Book Review: Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Tricks
Author: Ellen Hopkins
# of Pages: 627
Published: 2009
Rating: 5/5
From the Publisher:

"When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival."

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

Review:
From the moment I opened Tricks' pages, I was hooked. The story focuses on five teenagers: Eden, a preacher's daughter; Seth, a farm-boy dealing with the death of his mother and the discovery of his homosexuality; Whitney, who has always been second-best; Ginger, whose 'working mom' betrays her time and again, and finally, Cody, who does anything to make ends meet.

When I first began to read, I was a little worried that having five characters, five different stories, might be confusing. It turns out there was no need to worry; Hopkins distinguishes every character and story perfectly. She brings life and history to each trouble teenager, splattering their pain onto each page.

I don't want to give too much away because when I began the novel, I had no idea where it would end up and it had a great impact. I would have lost this impact had I know what was coming for each character. Tricks made me cry, and had me sick to my stomach; the stories were raw, painful and honest. What's scarier though, is that these stories are someone's reality.