who could really understand and handle the novels and the ideas and themes Hopkins bring to light within them. So, parents, you may want to be slightly concerned and if you find that your teen IS reading one of these books, sit down and speak to them about the issues and dangers in the book and why they are actually beneficial to know.
Some of the poems in Tricks really struck a chord with me. I'm going to include them here. Note how Hopkins arranges the lines of the poem so that certain words end up creating a collective thought when read from top to bottom.
Bleed (pg. 213)
Open a vein, feel
the rush, exodus,
delicious.
Don't be afraid,
there's no pain
in the letting,
delectable.
Watch the red
flow, let it go,
drip,
make it slow,
drip.
If you've done
it right, you won't
wake from the night's
indescribably peaceful
dream.
Need (pg. 245)
Need is a curious thing.
Until you plant the seed,
nurture it, encourage its
awakening,
you're not even sure
it's there. But once it
germinates, nudges up,
breaking ground,
you can no longer deny
it has always lain dormant
inside you. And now,
blossoming
with every kiss, every
touch of his hand, this
new kind of need is
growing,
sprouting shoots,
tendrils of desire
threading you,
consuming you.
Shrinking (pg. 488)
Do you know how it
feels to be shrinking?
Withering away into
nothing
more than a memory?
You need to put one foot
in front of the other,
but
running in place
is all you can do.
How do you overcome
pain
when it's something
you breathe, a blast
of hot exhaust
in your
face, something turned
you must eat, or starve?
How do you search for
tomorrow
when you're mired
in an endless today?
When You Weren't Looking (pg. 616)
The child became a woman,
though she wasn't ready
to. Don't ask how or
why.
Those questions are not
the important ones.
Can't you
see you didn't
care
enough to notice?
How will you feel
if we have no
more
time together? I wonder
if you're sorry now
about
the way you locked your
heart, access denied to
the beggar at your door.
She's nobody, only
me.
All in all, the book was a good read. It only took me a couple of hours to get through the 625 pages (due to the fact it's all in poems, you get through it A LOT quicker than you think you can), and I highly recommend it. It's a very interesting read. I also recommend her other books, like Crank (as I mentioned before), Impulse, and Glass.
My rating? 7 out of 10 stars. Now go read it!!
On another completely unrelated note, I got my new glasses!!! YAY! And although this isn't the best picture, I must brag a little here about how I haven't washed my hair in days and I still think it looks like movie star hair. Yeah...didn't do a single thing to it besides comb it last time I exited the shower. I know, I know...you're jealous. : )
Don't ask me why I always make that stupid face...for some strange reason it just sort of happens whenever there's a camera in front of my face.
Here's a slightly better pic of the glasses. They're bright blue on the inside of the frames! They aren't much different than my old ones but the blue makes them a lot hipper! I love them!! If you still can't see them, here's a better pic.
