"Crank" by Ellen Hopkins

"Life was good before I met the monster.
After, life was great.
At least for a little while."

The book that I have recently been reading, Crank, by Ellen Hopkins, is about a young woman, Kristina, who tries methamphetamine and gets addicted.  It is the tale of her struggle with drugs, but also the tale of her relationship with her father and her family.  Evidently, the main issue in this book is drug use and addiction.  But buried beneath that, another issue is identity. This heartbreaking tale demonstrates the damaging and far-reaching effects of using.

One obvious theme in this book is drugs and addiction.  Kristina's life greatly deteriorates when she starts taking methamphetamine, which leads to cocaine and alcohol.  When Kristina first takes meth, she writes:
"Fire!
Your nose ignites.
 Flameless kerosene.
 You want to cry.
Want to scream.
Get the urge to dance.
 You want to let go.
To ride the current.
  Sweeping you away."
These words confused me.  They seemed to advertise the amazing high Kristina felt while on drugs.  But in a few pages, Kristina says
"Two days.  Two nights.
No sleep, no food.
come down off the monster,
you
crash
real
hard."
This is when we realize this book does not romanticize drugs in the least.  It recalls the exact effects of drugs, puts them in a dark light, and most certainly makes the reader ponder meth's far-reaching effects.

Another big issue in this book is family relationships.  Most importantly, Kristina's relationship with her father, who is not a prime influence on Kristina.  In fact, it is his house where Kristina starts doing drugs and snorting meth.
"I mean there I was
snorting crank.
With my dad, boyfriend, and his other girlfriend.
Something majorly wrong with that picture."
 Kristina definately has a conscience.  She knows that what she's doing is damaging, but she cannot help her addicted self.  And with her father, a druggie and an alchoholic, there is no positive influence to wean Kristina off the drugs.

Finally, the more concealed issue in this book is identity. Kristina has a hidden identity- named Bree- that brings out her wild side- that is, snorting crank.
"I summon Bree when dreams no longer satisfy
when gentle clouds of monotony smother thunder
When Kristina cries."
I think Kristina uses Bree as a way to justify her outrageous behavoir while high.
"Bree is no imaginary playmate
No overactive pituary
No alter ego moving in
Hers is the face I wear
treading the riptide
fathomless oceans
where good girls drown."
I interpret this to mean that Bree goes above and beyond actions that "good girls" could only dream of. When reading this book, every time I read the name "Bree," on the page, I associated it with danger.

"Sometimes I want to curl up into a ball and roll away
Sometimes I want to die
I only know one thing that can make me laugh again.
Crank is a way of life
You can turn your back
But you can never really walk away."

In conclusion, the book in verse, "Crank," By Ellen Hopkins show the far-reaching and deteriorating effects of drugs.  This heartbreaking tale made me consider my own choices in life, other's choices, andwhere these decisions take us.  Most importantly, I pondered how they affect us in our future.