Crank Post - Danielle Jago

The experience of reading this book was something very new to me, because I have never read a book that uses free verse poetry to tell a story in the way a novel usually does. I liked Hopkins’ style, because the lack of detail between events in the narrative led me to kind of make-up parts of the story in my head which helped me be more engaged in what I was reading. As far as the content is concerned, this book hit home for me in a way I wasn’t particularly comfortable with. I kind of talked about this in class, but I have a family member who is an addict and I noticed so many similar behaviors between that person and Kristina/Bree (whoever she is when it feels convenient for her). This book is, at least in my experience, a very realistic depiction of what addiction looks like and acts like. I actually looked up more about Hopkins’ own experience with her daughter online, and I found this thing where she addresses critics of her novel that I felt really connected to and that I think is very important for people who have never had to deal with this to understand. Critics of this novel were essentially saying that Hopkins is unfairly profiting off of her daughter’s “illness”, and she responds saying (I’m paraphrasing here) that this addiction is not just her daughter’s story, it’s her story and her family’s story. Addiction affects everyone around the addict, not just the addict, and I think that is something people without this experience really need to understand.

            In terms of the style, I relate Crank back to Caramelo. Although Caramelo is told through vignettes and this story is told in free verse, the writing is very impressionistic. The way each book is written shows the reader snapshots of moments that allow us to understand the experience and the feelings without giving that much detail. In terms of the content, Crank definitely reminds me of Go Ask Alice. Each story is told from the point of view of a “good” teenage girl who descends into drug addiction, and both stories have an anti-drug message. Although, I found Crank much more believable and realistic than I found Go Ask Alice.

            I do think Hopkins does a good job of making this depiction of Kristina seem plausible (probably because the story is loosely based on her own daughter’s experiences). She discusses very teen topics like problems with self-confidence, friends, school, peer pressure, sex, etc. without it sounding like an adult trying to sound like a teenager.

            One of the topics in this book that kept grabbing my attention is the way rape culture is represented, as well as the sexual pressures placed on young women. I think Hopkins does a fantastic job at capturing this throughout the story. On page 167, Adam tells Kristina that she “made him need [her]” and that, because she had “caused” this, he was not going to wait “Not later. Not next time. Now”. In this poem, as in others throughout the book, the onus is consistently placed on the woman for provoking the man into sexual urges he is apparently unable to control. When Brendan rapes her, he says “I’ve waited for weeks” as if this entitles him to Kristina’s body and as if, because he is ready to have sex with her, that she must be ready to have sex with him (341). And later when Kristina tells Chase about what Brendan did to her, she blames herself saying “It was all my fault” (360). I think the way Hopkins portrays these moments is so incredibly authentic and real, because too many women go through this every single day and have these same feelings when they are assaulted. The effects of victim-blaming can be seen with Kristina, because she has internalized those attitudes so much that she blames herself for Brendan’s actions.