Book Review: Impulse (Impulse, #1)

Title: Impulse (Impulse, #1)
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2007
Page total: 666 pages
Date read: January 4th, 2011
Genre(s): Young Adult; Realistic-Fiction; Serious Issues
Synopsis: Tony’s painful childhood memories can be quelled only through pills. Vanessa has a secret that keeps her coming back to the blade. And Conner seems to have the perfect life on the outside, but his inward battle with his parents, his peers, and himself give him one last choice - to pull the trigger.
These are three lives that would have been cut short if not for the hasty intervention by loved ones. Or fate. Now they are given a second chance at a better life - but only if they help one another, and if they find the strength to let go of their inner demons. For good. (from the back of the book)

My review: (The whole book is written in verse, so my review is, too.)

Suicide
is an ugly word
not just because of the act itself
but what happens

if you fail

Meet
Vanessa
Tony
Conner

Didn't cut deep enough,
didn't take enough pills,
didn't aim close enough to heart.

Three people,
lost, scared, denied
from what they needed most.

Love.


I used to think
poetry is confusing
It still is,
at least for me

but
a book, written in verse,
is just
beautiful

Beautiful, heart-wrenching, touching.
It aches my heart, my soul.
Mostly because
I have a deep connection to characters,
created by Hopkins' words,
flowing through my head,
anchoring there.

Didn’t know
one could be
so moved by words,
unable to do anything
but thinking about them.


It's hauntingly beautiful.







P.S.: The companion novel to Impulse, Perfect, seen through Conner's twin Cara's eyes, comes out this year.