The power of a good story is immeasurable. Writing can make a one laugh, cry, or invoke deep thought. But what makes a good tale? There are the basic literary elements: plot, characters, and setting but the best of stories have something special. The best of stories transport the reader into a world other than their own with people and adventures they’ve never experienced. So many writers are capable of this, some of the more prominent being J.K Rowling, J.R.R Tolkien, and C.S Lewis just to name a few. Though these best selling authors have taken me into their worlds of Hogwarts, Middle Earth, and Narnia respectively, one author in particular has always been able to take me out of reality but in a different way while simultaneously having a
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This wasn’t the tale of overdramatic teenagers that react drastically to the little issues in life. Each character’s backstory is a testament to the internal struggles that everyone faces and exemplifies the idea that family and environment influence a person’s actions and psyche even if they are outwardly flawless. Connor for example lives the stereotypical picture perfect life with a large house, good grades, god like looks, cookie cutter family, and the extraordinary pressure that comes along with it. All of this drove him to pull the trigger. Tony however comes from a completely opposite place in life: abandoned by his father, abused by men in his life, and he spent a lot of his developmental years in a juvenile detention center. Tony’s solution was to swallow a bottle of pills. Vanessa’s home life isn’t quite as broken, but her father is overseas. Vanessa lives with her grandmother, her mother who is slowly losing her mind, and her little brother who she has some how come into the responsibility of watching over. That and the fear that she may be going just as crazy as her mother persuades Vanessa into slitting her wrists. These actions led Connor, Tony, and Vanessa to a juvenile psych ward where the seemingly unrelated characters found out they had more in common than they thought. A brief background along with the critical decisions made by each character comprise the beginning of the book. In my opinion the importance isn’t in the major event that happens to the characters, but how they deal with this presumably life changing event. What attracts me to Ellen Hopkins’ stories is that she focuses on just that, and also the realistic nature of her
This wasn’t the tale of overdramatic teenagers that react drastically to the little issues in life. Each character’s backstory is a testament to the internal struggles that everyone faces and exemplifies the idea that family and environment influence a person’s actions and psyche even if they are outwardly flawless. Connor for example lives the stereotypical picture perfect life with a large house, good grades, god like looks, cookie cutter family, and the extraordinary pressure that comes along with it. All of this drove him to pull the trigger. Tony however comes from a completely opposite place in life: abandoned by his father, abused by men in his life, and he spent a lot of his developmental years in a juvenile detention center. Tony’s solution was to swallow a bottle of pills. Vanessa’s home life isn’t quite as broken, but her father is overseas. Vanessa lives with her grandmother, her mother who is slowly losing her mind, and her little brother who she has some how come into the responsibility of watching over. That and the fear that she may be going just as crazy as her mother persuades Vanessa into slitting her wrists. These actions led Connor, Tony, and Vanessa to a juvenile psych ward where the seemingly unrelated characters found out they had more in common than they thought. A brief background along with the critical decisions made by each character comprise the beginning of the book. In my opinion the importance isn’t in the major event that happens to the characters, but how they deal with this presumably life changing event. What attracts me to Ellen Hopkins’ stories is that she focuses on just that, and also the realistic nature of her