Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry, September 13, 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood.
Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?
A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins's Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

LOVED it. Just absolutely loved it. Perfect wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I totally knew it was a companion to Impulse but I thought the events would take place after Impulse. Instead, Perfect and Impulse take place simultaneously. Different but still awesome, as Ellen Hopkins have given us new characters to love.

Perfect is, obviously, about four teens who are striving for perfection--as defined by someone else. Cara and Kendra, characters that we only glimpsed briefly in Impulse, are fully fleshed out, along with two other new characters for us to love and/or hate.

Will this book be controversial? Probably. Let's see, we've got anorexia, steroid use, homosexuality, date rape, and, oh! Let's not forget Conner's attempted suicide that unknowingly put all of this into motion. So, yeah, there are definitely some tough topics addressed in this novel, but, as Ellen herself said, these things are going on right now in our world. Shouldn't teens going through these same exact things be allowed to know that they're not alone?

I'm very grateful for Ellen Hopkins. She's not afraid to tackle the hard-hitting issues, and with Perfect, she's not afraid to stand up and say, "I'm not perfect. No one is perfect. But I'm perfect enough for me. And you should be, too." (not a direct quote but she did say something similar at her book signing.)

And Jenna! Oh, poor Jenna. She's such a broken soul and I want to know so much more about her. Ellen said that there *might* be a Jenna book in the future, because she wants to know more, too. I'm seriously hoping so, because there is just so much more to her than we got to see in this novel.

Purchased book.

Enjoy your reading!
Christi