Book Review of "Crank"

By Hailey Mason

April 10th, 2018 - Greenville New York Arts and Culture

The book that I read was Crank by Ellen Hopkins. Crank is a verse novel, which is a fairly new genre of literature. Crank is about a teenage girl names Kristina, who is introduced to a world that she has never been exposed to. She becomes addicted to meth after a court-ordered visit to see her father in Albuquerque. Kristina returns home with a drug addiction that she cannot shake.

The biggest struggle for Kristina throughout the book is sobering up from methamphetamine and getting away from the drug. This struggle is resolved after Kristina is given a shock of reality that opens her eyes into quitting meth. Kristina changed throughout Crank by going from a really good girl with high grades and a great future to a drug addict. It could also be argued that Kristina changed after she quit meth as well.

The theme of Crank is to focus on what is important in life and stay away from anything that would mess up your bright future. Ellen Hopkins is an extremely great author and her writing style is very dark, but has a sense of hope as you read on through her books, Crank especially. Hopkins also has a tendency to focus on reality. Some quotes from the book that support the true meaning of Crank are “taking no chances means waiting for your dreams” and “Kristina is who they made me. Bree is who I chose to be.” Overall, Crank is a well-written verse novel that I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in reading an attention-grabbing book of reality.