Rumble

3.75 stars

Ellen hopkins is one of my favourite authors but this book wasn't my favourite but still extremely good. It had me shaking.

Matt has a terrible life by anyone's standards. He has parents who were only together because of an accidental pregnancy who are constantly fighting and drinking excessively, a recently deceased brother, a relationship that is falling apart, depression, anxiety, etc. Reading this book was hard for me because of how horrible Matt was treated by those around him. Plus, for the most part he just dealt with it which was just sadder to me.

Throughout the book you learn that Matt's brother was gay and committed suicide. This action basally leads Matt to lose his faith and no longer believe in a God. He writes this essay all about why God is not real that you get snippets of within the story. I really enjoyed those snippets because it gave the reader a better understanding of Matt and what was going on with him.

This is an Ellen Hopkins book, so it is written in verse. It is really different to read a book in verse, it is not something I have ever done before and it took some time to get used to it. But once I did it was not bad. The only thing that really bothered me was the lack of true dialogue. It was weird reading a book with such short sentences and pages.

Overall, this book dealt with some typically taboo themes and I really appreciated that Hopkins was tackling them. I enjoyed experiencing, through Matt's eyes, how he dealt with all the negativity in his life and how he was able to come to terms with everything.