Crank (Paperback)

by Ellen Hopkins (Author) "So you want to know all about me..." (more)
Key Phrases: Chase Wagner, The Avenue, Wild Waters (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ellen Hopkins's semi-autobiographical verse novel, Crank, reads like a Go Ask Alice for the 21st century. In it, she chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank. Soon, her grades plummet, her relationships with family and friends deteriorate, and she needs more and more of the monster just to get through the day. Kristina hits her lowest point when she is raped by one of her drug dealers and becomes pregnant as a result. Her decision to keep the baby slows her drug use, but doesn't stop it, and the author leaves the reader with the distinct impression that Kristina/Bree may never be free from her addiction. In the author's note, Hopkins warns "nothing in this story is impossible," but when Kristina's controlled, high-powered mother allows her teenage daughter to visit her biological father (a nearly homeless known drug user), the story feels unbelievable. Still, the descriptions of crystal meth use and its consequences are powerful, and will horrify and transfix older teenage readers, just as Alice did over 20 years ago. --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–Seventeen-year-old Kristina Snow is introduced to crank on a trip to visit her wayward father. Caught up in a fast-paced, frightening, and unfamiliar world, she morphs into "Bree" after she "shakes hands with the monster." Her fearless, risk-taking alter ego grows stronger, "convincing me to be someone I never dreamed I'd want to be." When Kristina goes home, things don't return to normal. Although she tries to reconnect with her mother and her former life as a good student, her drug use soon takes over, leaving her "starving for speed" and for boys who will soon leave her scarred and pregnant. Hopkins writes in free-verse poems that paint painfully sharp images of Kristina/Bree and those around her, detailing how powerful the "monster" can be. The poems are masterpieces of word, shape, and pacing, compelling readers on to the next chapter in Kristina's spiraling world. This is a topical page-turner and a stunning portrayal of a teen's loss of direction and realistically uncertain future.–Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: McElderry (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689865198
• ISBN-13: 978-0689865190
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,284 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #10 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Drug Use & Abuse > Fiction
  #12 in	Books > Children's Books > Issues > Drugs
  #17 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Dating & Intimacy > Fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars intense, October 30, 2005

By	Cathe Olson "natural foods cookbook author" (In the kitchen) - See all my reviews

This story of a teenager who becomes addicted to crank is a book that parents as well as teenagers should read. The sparse poetry conveys the power of the addiction so much more intensely than prose ever could.

As a parent, it was especially scary to see how quickly "the monster" claimed this young girl. The message of this book is so strong because it is never preachy or overdramitized. It comes across very true and real.

I read "Go Ask Alice" when I was a teenager and this book strikes the same emotions.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attention Parents!, November 4, 2004

By	Tagurit (Texas) - See all my reviews

Have your teen or preteen read this book. The size of the book makes it look challenging, but the first page reaches out and grabs you for a fast, powerfully frightening read. I had my girls read it and they were both deeply impressed with Kristina/Bree's downhill slide into drug abuse. It's hard edged and realistic, so it's scary. Ellen conveys the emotion of the roller-coaster ride called Crank with honesty, vivid imagery and a style that will keep you asking for more.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meeting the Monster, August 9, 2007

By	TastyBabySyndrome "T(to the)B(to the)S" ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Gifted in school, never in trouble, always the loving daughter; Kristina Georgia Snow seems to be the model of perfection. Kristina is far from that, however, and the manifestation of the problems she exhibits forms under the name of "Bree." Bree is many of the things that Kristina wants to be, she's fearless and she's her own person, and a visit with her absentee father sends Kristina scrambling into the arms of Bree and into the arms of another monster - crank. And while life seems good for a time, Kristina finds herself slowly bleeding away and the other her, the consumed her, taking hold.

Ellen Hopkins is an absolutely phenomenal writer, and even better than that is her ability to craft a tale using her own methods. It has to be mentioned that she also has a specific point-of-view about "the monster" in the book as well, recounting some of the struggles that she endured while her daughter fought with addiction and almost lost. Some of that is wrenching, too, but Hopkins uses that feeling and doesn't make you feel sorry for the person behind the pen. She instead uses that power to make you feel for the person behind the mask, hoping to find something better.

When I first read the book, I was impressed by the things that Hopkins manages to work into the proverbial foundations of the very thing she delivers. She writes words within the wording, putting things in the columns and the rows that formulate a story all their own. Things like "treading the riptide, good girls drown" appear in the middle of an area that is part of a larger sum, and the way these things are utilized make you pay attention.
It seems rare to have to do that anyone, too - paying attention, I mean. Too often an author placates an audience with a tale, and the somber tale is moving BUT it finds one thing missing.
The thing I like about Hopkins and her book Crank is that it is fixes a lot of that; she does call Crack "the monster" and she does tell her how much the substance hurt them all but, in the story, she still paints the "good points," the reasons for use and habituation, that are often left out of tales. She also spells everything out in a way that doesn't allow for speed-reading if you want the whole effect.
And, trust me, you want the whole effect.

Basically, when you read this, you get a feeling for the child, for the surroundings, and for the turmoil that brews inside her life. That makes it understandable when it comes to her meeting with her "father" and why she needs her alter-ego, not to mention the drug itself. Combine that with the beautiful workmanship, the story within the story, and you have something really well worth mentioning.