Impulse

Impulse
by Ellen Hopkins

IMPULSE by

Category: Contemporary

Age Recommendation: Grades 9+

Release Date: 1/23/07

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Reviewed by:

Rating: 5 Stars

Three troubled teens cross paths at Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital, after attempting suicide. Connor, Tony,

and

Vanessa all have demons that try to pull them under and get them to succumb to the temptation to try it again;

this time

making sure they succeed.

Connor's overbearing family, only concerned about his GPA, or his making the varsity football team, or getting into

an Ivy

League college, offer no solace during his time of need. Feeling suicide is the only answer after a deeply

emotional love

affair ends, he takes a gun and points it to his chest before pulling the trigger.

Tony, after many years in a juvenile home for a crime that still haunts him, decides to ease his feelings of despair and

loneliness by swallowing a handful of pills, only to vomit them up and be found by the police lying on the sidewalk

unconscious.

Vanessa is a cutter. In order to ease her mind in any time of stress she slices her skin with anything sharp enough to

do the

job. One day, when she was drowning in her blue ocean of sadness, she cuts too deep. She feels herself

slipping into the

abyss until her younger brother, Bryan, walks in and finds her. When he calls for their ex-nurse

Grandma, she is able to hold

off death.

After arriving at Aspen Springs, Connor, Tony, and Vanessa are introduced to a life under constant surveillance,

strict

routines, and hours and hours or counseling. Immediately the three form a bond, feeling drawn to one another

as if they

might be able to save each other from death. Together they navigate the regulations of the hospital and

make progress

toward healing as they tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets; things they won't even tell their

counselors.

Ellen Hopkins uses her wonderful free verse style to weave together the story of three troubled teens as they attempt

to heal

the terrible scars left by their lives. The consistency the author uses when alternating the points of view makes

the story easy

to follow. Hopkins gives away just enough information that the reader feels a part of the story while still

saving a big bang

for the end. IMPULSE is a great story that reveals the importance of family during the healing

process and is a must

read

for anyone who knows a teen.