Book Review of The "You I've Never Known"

By Bridget Rose

January 26th, 2018 - Greenville, New York Arts and Culture

The You I’ve Never Known by Ellen Hopkins is a verse novel. This novel contains topics of alcohol, drugs, sex, rape, family issues, LGBTQ+ relationships, and self identity.  It is about a teenage girl, Ariel, who is finding her identity. Her father, Mark, claims her mother abandoned her and Mark for a woman. Mark and Ariel have been living in various cities for the past 16 years. Meanwhile, the story of teenaged Maya plays out.

Maya falls in love with an older man and gets pregnant to make him stay; a plan that fails. The main characters are Maya and Ariel, with Mark, Monica, Gabe, and Zelda adding to the story. The main character's biggest struggle was finding herself. This struggle was never completely resolved, as the book ends with Ariel knowing only a little bit more of herself. Ariel did not change very much throughout the story. She was always battling her sexual identity. However, Ariel did mature throughout the book. She became more aware of her family history and the world around her.

The theme is how self identity is one of the biggest and most important struggles, and it should always be figured out. The author’s writing style is verse, including broken sentences as well as carrying them onto the next page. The dialogue is written in italics and follows the same format for various characters. The book’s tone is mellow; it is happy majority of the times, but sad other times.