Over two days spent sipping peppermint hot chocolate and caramel frappachinos, I read Ellen Hopkin's book Identical. I had been vaguely aware of her work, but hadn't read anything of hers. Then I began a book blog and suddenly I was coming across her name frequently. Banned book week further introduced me to her works as her books are often challenged by parents who like to ban books. Naturally, that made me want to read her books, and then I found out that she writes her stories in a series of free verse poems. As it was a book buying banned week for me, I headed to Barnes and Noble and started reading Identical. The first day I read 2 hours straight, unable to find a stopping point until the Hubs called to remind me that I was suppose to be on my way to picking him up... oops.
Identical is the story of two sisters, identical twins Kaeleigh and Raeanne. Their parents marriage is falling apart, their mom away on the campaign trail and even further emotionally away when she is at home, and their father is a respected judge with a drinking problem. Years ago, while driving drunk, Kaeleigh and Raeanne's father caused an accident and lost the love of his wife. She began separating from the family, and feeling dejected by his wife, their father turned to Kaeleigh for affection.
Yes, the story contains incest, drug use and scores of other issues that are less than pleasant so it may not be for the squeamish. But more importantly it deals with real issues that face teens, and there is a kind of redemption at end. I really enjoy Hopkin's verse style of writing. I plan on reading the rest of her books simply because I love the style so much. Although this wasn't a happy, happy sunshine book, it was a compelling look at an often secretive and destructive family issue.
Identical gets a rating of : Midnight Read, for it's unputdownableness.
New Rating System: I will be rating books from 8pm Reads to Midnight Reads, Midnight being the best, and 8pm indicating a book you can probably skip in favor of a crappy re-run of a mind numbing reality show.
Other verse style books you might enjoy:
This summer at ALA, I got a copy of Sharp Teeth after seeing a talk by the author, and my book is signed and all, but I'm scared I'm too squeamish for the content so I haven't read it...
ReplyDeleteIt's not too gore-tastic... but I read it awhile ago and I was raised on horror movies and Stephen King novels, so it takes a lot to make me squeamish. I just really love the way it's written!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't usually read books like this, I may check out her other works since you enjoyed her writing style so much.
ReplyDeleteLove your new rating system! Makes more sense than the 1-5 rating I've been using. Very cool! :)