***SPOILER ALERT***
Reading Response to "Impulse" By Ellen Hopkins.
Impulse is a story that tracks the lives of three teenagers, with very different lives, who end up in the same mental hospital.
Vanessa is the charming daughter of an army dad and a bipolar mother, and when her mother is pushed over the edge Vanessa resorts to cutting to hide her sadness.
Tony is the bisexual juvenile delinquent who spent half his life on the street, but turns out to be a lot sweeter than what he might seem.
Conner is the privileged, handsome, smart, athletic boy who spent all his life having to try and live up to his sister's standards, his cold parent's expectations of them.
And they all meet in Pinebrook, a mental clinic in Nevada.
I usually like Ellen Hopkin's books, while they are very "teenage-y" they can have some beautiful language. Especially Identical, while the concept is sad and odd, the writing is beautiful. So this book didn't live up to my standards for her. With this concept and the intense writing she can do, she just kind of failed. And the plot wasn't for me either.
I mean, Conner's in love with an older woman.
Vanessa's in love with Conner.
They all have flashbacks.
Tony's in love with Conner.
Conner's in love with Vanessa, and the older woman.
Conner lusts after his therapist.
Tony and Vanessa become very close.
Tony realizes that he might actually not be gay.
They go out into the desert on a wilderness survival program.
Conner stops taking his pills.
Tony and Vanessa fall in love.
Conner jumps off a cliff,
and then, boom it ends. I mean, really? Really!? The plot was both uninteresting until the end, and sounded as if it was made up as the author went along. That's one thing I can't stand in books, possibly because i do it ALL THE TIME. J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" is a really good example of a book that doesn't do that. You can tell that Rowling plotted out all the 7 books in the series before even starting the first one.
In those ways, the book disappointed me. Also, i just hated the ending. Conner was really the character who could have done so well in his life, if he didn't just stop taking the pills. But in that way, the book was quite obvious. Conner is the one who would kill himself, he was no longer necessary to the other characters, besides his depression he was perfect, and he was the one who had a terrible life to return to once he got out of the hospital.
But i still thought that the emotions of the character's were expressed very well. Their problems were real, raw, relatable. Although, obviously, I've never been in a mental hospital, nor am i manic-depressive, nor is my life shit, I can really connect to the feeling of hopelessness that Conner, Vanessa and Tony all have felt. The realization that you don't think you can do shit to improve your life, that you're either just going to have to keep living a life you're not entirely satisfied with-or, not.
And, i think that's something we all have to face, all have to get over, and everyone can connect to.
