Review: Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Review: Fallout (Crank #3)

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Pages: 672

Rating: 4/5


Summary:

Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.

Hunter is nineteen, angry, getting by in college with a job at a radio station, a girlfriend he loves in the only way he knows how, and the occasional party. Autumn lives with her single aunt and alcoholic grandfather. When her aunt gets married, and the only family she’s ever known crumbles, Autumn’s compulsive habits lead her to drink. Summer doesn’t know about Hunter, Autumn, or their two youngest brothers, Donald and David. To her, family is only abuse at the hands of her father’s girlfriends and a slew of foster parents. As each searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle.

 

I started reading Ellen Hopkins books when I was in 7th grade (2009) and have been in love with them ever since. I have read every one of her books and they taught me so much about the life of people who do drugs and how their choices negatively effect families. They were all a real eye opener, especially the Crank series.

The series is based on Ellen's daughter who was in a similar situation as Kristina in Crank. This adds a passion and depth to the story which is my favorite part about the books. Also, the books are written in a poetic format. Occasionally the words actually form pictures on the page which is beyond awesome!

I guess I was expecting a tad too much from this book because I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic book and a nice ending to the series, but there were a few things I didn't particularly care for.

For example, I desperately wanted to continue reading about Kristina's crazy life, but unfortunately I didn't get to. Instead, Fallout was told in 3 different point of views, all Kristina's children. Every time the book switched POVs I would have to think back to what happened previously in the book. It was a little hard to keep up with at times and terribly confusing in the beginning.

On the bright side, it was indeed interesting to learn how Kristina and her drug addictions effected her children, even if she never saw them. Their lives were so terribly different from mine that every time I picked up the book, it dragged me into a completely different world. A world of drugs, sex, lies, innocence, struggles and everything in between. In addition, the book answered any hanging questions previously in the series.

Overall, the plot and Ellen's writing style was amazing as always. Fallout was a great conclusion to the series with an ending so great and powerful, I read it over and over again.  If you haven't read any Hopkins yet, I strongly suggest you do so. You will not be disappointed!

Have you read any Ellen Hopkins books? What did you think of them?