Pages

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Glass by Ellen Hopkins Book Review

Hey everyone, I'm finally posting a book review for Glass. I don't know why I have been so reluctant about posting book reviews lately. Oh, well. I'll get back on track. Just as a heads up, Glass is the sequel to Crank by Ellen Hopkins. So if you haven't read Crank there will be spoilers.

Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Simon & Shuster
Pages: 681
Date of Release: August 21, 2007
Book is written in verse.

Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go.

Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She needs it to feel alive.

Once again the monster takes over Kristina's life and she will do anything for it, including giving up the one person who gives her the unconditional love she craves -- her baby.

The sequel to Crank, this is the continuing story of Kristina and her descent back to hell. Told in verse, it's a harrowing and disturbing look at addiction and the damage that it inflicts.


photo
photo found here

In Crank, Kristina Georgia Snow became addicted to many things. She became addicted to the feel of a boy's body pressed against hers, she became addicted to love, but, ultimately, she became addicted to meth. (And I became addicted to the series.)

The good girl Kristina's parents knew is struggling to hold back her stronger identity named Bree.

"Not quite silent,
                        shouts obscenities just because
                        they roll so well off the tongue.

Not quite straight-A
                        but talented in oh-so-many
                        inevitable ways.

Not quite sanitary,
                        farts with gusto, picks
                        her nose, spits like a guy.

Not quite sane,
                       sometimes, to tell you the truth,
                       even I wonder about her.

Alone,
                      There is no perfect daughter,
                      no gifted high-school junior,
                      no Kristina Georgia Snow.
                                                            There is only Bree."
                                                                   --Crank page 5

Bree is everything Kristina is not:  confident, sneaky, a party-girl. But now, in Glass, Kristina is dealing with consequences of her actions. Now a mother, Kristina tries to fight her addiction to the monster Crank, claiming it's up to her to call the shots, not the monster. The problem? The monster is alluring. It calls to her when she wakes up at night to feed her son, it calls to her in the morning when she hasn't gotten much sleep, and it calls to her when she argues with her parents. And inside of her, Bree is yearning for it.

Finally, Kristina gives in.
      "Just a little"
But we all know how that works. A little turned into a lot. A lot turned into losing control. And losing control meant losing her life. No, Kristina didn't die, but everything good thing in her life was gone. Her parents kick her out, take her baby, and leave her to live on her own.
But she was never on her own. There is always a boy. Even two boys, and they introduce her to a new type of meth, one that takes her flying higher, Glass.

At the end of Crank, I wondered how Kristina could make her life worse because of a drug. In Glass, it's proven that she can.

-----------------------------------------------------------
My thoughts:

As soon as I finished Crank, I couldn't wait until I had the chance to pick up Glass. I was dying to know what happened next, what choices--most likely bad choices--Kristina would make. I was curious to how the monster was going to control her this time and how hard she was going to fight against it.

There are many mixed reviews out there about Crank and Glass--some claim Hopkins' plots weren't original enough--but I believe she stuck with realistic ideas and I was glad she did. Sometimes not all book plots are completely original, but it's what an author does to the book and the story that make it original. Hopkins certainly succeeds in my opinion. Maybe it was because I'm a sucker for her unique writing style or it may be because I love the aspect of realism she kept within the book. Using drugs and addiction usually lead down one dangerous road, and Hopkins captures it beautifully.

Reading Hopkins' books sent me on a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster. I would feel sorry for Kristina one moment, and then want to slap Bree the next. Many times I wanted to tell Kristina "Well, that's what you get!" but would also think to myself, "Awwh, that's not right! She has a problem."


I have to admit this, in both Crank and Glass, Kristina's character bothered me on some levels. Mainly on the fact that she believes you need a guy to be happy; that is Kristina's perspective since the beginning of the series--but being the sucker for romance that I am, I wanted her to find it. There are many times Kristina lashes out at her family, misses her life before her baby, hungers for a good high, and forgets about her child all together. Her family eventually becomes unimportant to her entirely. This fact saddened me, but it is an affect of addiction and the meth--the drug damages the pleasure centers in the brain. People addicted to the drug, as Kristina does, only feels happy when they are high.

Overall the book was as amazing as the first one, sometimes even better. The consequences of drug use and meth are even more severe than in Crank. Kristina suffers many mental, physical, emotional, and life consequences for her actions.

I definitely recommend it. Rated on a five star rating, I would give it 4.5 to 5 stars.





"Life
was radical
right after I met
                        the monster.

Later, life
                        became

harder,
complicated.
Ultimately,
                        a living

hell,
like swimming
against a riptide,
                        walking

the wrong
direction in the fast
lane of the freeway,
                         waking

from sweetest
dreams to find yourself
in the middle of a
                         nightmare."
                             --Glass page 1

Up next for review? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins!

2 comments:

  1. I've read some of her books. I will have to check this one out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't read this yet. I'll have to put them on my TBR list.
    BTW- I've given you some awards. You can check out my blog to pick them up.

    ReplyDelete