Book Review- 'Perfect' by Ellen Hopkins

Review: ‘Perfect’ by Ellen Hopkins

About the Author: Ellen Hopkins is a novelist and a poet who has published many bestselling novels. She published her first novel ‘Crank’ in 2004. She is basically famous for writing Young Adult novels in the form of verses on serious teenage issues like suicide, drugs, depression, etc. This is the first book which I read by the author but I loved her way of writing and found it to be very unique and different. You can checkout her website here.

About the Book: ‘Perfect’ is book which is written in the form of verses and poetry. It’s a young adult fiction which revolves around the lives of four teenagers- Cara, Kendra, Sean and Andre. The stories of each of these characters are interconnected and show that how four different teenagers who live in the same town, go to the same school and who know each other somehow suffer from different types of mental breakdowns.

The first major character or narrator is Cara, a 17 year old, who has spent all her life to please her parents and in being the perfect daughter. There comes a time when she starts getting frustrated by the pressure from her parents when she discovers about her hidden homosexuality and realises that her parents would no longer consider her as the perfect daughter. She also has a twin brother Conner, who has tried to commit suicide because of the similar pressure by the parents. Her story revolves around the problems teenagers face when they suffer academic pressure from their parents and also it depicts homosexuality as something which though being very natural is a tough thing to be accepted in our society.

The second major character is Kendra, again a 17 year old, who has been trained since her childhood by her mother to become a model and to win every beauty pageant there is. Being obsessed with this goal, she starts taking steroid as a method to reduce weight and uses all the other means possible to become the best and the most beautiful and most importantly to achieve the perfect body for a model. Her story revolves around all the wrong decisions she makes and how they affect her life. Her story also shows the family issues she faces with her mother, father, step-father, sister and also Conner (Cara’s twin) who was her ex boyfriend before he attempted suicide.

The third major character is Sean who is Cara’s boyfriend. His story brings out the depression he goes through when he discovers about Cara’s hidden sexuality. He has been described as a lonely character as his parents are dead and therefore Cara means everything to him. He is a baseball enthusiast and therefore he tries to get a baseball scholarship so that he can stay with Cara in the topmost college she goes to. For this he takes steroids at an unstoppable rate and starts suffering from various bodily problems but when he finally comes to know about Cara’s hidden sexuality, he goes mad and starts stalking her and puts up all her personal photographs over the internet. His story shows that how illegal drug taking along with depression destroys the life of a teenager which lead him to develop serious brain issues.

The fourth and the last narrator is Andre, who is quite different from other characters and is only related to their lives because he is the boyfriend of Kendra’s younger sister. He has been shown as an African-American who has been taught since his childhood that he has to work and study like his father and grandfather and earn a lot and take the family name forward. He faces an immense amount of pressure from his family. But, he is someone who loves dancing and takes private Jazz lessons without letting his parents know. His story shows the major issues which occur between parents and children which are in relation to the children’s career. How he gathers the enormous amount of strength to face his parents and take a decision that he has to follow his dreams is what his story revolves around.

Review: So the main reason why I picked up this book was that I was very much fascinated by the way it was written in the form of verses. It has not been written chapter wise and in paragraphs but it has been written as poetry which made it very appealing. I just loved the way in which this book has been written and it was so different from the normal way of writing. I guess this unique way of writing is one of the best parts about the book. Apart from that, I personally loved the book. I loved the fact that it had a normal story which was very realistic and through such a simple story so many important issues have been addressed. The most important issue which has been focused upon in the stories of all the major characters is about the pressure which teenagers are put under by their parents. How they are pressurised to maintain grades, to get into top colleges, to fulfil their parent’s dreams or to be the best child in the world. The book shows that how it is because of this pressure that these teenagers in the book start taking illegal drugs, are ashamed of their sexual orientation, try to suppress their own dreams and ambitions, start feeling lonely or try to commit suicide. The way all these issues have been interconnected is just wonderful. The story also clearly describes the mistakes every teenager makes and what are the impacts of those mistakes. The book is just great in describing each and everything which a teenager goes through. Another important issue the book addresses is that of suicide.

“Death is only the way out if you are the one who dies.”

The story shows that how easy it is for a person to commit suicide but how much it is difficult for the people who knew the person to cope up with the horrifying incident. Whether a person is remotely related to the person who dies or knows him very personally, the death of that person has some effect on those who are living, no matter what. I was just so much impressed that how such a topic has been dealt with because according to me, it is something which is necessarily required to be addressed in the present society.

Another issue which the book deals with in a wonderful manner is homosexuality. It shows the truth that how much difficult it becomes for a person to accept himself or herself as a homosexual just because of being afraid that the society will treat them differently and they’ll not be considered as a perfect child or a student or even a perfect human being.

The book clearly tries to focus upon one thing that everybody tries to be perfect but nobody is sure of what perfection is. People try and define perfection as per their own convenience but they forget that perfection is something which can only be achieved if your mind is at peace and when not the society but you are satisfied and happy by what you are and what you do. The open ending of the story is also completely justified as it leaves the reader pondering upon all these important issues addressed through the story of these four teenagers.

To read or not to read: According me, ‘Perfect’ is a wonderful book. If you are someone who is looking for something different to read then trust me you will love this book because of the unique way in which it is written. Also, if you are someone who is just starting to read then this is a great choice to start with. If you are someone who is not much into YA then you might not find the book very nice. But otherwise I guess it’s a wonderful read and should be read by every person just to understand the grievousness of the issues addressed through the story.
You can buy the book from amazon by clicking here.

“Living means taking chances, risks. Playing safe all the time is being dead inside, if you happen to be still breathing.”

Rating: 4/5

Thank You for reading. :)