Perfect: Understanding the Broken

I've read all of Ellen Hopkins' novels, and this week I'm reading her latest, Perfect. Her books are kind of in poem format, so there are not very many words on each page. Because of this, Im dividing the number of pages I've read by 3 to be fair. Anyway, Perfect tells the lives of 4 teenagers (pop fiction!) who feel the pressure to be perfect in their unique ways. Cara's brother couldn’t handle it and tried to kill himself. Sean uses steroids that cause several problems and the reader can see how they are going to ruin his life. And Kendra is slowly starving herself to death. Hopkins' novels always introduce a feeling of hopelessness. Sometimes it will filter into my life and I'll go through some silly teen angst phase until after I've finished the novel. It's really funny actually. The characters always have many flaws. I think that the author tries to make them more relatable to readers, and it probably is to a lot of people, but for a goodytwoshoes like me, I feel so frustrated. All I think is "YOU IDIOT. YOU IDIOT. Can't you see you're ruining your life?!" On a softer note, the reader also gets a glimpse at that mysterious road which takes you to the depths of your life. Sometimes you wonder how a person got to where they are, and sometimes it’s a slow fade; for others it could be a nightmarish incident that left them irreversibly changed.  At the end of the story I feel more understanding and forgiving because I see how twisted, confused and hopeless they felt. How they didn’t know of, or didn’t have another option but the one that puts their life in ruins. And how can I blame them for that. Hopkins didn’t strain herself enough to spice up her usual routine in this latest novel, but something about the way the lyrical words jump around the pages makes all her books so alluring, even if it doesn’t bring the biggest challenge. So I’ll read on!