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Tag: book

People Kill People

Retrieved from: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/people-kill-people-ellen-hopkins/1127922756

For me personally, this book is not very memorable. I am not a huge fan of poetry, but I thought it I would try it out anyway. With the poetry mixed in with changing point of views, it felt like a Walmart version of Jodi Picoult and Laurie Halse Anderson.

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This story is told from seven different perspectives: Violence, Cami, Rand, Ashlyn, Silas, Daniel, and Noelle. Don’t get me wrong, it is an intricately written novel with a huge message. But the way the author hypes up her own ending really threw me off once I read the last page.

The novel starts with a man accidentally shooting his wife, thinking she was an intruder. So the man sells the gun without a second thought, not caring about who bought it. The question posed throughout the whole novel is “The gun will fall into who’s hand?”

Will it be:

  • Silas – the member of a teenage white supremacist group
  • Ashlyn – Silas’s girlfriend who helps hunt immigrants in the white supremacist group (yes you heard me, I said hunt)
  • Cami – who is a teenage mother married to Rand selling weed on the side to make extra money
  • Rand – Cami’s husband who works day and night to support his family but has a dark childhood secret
  • Daniel – who has a stepmother who hates him after his mom gets sent back to Honduras and constantly lives with resentment towards everyone
  • Noelle – who now suffers with epileptic seizures and depression after watching her best friend’s dad get shot in the head over a road rage incident

After learning about all their pasts, it adds a bit of suspense and was extremely intriguing. I felt like Hopkins wrote nicely, but there wasn’t enough of a punch to her viewpoint. She hyped up the ending to be bigger than it truly was in my opinion. I felt like there were way to many questions left unanswered and a lot of fluff that wasn’t needed in the middle. I would have scored it lower if I didn’t agree with the overall message.

Although my rating is low, some people disagree which is totally okay. Some reviews given were:

  • “Absolutely incredible. Hard to read at times because of the subject matter, but absolutely necessary.”
  • “I’m always so incredibly impressed with Ellen Hopkins’ ability to emotionally wreck me. She is seriously one of my favorite writers. She always writes about something relevant and hard to read, always writes for the education and betterment of people. And she does it so well.
  • “This was a really interesting commentary on gun violence in the United States. I liked reading from the different perspectives (only because it provided somewhat of an insight into the minds of real people with similar beliefs) of the characters and I enjoyed how they were all distinct from each other but connected as well.”
  • “Wow. She never fails to astound me”

However, an abundant of people did agree with me. Pretty much all the “negative” reviews do say that it is written beautifully, but there is something missing. Here are some examples of the reviews:

  • “Wow, what a let-down. “
  • “Thanks, I hate it.”
  • “Ellen Hopkins always writes beautifully. This was no exception, an interesting combination of both story and verse about race and violence. I’ve read almost all of her novels, but this one didn’t impress me, nor grab me like her other ones.”
  • “Before I got sick I finished People Kill People by one of my favorite authors ever (Ellen Hopkins) and I am just going to get this out of the way right now I was really upset and disappointed with this book and that is a totally new feeling for me with one of her books.”

I think the main reason why so many people picked this book up was because it focused on such a controversial topic. I congratulate Ellen Hopkins on taking a risk that some others would much rather avoid.

To read further on the statistics of Americans viewpoints on gun control, click here.

The controversy of gun control is something that has been argued about for years in the United States. This books demonstrates just how easy it can be to attain gun today, but tries to portray that the gun isn’t always the problem. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this aspect, but I can’t say I can blame the author. Pew Research says, “Similarly, a majority (70%) says that most or some types of guns should be legally available for sale in the U.S.; just 20% say almost all types of guns should be legally available, while only 10% say almost no types should be available.”

The other aspect of gun control is mental illness. I think that’s what makes this story so uncomfortable because some of the characters viewpoints are extremely crazy to me.

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Although this may not be my favorite novel, it was interesting to read. It was easy to get through word wise, but really makes the other think throughout the whole thing. However for me personally, it will not be a book that I pick up again.

Dear Martin

Picture Received from: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534050/dear-martin-by-nic-stone/9781101939499

There are not enough words in the human dictionary to describe how amazing, raw, and truthful this story is. This book has so many messages that no one wants to hear. The fact that Nic Stone can portray systematic racism so well in a fictional story is mind boggling. Let alone expose how biased the media and court system are in today’s society.

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This novel follows the life of an Ivy League student, Justyce McAllister. After being racially profiled when trying to help his girlfriend, he decides to start a project labeled “Dear Martin.” This project entailed writing letters to Martin Luther King Jr. after dealing with racist comments from people at school. The constant question asked is “What would Martin do?” which makes the story plot even more interesting.

This is a novel filled with amazing characters of all different backgrounds and viewpoints. It adds an interesting element that most books discussing similar issues tend to leave out. This author is making a stand for something, trying to encourage a movement, and writing is the truth. This novel is something I will cherish for life and always keep in the back of my mind as I continue my own life journey. This is one of the reasons why it receives a perfect score. I thought this would be the best first book to review.

I am also not the only person who feels this way. The Students News Source of Iowa City West High say that Dear Martin “is a brutally honest, captivating novel that expertly discuss and portrays racism in our society.”

Some other statements written in the website that portray the novels integrity are:

  • thoroughly impressed by the way she simultaneously skirted through themes of racism and ethnic profiling while also creating raw, believable characters
  • well-crafted dialogue
  • each character feels like a real person from society, and they are all reflective of the attitudes people of all walks of life contain today
  • the letters were able to draw parallels between what is going on today and how it is not that different than what happened while MLK was marching for rights
  • this book is a must-read for everyone because of its powerful messages and demonstrations; while the book specifically talks about racism in America, its themes can also apply to many other injustices in the world

“They need to believe you’re a bad guy who got what he deserved in order for their worlds to keep spinning the way it always has.”

Doc (151)

This quote is one of my favorites from the novels, also given by one of my favorite character. It helps explain so much when it comes to the real world. This simple statement shows why there was such a harsh contrast between the sides of the George Floyd murder and especially the trial. Even after the autopsy report, people made George Floyd out to be the worst man in the world versus noticing the racism evident in the whole murder. The quote given from Doc helps further the explanation why some people do not want to see the truth because it disrupts the normal patterns they have always lived with.

This book is an excellent read that feeds information even if it doesn’t feel like it. Dear Martin throws you into a different world that helps the readers understand how serious this issue is today. If you’re a teacher I would highly recommend adding this to your curriculum. I not only ask you to please check out the book, but to also take a stand!

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