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A review by ghostlydreamer
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
Did not finish book.
1.0
Oh, where to BEGIN? If you remember my review of Willow, you'll know you're in for another very similar ride with this one. Because this book? Is trash. I DNF'd this book about three quarters of the way in. Threw it on the ground, made some weird noise in my throat over it, got up, and walked away. Then retrieved the book and promptly threw it in the box with all the other books I was planning on getting rid of. I didn't once consider finishing the book. And to this day, I don't regret it. This book is so insanely problematic I just...I can't even begin to describe it all. In fact, there are MUCH better reviews of this book than I could ever give, and you'll find them on Goodreads. Just look for the ones with one star. But nevertheless, I'll make my own attempt. Because even though it's been five years since I read this book, I despise it just as much as I did that day I DNF'd it. To this day, this is on par with Willow for being the worst book I've ever read. Additionally, I never finished the book, but I looked up spoilers and WOW. That's all I can say for that ending. WOW. Not good, Hopkins. NOT. FUCKING. GOOD.
Anyway. This book follows three teenagers at psychiatric hospital. All of them have attempted suicide and they're there for rehabilitation. Naturally, the lives of our three main protagonists connect. And then come the problematic tropes. Tell me, Hopkins...WHAT was the point of writing in a love triangle that gets solved by...suicide? I mean, what the fuck is up with young adult books portraying mental health so poorly? Why the hell do you need to glamorize and romanticize it? Do you not see how harmful that is to someone who may actually be going through that? Or even to someone who is not? It conveys the wrong message, plain and simple.
Additionally, while it sounds like the emphasis of this book should be on mental health and recovery, it's all very surface level at best. Maybe Hopkins meant well, but she's tackling too many issues at once to begin with. For a stand-alone novel that's told in verse format, it's too much. Nothing ever really gets resolved. And then you add the love triangle in there on top if, and it just makes it worse.
And yeah, teenagers do make a lot of things about love. It's not about that. It's about how it was portrayed in this novel. Everything to do with the love triangle was unhealthy at best, but it was portrayed in a way that was meant to get teenage girls to swoon and cry and root for the "better guy." Suddenly, it's no longer about mental health awareness. It's about what guy the girl ends up getting with.
Hopkins also has this annoying tendency to make all rehabilitation centers and clinicians look like the bad guy. And yeah, there are some pretty fucked up rehabs and clinicians, don't get me wrong. It's an unfortunate reality. But not all of them are like this. So stop using that as your plot device. Think about who your audience is. Teenagers! They're going to read this, and maybe they're going through their own shit, and then you make it out like getting help is pointless, or that no one actually wants to help you, and that anywhere you go you'll be miserable. And that's simply not true. Do you really want to send that message to other kids? That no matter what they do, they'll never get better because every clinician and place of healing is really hell incarnate? I speak as a clinician. This is the kind of representation that makes people NOT seek out help. Especially among this age group.
I feel like there are so many other things I can talk about that makes me want to burn this book. Part of me almost wants to reread it, to see just how bad it is again. But then I realize...I don't want to put myself through that. There are so many better things I could be reading right now instead. But I encourage you to read some of the other angry rant reviews on here. You'll be entertained, like I was. And if you did like this book, maybe they will open your eyes to some of the harmful misrepresentations in this book. I have no quotes or specific scenes to back up any of my claims. I only have my memory. But others have quotes. So check theirs out.
Anyway. This book follows three teenagers at psychiatric hospital. All of them have attempted suicide and they're there for rehabilitation. Naturally, the lives of our three main protagonists connect. And then come the problematic tropes. Tell me, Hopkins...WHAT was the point of writing in a love triangle that gets solved by...suicide? I mean, what the fuck is up with young adult books portraying mental health so poorly? Why the hell do you need to glamorize and romanticize it? Do you not see how harmful that is to someone who may actually be going through that? Or even to someone who is not? It conveys the wrong message, plain and simple.
Additionally, while it sounds like the emphasis of this book should be on mental health and recovery, it's all very surface level at best. Maybe Hopkins meant well, but she's tackling too many issues at once to begin with. For a stand-alone novel that's told in verse format, it's too much. Nothing ever really gets resolved. And then you add the love triangle in there on top if, and it just makes it worse.
And yeah, teenagers do make a lot of things about love. It's not about that. It's about how it was portrayed in this novel. Everything to do with the love triangle was unhealthy at best, but it was portrayed in a way that was meant to get teenage girls to swoon and cry and root for the "better guy." Suddenly, it's no longer about mental health awareness. It's about what guy the girl ends up getting with.
Hopkins also has this annoying tendency to make all rehabilitation centers and clinicians look like the bad guy. And yeah, there are some pretty fucked up rehabs and clinicians, don't get me wrong. It's an unfortunate reality. But not all of them are like this. So stop using that as your plot device. Think about who your audience is. Teenagers! They're going to read this, and maybe they're going through their own shit, and then you make it out like getting help is pointless, or that no one actually wants to help you, and that anywhere you go you'll be miserable. And that's simply not true. Do you really want to send that message to other kids? That no matter what they do, they'll never get better because every clinician and place of healing is really hell incarnate? I speak as a clinician. This is the kind of representation that makes people NOT seek out help. Especially among this age group.
I feel like there are so many other things I can talk about that makes me want to burn this book. Part of me almost wants to reread it, to see just how bad it is again. But then I realize...I don't want to put myself through that. There are so many better things I could be reading right now instead. But I encourage you to read some of the other angry rant reviews on here. You'll be entertained, like I was. And if you did like this book, maybe they will open your eyes to some of the harmful misrepresentations in this book. I have no quotes or specific scenes to back up any of my claims. I only have my memory. But others have quotes. So check theirs out.