A Personal Review Of 'Crink' By Ellen Hopkins

CRANK written by Ellen Hopkins is a story about a young girl named Kristina and her journey of meeting the monster (crystal meth) and the aftermath of decisions while battling her addiction. Her life spirals out of control from experimenting with the drug with her father and first love, being raped by a boy who provided the drug to her, finding the love of her life while living the life of the monsters alter ego, Bree, and ultimately trying to control the monster when she finds out she is pregnant with the rapists child. The following paper explores my reaction and own experiences and how they compare to Kristina’s decisions while dealing with the daily struggles of teenage life.
Even though I have never been addicted to drugs, I did have

When I was younger I thought addicts were weak, selfish, and wastes of space. My family taught me being an addict was a choice and if they wanted to stop being sick they could, just like turning off a light. Reading the description of the yearning need to continue using the drug to feel normal was something that did change how I felt about drug users. They just want to feel that rush of excitement, of the dopamine racing through their veins, to feel somewhat normal again. “ It’s like falling softly into a pool of crystal mountain water floating on your back…forgiving yourself and those who you live and even those you despise” (p 427-28). This quote describes exactly why addicts become addicts. Something is missing in their lives and they need some kind of comfort and forgiveness, some kind of way to escape the decisions they or someone else has made and the consequences that

It’s possible to tell the mood the author wanted to set by the way she formed the words on the page. If the words, were in a confusing pattern across the paper, for example on page 407 when Kristina was battling with homework and being a good daughter but all she wanted to do was get high. At first there is an attempt to read the words up and down and then left to right. The confusion was frustrating at first but as the book continued it was possible to determine through the pattern of words the emotion that was held in the paragraph. If it was in a list format such as on pages 269-70, it was displaying the differences between Kristina and Bree. On other pages the words read one way tell a story while if read in a different manner tells a different story, almost as if Kristina is saying a passage and the monster is saying another. On pages 293-294, Kristina speaks of sitting on her bed and tracing the new tattoo on her leg and whether or not her mother could tell her innocent child was no longer there, another passage down the left side read “I don’t belong to my mother anymore”