Saturday, October 1, 2011
Perfect
Recently, I finished the book Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. The book is written completely in poetry, mainly using enjambment at specific points of the sentence that echo many meanings. The book is about the interwoven stories' of four teenagers each struggling in their lives, pressured to reach their definition (or their parents') version of "perfect". Cara has attained "perfection" but finds herself hungering for a different type of love that her parents cannot understand. Sean is determined to score on the field, no matter the cost. Kendra obsesses for a "perfect" body and face and will do whatever surgeries and crazy diets it takes to get there. Andre is afraid to confront his parents about what he really wants to do with his life. The book captured your attention from the first line and finished nicely. In the end, there is an element of hope, an important component to a story like Perfect, in my opinion. Ellen Hopkins touched upon many serious topics with very real, raw characters. The author did a very good job of having you feel the emotion the characters were experiencing using just the character's voice. The book is amazing but is probably best suited for an older teen. Overall, Perfect was great book.
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Emma,
ReplyDeleteLast year I read Crank by Ellen Hopkins (also in poem format). This book of hers sounds like a great realistic fiction story! Also, the book I am currently reading, Unwind, intertwines a few main stories (as Perfect does). Another similarity between our books is that the main characters have conflicts with their parents. I hope I will get around to reading this story sometime soon!
Emma,
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read any books by Sharon Creech? They are wonderful stories usually written in poem format I would really recommend the book "Heartbeat" even though it's a shorter book it has a fantastic plot and theme. I think I might read Perfect because it sounds really great. Thanks!
Perfect is really good but at the same it is very serious and scary things happen like they did in Crank. (Amy; I think I recommended you both Crank and Unwind actually). Lauren; I have read some Sharon Creech books but haven't in a long time. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEmma, Perfect sounds really interesting! It's always so exciting to read a story where all the characters have different, but important things happening at home. I think that reading about characters that have problems with their parents can really help us to appreciate all the nice things our parents do for us. I hope to get around to reading that book, it sounds very realistic.
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