The book “Perfect”, by Ellen Hopkins, is a book written in verse about four young adults, Cara, Sean, Kendra, and Andre, who are being faced with different problems every day. The four of them all connect in some way, even if they don’t know each other in the book. Aside from each of them dealing with conflicts each day, they also all have an overarching internal issue that seems to either cause or relate to their little daily problems. Hopkins weaves different writing tricks into her book to show these different overarching ideas, and also to relate one character to another.
The author uses creative writing styles to explain characters’ main issues in many different parts of the book. For example, at the start of one of Sean’s chapters, the top line is “I’m okay.” But the words Hopkins chose to put on the left side of the page, as the book is written in verse, are “I’m really not okay.” This is a very clever way for the author to explain Sean’s true feelings. This is also helpful to the reader, because Sean is a very stereotypical boy character who won’t open up about his emotions. So by Hopkins putting the specific words “I’m really not okay” on the left side of the page, if a reader were to notice it they could easily comprehend Sean’s internal emotions, without the author having to make him say it. Another example is, at the start of one of Kendra’s chapters, the top line is “Empty.” And if you were to add that to the words on the right side of the page, which are “you can soar”, then you’ll get the phrase “Empty you can soar.” This sentence has two meanings. The first is that of the actual plot, meaning that Kendra has taken pills that make her not want to eat any food, so now she has an empty stomach but does not feel hungry. Her reasoning for this is that she is an aspiring model, and needs to stay skinny. So Kendra is saying that now that she doesn’t need to eat, she can stay skinny and impress photographers so they’ll want her for shoots. The second meaning is more hidden, and it is that Kendra will soon soar when she is has emptied her feelings for Connor, her ex-boyfriend who she is still very in love with. But, once she has rid of those feelings, she will be able to 100% focus on her career, and hopefully find someone new.
The author also uses creative writing styles to link different characters together. For example, at the end of one of Andre’s chapters, he says, “...wondering why I don’t feel like I can share my private dreams with the girl I’m so in love with.” Then, on the next page, at the beginning of Cara’s next chapter, she says “Private Dreams. Snare you. Swallow you. Make you feel like you’re all alone...” These two lines from Andre and Cara show that even the though the two of them don’t really know each other, they have this conflict connection with dreams. Also, at the end of Cara’s line when she talks about dreams making you feel alone, that has a link to Andre because he is incapable of telling his girlfriend, Jenna, about his dreams, labeling him alone in that category. Another example is, at the end of one of Kendra’s chapters, she addresses a woman, “I’m okay. Please. Can you take me home?” Kendra has just gotten in a biking accident, and the woman was trying to help her and offered to take her to the hospital, but instead Kendra denies. On the next page, at the beginning of Sean’s next chapter, he says, “I’m okay.” Although Kendra and Sean do know each other (through Cara), they aren’t really friends, so this gives them more of a connection. They are both telling someone else (Kendra) or themselves (Sean) that they’re okay. But as readers can tell, they are both truly not okay, whether it’s internally (Sean) or externally (Kendra).
When I first started reading this book, although I was extremely engaged in the story itself, I failed to notice all the ingenious writing devices Hopkins placed all over the book. As soon as I found that first string of words on the left or right side of the page, I went back through the book and tried to find all of them. I feel that this adds another whole layer to the book, because now that there are these little messages, readers can understand a character’s internal thoughts that they may not express, or they can learn things themselves. Personally, I also find the little messages to be incredibly moving and thought-provoking, because it is usually something dramatic that I would never think or have the need to say myself. As for the connections from the end of one character’s chapter to the beginning of a different character’s chapter, I believe that those are very appealing as well. This is because most of the time, the characters being connected have none or very little social interaction with each other, so it is nice to see that they have something internal in common. I have also wondered if all of the four characters will ever meet altogether, and if that does happen will the internal connections be discovered amongst themselves, or will it stay just as something the reader witnesses? Overall, Hopkins is a very stimulating writer, as I have also viewed in some of her other books I have read, and I am so excited to finish this one.
