Teen, 14 years old Written by kevin13 August 9, It was interesting but had a great story behind it. After reading this book I was scared that it could even happen to me. The book is based off a true story of the authors daughter. I think this book if fine for a mature year old.
Every kid should read in middle or high school. The book mentions the words f--k and s--t every few pages. Teen, 14 years old Written by oliviabell04 September 13, This title contains: Sexy stuff. Teen, 16 years old Written by Sean Broucek May 22, Poignant poetic novel has mature material and drugs, but is brilliant and innovative too.
Parents, this poignant poetic masterpiece from Ellen Hopkins may be the best poetic novel ever made, but kids under the age of 15 won't be able to handle the mature material and drug use in the book. In some countries, this book is illegal because of the drug use, but in the areas where it is legal, this book is also required reading for teens.
Sexual content includes a brutal violent rape, same-sex kissing, flirting, references to oral sex, and the main character has sex with her boyfriend 5 times. Violence includes violent sexual behavior, and the main character while high on drugs cuts herself with a razor and drinks her blood and offers it to others. The violent undertones and sexual content may be mature, but the language and drug use is what makes this poetry way too intense for kids under Language includes frequent use of f--k, s--t, c--k, c--t, d--k, t-ts, va-ina, pen-s, groin, h--l, a--hole, b-tch, son of a b-tch, crap, dam-, s-ut, we, and slang for gay women and oral sex.
The book is about a girl addicted to a drug and she snorts it, smokes it, and even injects it. She buys and sells, including from a drug gang. And she smokes cigarettes, does ecstasy, smokes marijauna, and drinks coffee. In the end, this poetic, brilliant is a book even reluctant readers will enjoy, but kids under the age of 15 should stay away from this book.
And parents can use this to open good discussion about drug use and addiction with their kids. Great Book! This is an amazing book. It tells the story of what your life will turn into after drugs. Teen, 15 years old Written by emiloodle March 27, Loved IT! Could not stay away from this story of a teenage girl. It helps to understand since told in a view of a teen.
Teen, 14 years old Written by directioner23 March 23, Amazing book! This book is just WOW! It was just so real! That's why there is so much controversial content because its just so honest. Teens and up. Teen, 14 years old Written by dreamer98 December 24, Amazing Read but know your child's maturity level. This book was amazing!!
But really know your child before they read this book. It was numerous refrences to sex and Kristina "Bree" almost gets raed and then does get raped and becomes pregnant. She has sex with her boyfriend, Chase. The book's titale is written in meth for God's sake. She gets addicted to "the monster" which is meth and experiments with other drugs. The language isn't worse than your child hears at school. This is NOT a fairytale story that your child will read before bed and dream of rainbows and flying unicorns.
It's really really sad and it has you hanging on the edge of your seat to see if Kristina will choose the right decision or, most likely, let Bree decide the often very wrong decision. Hard hitting I enjoyed it. The entire story was very hard hitting and the details were very graphic. It is not a happy story though. And the end is a huge cliff hanger. I think parents should decide whether they think their kid under 16 should read it as there are very mature issues, but any older teens should be fine with it.
Teen, 17 years old Written by Lady-Lithium April 25, A warning for young teens. Because in the book it shows how much drugs ruined the girls life. And since it's based some what on the writers daughter, young teens can see that it really can happen to you. Teen, 13 years old Written by booklover9 March 16, Go to Common Sense Review. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print. Or make my demon battles public knowledge. However, I have come to the conclusion that sometimes I need to resort to unorthodox fighting methods in order to keep the demons at bay.
And one of those methods is writing. Because I don't know you guys on a face-to-face level, I really feel as if i can be honest. And myself. And maybe use this space, my own personal cyber-writing pad as a way to get out my inner junk. Because it's there. Clawing at the walls of my psyche for release. And I am writing this review as much for myself AND for all the people who may never read these words just as much as I am writing for you guys who will read them. So bear with me.
This may be a bumpy ride. Also, i'm spoiler tagging everything from here on out, simply because there will be some dark stuff in here, so those of you who are uncomfortable with dark and twisty and personal material need not enter at all.
The Monster. All known as a little drug called Crystal Meth. A young girl, fighting with her own demons, visits her long lost father one fateful summer and her life collides with the monster. And this is her story. Written in verse. I know there are people who didn't like this book. I understand.
There were parts I didn't like. But it hit me so hard and so fast that I had no choice but to five-star this bitch. It has been a long ass time since I read anything that made me cry this much and for this long. But that's for later.
And I lost our daughter because I was using other drugs to try and deal with the fact that I lost the man I was going to marry to Crystal Meth.
I had taken a job in upstate New York for the summer, and he was going to reconnect with his long-lost father in Detroit. Instead of reconnecting with his father, he met a girl. And that girl hooked him on a drug that, until recently, I did not understand. I did not understand its power, its substance. What it makes a person do. How it changes your core until the last shred of the person you were before you met this drug dissolves before your eyes.
I did not lose the man I loved in death. I lost him to the monster. There is a man still living who looks a little bit like the man I loved. Still answers to the same name. Receives his mail. Wears his clothes. Lives his life. But this is not him. This is someone else entirely.
The man I loved died the minute he met the monster. And the person who rose up to take his place is an impostor. Somebody I don't know. Whom I don't want to know. The monster took a man who knew how to love and taught him to hate. Took a man blessed with kindness and made him mean. Took a man who looked at me with gentleness and love and showed him how to hit and bruise and scar. Turned a man who worked into a man who stole. The monster took away his beautiful brown eyes and left him with those that are tired and bloodshot.
It blanketed those eyes with dark circles. Took away his smile, his muscular frame, his strength. It made him someone who doesn't sleep for days on end. Doesn't eat. Doesn't live. It killed his fire and his passion and his will.
The monster, in turn, created a monster. But this isn't why I picked this book up. I picked this book up because this summer, the monster tried to select another victim. Another person whom I love and care about. But this time I was stronger. And though my friend's road to recovery will be long and hard, together, we fought the monster and won this particular battle.
And though I am beyond thankful and grateful that in this particular case, I did not lose another person to this horrible drug, so many people are not that lucky. This is actually a very unique case and involves a violent battle that doesn't usually get won. This book describes everything from the victim's point of view, so it was very hard to see any other character objectively. However, it gave me a much deeper understanding of things that have happened to me and to two people I love.
This is a novel. However, it is a fictionalized version of a true story. Ellen Hopkins's daughter did become addicted to Crystal Meth and all of the raw and biting descriptions of the addiction, the emotions, and the physical manifestations of that addiction are very real. Here is another confession. I am a drug addict myself. Though i have never nor will ever do Crystal Meth, I have fought other addictions for years.
I am proud to say that I am clean, and have been for quite some time. My passion has turned to helping people whom the monster as well as its various partners in crime has tried to destroy. I still battle the urge to use, particularly when the demons of addiction start partying with the demons of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and life in general.
And so this book made me cry. I cried for the lingering pain of a long-lost love. I cried for the agony of a friend. I cried for those I don't know who struggle with the illness. I cried for my own child whom I will never know. I cried for parents who have lost children. Friends who have lost friends. Siblings who have lost siblings. I cried for myself, because I desperately needed to cry. Have you ever had so many thoughts churning inside that you didn't dare let them escape in case they blew wide open?
The answer is yes. View all 69 comments. Oct 21, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it did not like it Shelves: read-in , i-read-banned-books. On to the actual story. I know Crank was supposed to bring to light all the dangers of drugs and how using will destroy your life and blah blah blah.
The lack of caring, concern or any type of involvement with Kristina at all by the mother was extremely disturbing to me as a parent. Seriously, if your teenager is an average P. Violate your custody agreement, call Family Services and have his dumb ass investigated, do anything it takes to keep your kid away from that person. Everything else just made me feel like this.
View all 14 comments. It made me feel like I was reliving seeing my friend fall apart, right before my very eyes.
It hurt to read this at some parts, made me want to shake Kristina and beg her to "please, stop" to tell her she's "better than this. It hadn't done much for my friend. In fact, it'd done nothing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the w 4. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the writing and structure of the novel.
It's really unique and fitting for the story - because while you're on drugs nothing in life goes smoothy - just like the choppy chapters and pages in this novel.
It was smart on Hopkins part to write it that way. It's also heartbreaking to hear that this happened to Hopkins own daughter. And that she began writing this soon after her daughter went to prison. That just made me realize how bad getting addicted to drugs is, and how my experience with watching my friend fall victim is only one case out of thousands.
Which is honestly, scary stuff. Overall, this was something I didn't intend to like as much as I did. I expected to read it and think: "Okay. It's unique. In a way, I'm glad to have seen what she went through. And for those wondering, yes, she's doing better now. After getting out of her bad family situation she moved out of the state with her sister. Now, they both attend University and live life happily and peacefully. Mainly stressing out about school and work.
I'm proud of her new lifestyle, but I also know how easy it is to fall back to the "Monster. That the need inside of her for the Monster will win, one day. I can only pray that will never happen. Either way, this was outstanding. I'll need to get my hands on the next two books. View all 5 comments. Mar 27, Michelle rated it did not like it. Call me a narc, I just can't empathize. Believe me, I put myself in her shoes.
I understand that there are drug users who have reasons for taking cocaine, but what's her problem? One, her dad is a big jerkbutt.
And that's about it. I can imagine worse situations in a second. If I were her, I would call my mom and beg her to take me home. That, and call Child Services to inspect him. End of story. Also, nobody forced her to snort. It was all her stupid mind that chose to take the step because Call me a narc, I just can't empathize.
It was all her stupid mind that chose to take the step because some dude was super hot and was nice to her Twilight, anyone? So what horrible event prompted Bree to snort? Nothing, except that she was an angst-y and shallow teen who only cared about looks. This girl lost all of my respect from the beginning. I'm sorry about that. View all 24 comments.
I am in love with this book. It's so very sad. I just don't really have words for it. I opened it today, didn't even put it on my currently reading list as I couldn't put it down. Kristina sinks into a world of drugs.. I would like to take a hot iron poker to the one that hurts her When Kristina goes into her world of drugs she calls herself Bree Bree is cool.. Did it all start because she go www. Did it all start because she goes to see her father?
Her father is a druggie as well. There she meets a boy that turns her on to coke and they say they are in love.. She goes home..
Being inside of her head and thoughts are so sad. She falls in love with two more boys.. The outcome of the whole book is sad and sweet at the same time. Makes me sad. Sad for so many out there that face life in the wrong ways, or it faces them in the wrong ways.
I was one of them, but in a different way. This is a trilogy and I'm anxious to read the other books and I'm scared at what will happen. I hope something nice. View all 9 comments. An immensely powerful book, Crank brings us a heartbreaking downfall into drug addiction. Knowing Ellen personally experienced much of this story gives it even more of an emotional pull, as we learn that this is based on Ellen's own daughter's story.
I'm still quite new to verse novels so it did take me a good pages which took like 20 mins to read, really - you can fly through verse books in no time to get comfortable with the writing style.
Before that I kept concentrating on how I was su An immensely powerful book, Crank brings us a heartbreaking downfall into drug addiction. Before that I kept concentrating on how I was supposed to read it: vertical first or not? For instance. I soon realized it didn't matter.
Plus, by then, I was so into it I wasn't even paying attention to that at all, it had me completely engrossed. Deciding to write such a story in verse was brilliant, however. It turns it into an even more tragic tale, seeing as it leaves no room for sugar coating or frivolous sidetracking.
It gives us a blunt, ugly, and completely raw foray into addiction. If you're hesitant to read verse novels, you should force yourself to give one a try. No one is less of a poetry fan as I am - when we studied it briefly in high school, everyone seemed to find such complexity in the meaning of a single verse when I was staring at it wide-eyed thinking for sure they had not read the same thing I just had.
With that said, I'm glad that I went outside my comfort zone to try a verse novel. Crank being only my second. They offer something entirely potent from the candid nature of their storytelling. Furthermore, some of the poems in Crank are stylized in such a mesmerizing way, it makes reading it an experience like no other. Crank is not a pretty story; it's very much the opposite.
No addiction of any kind is ever pretty. This novel portrays the decent into a drug infested haze in the most realistic of ways. We have a protagonist, here, who becomes captive of what she refers to as the monster.
She even develops an alter-ego, kind of as a way to separate herself and stay in denial. We see her delude herself into believing that she is still in control, that she is not imprisoned by her addiction. She will piss you off to no end, yet you will likely still feel sympathy towards her. We see the downward spiral she is running towards, while helpless to stop it. It's heartbreaking, really. She's blind to its impact on her own mind and body, not to mention her family.
Addiction affects much more than just the person affected, and this book also portrays how, more often than not, friends and family are just as much in denial as the addict herself.
Thinking up excuses for them, not wanting to admit that something is seriously wrong. Poignant and completely unforgettable, Crank is an eye-opening story that anyone touched by addiction should read. It shows us the monstrous, but entirely realistic, road to drug addiction. View all 8 comments. Jan 05, Audrey rated it it was ok. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here. I don't want this to come across like I'm desensitized to drugs and how they can screw up someone's life, because I've personally seen that happen to many times to ever underestimate the power of addiction. And while I think it's important that YA authors write about these topics in an honest and eye-opening way, I don't think that Hopkins did that, even though her story is based on first-hand experience with meth.
I felt that much of her writing was cliche, in terms of language and description. I felt that her characters fell into stereotypical patterns and could Chase's "dialogue" have been any cheesier? The form does add some appeal to the novel, though again, I've seen that done before and done much better. Some of these issues, I think, are because of the form's limits it's hard to develop secondary characters at all when you're writing first person poetry , but others are just limitations of the story itself.
I think that there was a lot going on with Kristina that wasn't caused by the drugs -- sure, meth amplified those things, but there were other issues at the root of her bad choices and I thought the author really glossed over them maybe because she wanted to be able to lay all these problems at the feet of the "monster" rather than take some responsibility herself?
I'm not sure. View all 7 comments. This one is probably one of her more dark books, if not the darkest. This book has gritty and gorgeous prose, an addictive plot; it's thrilling and almost frightening to read, and this is a book that challenged how I perceived things.
The first book I ever read by her was Burned and it remains to this day my favorite book. Gifted, excelling in school, popular, held in a high regard. This all changes as soon as she goes to live with her father and she discovers the thing that would always call her back to it: crank crystal meth. What starts as a fun experiment goes into her own personal hell and the struggle for her mind and her life.
Ellen Hopkins's daughter was actually affected by crank. So this book is well backed up with accuracy, and Ellen witnessed the havoc that the monster wreaked on her daughter and everyone around her, and the struggle that came along with her daughter's addiction; this book is mayhem in the best way. To the point, that she becomes a completely different person dubbed Bree. It's an amazing experiences reading this book.
Ellen Hopkins has an amazing way of making you feel like you're actually living in the book. She is technically a poet, as all of her books in written in verse. Making you say all the things you'd rather not say, at least not in mixed company. Was the fun in the fall? You're a dream I never want to wake up from. You open my eyes to things I'll never really see. You're the best thing that will ever happen to me.
Be safe. Be smart. Stay you. Who I am. What chance meeting of brush and canvas painted the face you see? What made me despise the girl in the mirror enough to transform her,turn her to into a stranger, only not. So you want to hear the whole story. Why I swerved off the high road, hard left to nowhere, recklessly indifferent to those coughing my dust, picked up speed no limits,no top end, just a high velocity rush to madness.
Sunstroke and frostbite. It was all that I could ask for and completely unexpected. I expected demands. He gifted me with tenderness. I expected ego. He let me experiment. I expected disrespect. He called me beautiful. I expected him to expect perfection. He taught me all I needed to know. Ellen Hopkins can't do any wrong in my eyes. Apr 13, Janine rated it really liked it. Part of my fears that I cannot do it justice. Simply put, this book embodies the type of literature that I live and breathe for.
It's one of those books that vindicates my decision to become an educator and teach this type of literature. It also proves that not all "great" literature looks like a modern novel nor is it written by "dead white guys". Based on Ellen Hopkins' real-life battle with her daughter's addiction, Crank gives a voice to the voicelessness of drug addiction. Instead of opting for a trite memoir, Hopkins beautifully embroils readers in her daughter's struggles.
The style is like nothing I've ever encountered before; captivating, deeply unsettling, and harrowing, the tale becomes a part of you by the end. I have a feeling this book will "stick with me" for a while. I plan on devouring them as quickly as I did this one. Interested in more of my reviews?
Visit my blog! Sometimes she becomes Bree, the gi Interested in more of my reviews? When Kristina goes to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit her dad she meets the neighbor boy Adam and her life begins the slow roll downhill. His voice dripped Honey and cream, Irresistible poison. He was poison and he introduced her to another irresistible poison: the monster.
Just trying it once and her life was forever changed. My Thoughts This is my third foray into the works of Ellen Hopkins and I have yet to be disappointed. These are hard books and I can see why people either love them or hate them. They wrestle the difficult subjects that normal authors refuse to touch in order to avoid controversy or dispute.
I can understand this; however, that makes me love this author that much more because she does wrestle these tough subjects.
She tackles them to the ground and does it with gusto. Her books just simply are take it or leave it. Apr 08, Kai rated it really liked it. Not that kind of screwed, what I mean is, they're always on the short end of things. The way things work, how guys feel great, but make girls feel cheap for doing exactly what they beg for. The way they get to play you, all the while claiming they love you and making you believe it's true.
The way it's okay to gift their heart one day, a backhand the next, to move on to the apricot when the peach blushes and bruises. These things make me believe God's a man after all. But this novel made me feel all kinds of things that I don't ever want to experience. It was a scary, emotional, tough and eye-opening read.
Find more of my books on Instagram View 1 comment. Sep 22, Kelli rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites , ya. Everything about this book is different from anything I have ever read.
It is small and thick kind of shaped like a bag of cornmeal however had I not started it at 10 PM, I would most definitely have read it in one sitting. Written in prose that changes shape and font from page to page, it is a terrifying, brilliant, important, tremendously sad story based upon the life of the author's seventeen year old daughter.
Unique, seemingly honest and authentic, and a very quick, compulsive read. I'm s Everything about this book is different from anything I have ever read. I'm still shuddering inside.
I do not typically do well with trilogies but I will try the next in this series. I'm changing my rating to five for the prose alone. No, not doing drugs. But seeing stories about people who do drugs.
It amazes me how a substance can change a person so quickly. How it can make your life escalate and then sink it as quick as a heartbeat. I have only seen it before on television. Skins UK to be exact. Seen the lives of countless teenagers being destroyed by a substance, right before my very eyes. But like the drug itself, I was addicted see more. I needed more, so I became attached to Crank.
I had a strange need for more stories about teens and drugs. I wanted to get into their heads. I needed to feel what they felt in the safest way possible. It became an addiction of my own, but hardly on the level of addiction those teenagers faced.
Crank is a novel written in verse-poetry. It follows a sixteen-year-old girl who discovers a monster. In sparse, beautiful words, she describes how her life changes and she becomes someone else, literally. She explains how she first got into drugs and what came in the aftermath. She tells us how her need for more made her life a true living Hell, and how it tore her away from her family.
It shows us how Kristina is no longer Kristina, but how she is now a person much unlike herself, Bree. I could not put that book down. I read for about half an hour when I first picked it in the early hours of the morning while the rest of the world slept. I got around hundred or so pages in before the following hours of the next morning, where I began to devour the book and refused could to put it down from then on. It had easily become my own drug, and I needed to feel the rush in one whole turn, instead small, uninspired spurts.
Perhaps it is because the poetry was so much more refreshing and different from my usual prose, but something incredibly special about it made it impossible to ignore. The writing style was fantastic. I am a newcomer to poetry, yet I loved every word that Ellen Hopkins wrote for me.
I say me because I felt as if I alone read the novel, and that I was not simply part of the thousands of others who had read the book from all around the world.
The words flowed so naturally and struck so many raw emotions into my heart. Not only that, but the words played our eyes, descending down the pages in different shapes and structures, like skylines in a vast city and beating hearts trying to break free from the pain.
The story was heartbreaking. To see what Kristina had gone through, and to have her think everything was just as it should be, set me on a rage. I wanted to desperately save this girl. I wanted to take her into my arms and hold her tightly until she had recovered. I became the person she wanted to be.
I wanted to feel safe and secure but she took me even further into Hell. She had help in her decline, and it drew hatred from me toward those involved. I must admit that at times I wonder what would happen to me if I were ever to take drugs. I wonder what might happen if I smoked weed or popped a few pills. Even though I read and see these stories, it does not show what I might go through.
But, living in the lives of these teenagers, going down with them and not being able to get back up, it helps me greatly to stay away from these monsters and the destruction they cause. There are so many people out there, all over the world, who do not have that kind of help. They do not know what they are getting into when they take their first hit or their first puff or their first snort of their first line.
It will take any who are willing to let. May 08, Kate rated it it was amazing Shelves: youngadult. Kristina is a bright, good kid. But now, Kristina is gone. Bree has taken her place. Bree is dangerous.
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