Review Detail

Glass by Ellen Hopkins, is an absolutely horrifying portrayal of the life of a methamphetamine addict. Horrifying because it seems so real. Glass is the sequel to Crank, and offers the continuing story of Kristina Snows life as an 18-year old teen mother succumbing to her drug addiction. The entire book is written in free-verse, in an almost poetic format, allowing readers to better follow Kristinas thoughts. At six hundred pages in length, it might seem like a tedious read, but in reality,

Kristina now has a baby of her own to care for, but she can hardly even care for herself. While she managed to stay clean for a couple of months, she unexpectedly finds herself once more in the grips of the monster, otherwise known as methamphetamine. Only, was it really so unexpected? Or did she always know that she would fall back into this trap? More quickly than even she realizes, Kristinas life centers around her next score and the temporary relief it gives her from all of her problems. Not only does she crave meth, and want her next high, but her body physically needs the drug.

Her baby, who was once the most important person in her life, now falls to the wayside. Its not that she doesnt love her own child, but how can she care for Hunter properly when she cannot even think straight? Kristinas own mother kicks her out of the house, and that is only the beginning of her problems. She falls in love with another meth user, Trey, but what kind of love can they have? Can their love survive amidst their love of cystal meth? Kristina doesnt even know if her addiction is worth fighting anymore. No matter how hard she tries, she keeps coming back for more. Its killing her slowly, and at some point she doesnt even care anymore.

Hopkins writes with the intent to show readers the nasty truth about how damaging a substance abuse problem can be, both to the user and to the users family and friends. The authors eldest daughter had an addiction to crystal meth, and I can only imagine how hard it is to share such a personal part of ones life to share with the public. Hopkins does so in the hopes that more people will grow to understand and learn about the dangers of addiction. I learned far more about substance abuse and addiction from reading Glass than I did in a whole semester of Health Education. The closest anyone can come to understanding addiction without having been addicted themselves is by reading Ellen Hopkins remarkable books.