About
four years ago, a young girl came across a five-hundred page book on the
shelf of her older brother’s bookcase. That young girl was me, and the reason why this is being brought up is because the book made an impact to my life.
I have always been a very social person, but this book helped grow my knowledge
on human behavior, such as how people change and how certain situations tend to
make them act the way they do. Somewhere along the lines, I’ve been capable of
holding a connection between my peers in order to make sure they are safe. A powerful book like Crank, will always stay in the back of my mind.
To begin, Crank is a novel that was written by Ellen Hopkins in 2004 and its
won New York Times Bestselling novel.
What makes this book so intriguing is that it is partially based on the
authors real life. It is mainly about how her daughter became addicted to
drugs. You might wonder why a little girl would be interested reading such
things, but there are numerous reasons on why I continued to read it. Being so
young, I had never experienced having a boyfriend, being offered drugs (I
didn’t even know what drugs were), traveling anywhere without my mom, or doing
anything that would upset my parents. Crank
literally caused me to picture everything I read as if it were happening in
front of my face.
Crank
is about a teenage girl named Kristina that lives in Reno with her mother,
but goes to Albuquerque one summer to visit her father. Meanwhile Kristina is
there; her father is hardly home and Kristina meats this guy she is very
attracted to named Adam, who she ends up forming a relationship with. Adam
introduces Kristina to drugs, primarily Crank. Before summer, Kristina was a
straight-A honor student, and once she came back from visiting her father, she
became a total different person. She was the opposite of what “Kristina”was.
Essentially, Kristina came back from
Albuquerque and began to call herself Bree. Now this is where I was captured, I have never experienced crank (I certainly do
not wish to) or witnessed anyone close to me consume it. Bree was a total
different persona in comparison to Kristina, more of a bad girl who chose drugs
over anything. The terrifying image was how two personalities were within one
girl. The only reason Kristina began to call herself Bree was for the drugs she
was handling, they were changing her,
creating her into “the Monster.” As the author describes the process of
Kristina’s change, I felt the words touch me, they were very powerful.
Additionally, as time passed, I’d
read this book a repeated number of times, to a point where it became a habit
to read every June when I was bored at home. Although when I was younger, I will confess I
didn’t completely understand what was going on. Now that I am older, I
understand a lot more than I thought I did before. I’ve realized it made an
impact in my life because it is based on a real life story. As I entered high
school, I noticed the friends I had in middle school went all different routes.
Some went from bad to great, and some dropped from wonderful to
questionable. It’s important because
it’s made me see how much people change, and how small things make them act
different ways. Parents should definitely consider reading Crank, since it is such
a meaningful book, maybe it will help them get a glimpse of what their children
may come across one day and help prevent it.
Furthermore, reading Crank has made
me want to stick around for anyone who may need my help. Sometimes people feel
alone and it’s what leads them to falling into bad habits. I certainly would
have to say I do not regret picking this book up, even if it was without
permission, because it has changed my perspective on the way I see people. The
innocent ones don’t always remain innocent, and the wild ones don’t always stay
wild. In addition, I’ve become such a charismatic person; all for a book I had
read when I was younger. Sometimes you come across things in life, but have yet
to realize why it’s caught your attention until you learn it crossed your path
for a reason.
Finally, I would like to rate this
book a five out of five. Ellen Hopkins wrote this book in a poem manner, which
made it fun to read. The writing she applied was easy tu understand, which held
more of my attention. After seeing how deep down hill her daughter’s life went
for doing drugs, it’s made me be aware. This book was written to entertain, but
also to inform and I believe its goals were achieved. It’s played a role with
the attitude I have now, I’ve come to realize that books can make great changes
in people.
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