Her sense of duality between good-girl-good-grades-Kristina and monster-addicted-party-girl-Bree is what drives the entire story. I will say that there were a couple times where I had to stop and read the poems a couple different ways because I wasn’t entirely certain how Hopkins wanted the poem read, and I’d love to see a live reading of this book just to hear how certain parts are emphasized.Īs I said, these poems are very introspective, so the character of Kristina (Bree) is actually pretty detailed. A lot of times, one poem will end, and the next poem picks up some small detail from the poem before and examines it.

The poetry of Crank is highly introspective, conveying the narrator’s feelings and thoughts through imagery, and I’ll touch on both of those momentarily, but it is interesting how the plot flows from one poem to the next. It’s one of my favorite styles to convey a narrative, though I will say a lot can be conveyed in a sestina with iambic pentameter. The poetry is free form, lacking conventional rhyming structure and often forming images or having certain words pulled out to form additional messages. The plot is told entirely through narrative poetry. While the plot brings up a lot of points regarding how addictive meth is, and how easily one can become entangled with the “monster”, I’d actually like to focus on how the plot it presented. The book is loosely based off the life of Ellen Hopkins’ own daughter’s struggles with methamphetamine. While a book of poetry may not lend itself well to the stage or screen (Not counting you, William Shakespeare!), Crank did win several awards for Young Adult literature in 20. After all, not only is it poetry, it’s in line with all the books that really gripped me as a teenager: Laurie Halse Anderson, Patricia McCormick, Margaret Haddix.

Crank is actually the first part of a trilogy detailing the life of Kristina, the narrator, but as I wasn’t certain if she returned to New Mexico in either, I decided to forgo reading the rest of the trilogy, but maybe one day for fun, I will. Let me tell you, as someone that was in Poetry Club in high school and took contemporary poetry writing as my arts course in college? This was certainly in my wheelhouse.Ĭrank was originally published in 2004, roughly a couple years before I’d start writing sestinas and haikus for fun. I decided that instead of going off script and taking up Death Comes for the Archbishop or Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, I’d give this book of connected poems a try. While the entirety of Crank is not set in New Mexico, the first major section of the book is set in Albuquerque, and it’s the only book on the list that takes place at all in the Land of Enchantment.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins