Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three high school teens attempt fate and try to commit suicide.  Each of them ends up at Aspen Springs, a psychiatric facility where they meet and forge a bond.

Vanessa is a cutter and needs to feel pain to release the highs and lows of her life.  This time the knife cut too deep.  Connor sends a bullet to his heart to escape the loss of his true love, and reddens his mother's new white carpet.  He cannot bear the pressures his parents put on him.  Tony pops pills and denies who he really is because of childhood abandonment and abuse.  Will he be able to forgive himself for his crimes? 

Impulse is a novel in verse.  It is fast flowing poetry and it pulls you into the triple intertwining storyline with creative force.  Teens are inherently impulsive and this novel gets into the mind of three damaged teens who need help and most of all need each other.

 Hopkins has the gift to create sparse poetic text that speaks volumes and invokes deep meaning. Hopkins has a way with taking words and melding them into a picture of life fraught with emotion.  She is one of my favorite authors and well read by the teens in my classroom. Impulse is the fifth book I have read by Hopkins and I plan to devour them all. 

What is your favorite Hopkins book?