Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

() Reads in the poetic form of the author's other works, such as Burned. It's another one that also pulls on anyone's desire for tragedy.

The setting is in a mental institution of some kind. The main characters whose viewpoints are switch-narrated among come from completely different backgrounds with completely different "problems". Nonetheless, two fall in love, and one just falls.

If you have a craving for reading about crazies, (which I often do,) this is for you. It's a lot thicker in page volume than Burned, and I suppose not as good, according to my review.

Some keen insight into different thought processes is shown. I also am starting to enjoy Hopkin's less conventional way of composing stories. But there were many times throughout this read that I found myself wanting to stop and pickup another book. Not sure exactly how to pinpoint my reasoning for this.

Good stuff: "Is it even a window / I'm looking through, / or only cloudy panes / of vision, opening / on drifts of ivory / linens - soft cotton, / crisp percale - / my snow just / a blizzard of white / noise?" (pg. 18)
"Don't you feel better [...] with all of that out in the open? / [...] I do feel / somehow relieved, like I'm / cutting teeth on psychoanalysis." (pg. 150)
"[...] although he's more / like a faraway star, brilliant, / but cold in his distance; / beautiful in his perfection, / but likely to burn too brightly, / stuff himself out. / I wonder where he came / from, what random joining / of energies created such complexity." (pg. 271)
"I'm afraid - [...] when I get out of this place, / everything will be exactly / the same as before - even me. / I'll still live in my parents'/ shadow; I'll still drive myself to / achieve impossible perfection. / And I'll never let myself / believe that someone really loves me." (pg. 418)
"It's not easy to get / close to anyone in here, / Tony. Everyone's afraid / of everybody else ... maybe / because we're all afraid / of ourselves." (pg. 468)
"Think how people must have / loved each other when all / they had was each other." (pg. 506)
"What Tony doesn't know / Is that love and I are like / water and oil. Put the two / together, blend well, and you / get Quaker State quicksand." (pg. 597)
"This time / when we kiss, I feel / it in the pit of my stomach, / I feel it in my heart. / And I realize love isn't about sex. / It's about connection." (pg. 663)

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

() This is a good book, no doubt about it. The only criticism I have is that it's just such a tragic narrative. It made me bawl afterwards. Some of the sequences of sad events seem almost unreal because of the never-ending drama; but at the same time, still very plausible.
The main character is a teenage girl named Pattyn Von Stratten. Her family is very strictly Mormon. Her mother is a baby maker (7 daughters) and her dad is a highly abusive alcoholic. Pattyn is a smart girl who questions her families ways, but being young, she runs into horrid mistakes during the process. So to solve this, her family sends her to her aunt's rural ranch to stay for the summer. There, she finds herself, but also creates even more trouble for her future. (It didn't have to be trouble, but you know the way this very catastrophic world works.) The book ends with an unsure conclusion where Pattyn is deciding between murder or suicide.
The writing in this book is good, though very unconventional. It's like every chapter is an art piece, or poem. I'd recommend it if you don't mind feeling completely hopeless about life for a while, otherwise choose something with a little more positive lesson. This basically expresses that going against the norm will bring some good, but mostly bad into one's life; at least that's the way it worked out for Pattyn.

ZigZag by Ellen Wittlinger

() Centers around a 17-year-old country girl, Robin, who's madly in love with her boyfriend of two-years, Chris. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is going off to college next year and is now unexpectedly spending 'their last summer together' in Rome. Robin thinks she will perish without Chris, but instead the opposite proves true as she cares for her cousins' and aunt's post-tragedy emotions on a long and testing road trip across the country. Surprising events occur that lead to Robin eventually finding herself, her ability to survive and adapt, and her love for life.
It's a decent read with a common lesson found in young adult books. It's good for individual empowerment and bad for the romantics.