Book Review: Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Perfect (Impulse #2) by Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Published: September 13th 2011

Review by: Anonymous Entrant

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood.
Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?
A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

Where do I begin with another amazing book by the ever-so talented Ellen Hopkins... Perfect is a novel that everyone must read, not just teens.  It's message transcends age, gender, sexuality, race and time.  We all want to be perfect, and for each and everyone one of us defining what is 'perfect' is different. Ellen Hopkins explores the idea of 'perfection' through characters that struggle with things that many of us have and still do: being the prettiest, the best at sports, the best academically, and to be just perfect for ourselves by being who we are.

“Fake
Is that what you are
if you choose to improve
the basic not perfect you?”  

One of my favorite characters is Cara, Connor's sister (from Impulse).  Not only is she under thumb of her parents' constant pressure to be the best academically and at everything else, she is left behind while Connor works on his own issues (must read Impulse to find out more about this).  And if that wasn't enough she is finding something about herself she never knew... she could be be a lesbian.  Can I just say this girl has a strength of wills like no other!  

Such a simple question that carries so much meaning and weight.  Ellen Hopkins has created a reality in verse perfectly (no pun intended), a reality that many of use tend to ignore or pretend doesn't exist.  Ellen Hopkins continues to grab the attention and respect of all her readers through her brute honesty and artistic craft.  Without her our Literary World would be less than it is.  She gives us hope to find the truth in ourselves, that we are all perfect, just the way we are, in Perfect.