Crank Book Review

Crank
Ellen Hopkins
Simon Pulse
ISBN 0-689-86519-8

                This book was unique in so many ways and I truly adored it. You see so many books and movie about what drugs can do to a person or a family but very rarely do you get a glimpse into that person’s head well that’s exactly where this book takes you. ‘Crank’ is definitely a unique kind of a book. The way it is written sets it apart from other novels of this sort of plot. It’s written in poem form, the story comes at you in short, fast spurts. It’s unlike any other book I’ve ever read and I was immediately hooked by the style of writing and how the words were placed on the page. As well as the powerful story they told.

                ‘Crank’ tells the story of Kristina, a good kid who has good grades. Her family is pretty prim and proper and on the straight and narrow except for the fact that her older sister is a lesbian. Which they still try to turn their heads to and deny it the best they can. Then for the summer Kristina decides to go live with her estranged father. She thinks it will be the time of her life, she has been feeling suffocated by the life that has become hers since her mother married her stepfather and her daddy is her knight in shining armor and it will be a glorious summer. However her summer with her father takes the complete opposite turn, her stay down there and the people she meets expose her to a dark and dangerous world of drugs. That is when Kristina becomes ‘Bree’ when she meets the monster. She gets highly addicted to crystal meth and comes home a completely different girl with a secret deadly habit.

                As I was saying before I have read a lot of books and seen movies about drug addiction. Usually you see from the outside how it affects them and how it hurts the family. Whereas ‘Crank’ shows everything from the addict’s point of view, you get to see the damage firsthand. You really get to see how the drugs make you think and affect every part of your life.

                The story of Kristina was a heart wrenching, yet touching story. You see a family go through such struggles to find their little girl again but yet not really know exactly how far she is in the deep.

                This story was an absolutely amazing, I have read a few of Ellen Hopkins other books and they are all phenomenal I would recommend this book to anyone. This is a must read, everyone should read this book at least once in their life.

* I purchased this book on my own accord and decided to review it. I was not compensated for this review.