Tricks

Tricks
written by Ellen Hopkins



Tricks seems to be an epic conglomeration of many of Hopkins' past themes under a new umbrella topic. This one pushes at the bar just a little bit more than her previous books have, dealing with the controversial subject of prostitution. I found her reasoning for writing this book to be shocking. According to Hopkins, it all began when she learned that the average age for a female prostitute in the US is twelve years old. Twelve. It's facts like these that make Hopkins' books more memorable than the usual YA literature out there, pushing it to the extreme. I didn't know if she could pull off having five main characters, but she did, and she did it extremely well. There is, as usual, tons of fantastic imagery throughout this book written in poems. I was saddened to find less of her usual stylized poetry in this book than in the others; the poems seemed to just be in standard clumps for the most part, other than the section openers. I did love the foreshadowing section opener poems though. They introduced the topic with grace and suspense in a unique style only Hopkins could pull off. But then again, this entire book is something only Hopkins could pull off. Like I said, I think Hopkins pushes it to an entirely new level with this book, and to be quite honest, I'm still not sure I really liked it. It was as deep and insightful as her other books, but just a bit more out there and scarier to read than they were. Just the fact that these were ordinary teens, violently yanked out of their normal lives into a life they never could have imagined, it was really difficult to read. But, hey, that's Hopkins' style, the amazing, terrifying writing that makes the reader cringe but keep reading. It's definitely way too graphic for younger teens though, unless they happen to be exceedingly mature for their age. For all I can say about this book, it can really all be summed up by saying that this is a fantastically written dose of cold hard reality. Bravo, Ellen Hopkins, bravo.

Rating: 5/5

Also by Ellen Hopkins:
Identical
Burned

I got this book from...:Blogger Secret Santa!