Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, 666 pages

I had been searching for this book for a while when I found it while searching our catalog in our new Evergreen library system.  I enjoyed reading this book, even though it dealt with many taboo subjects.  But, I really felt like I connected with the three main characters in the book. Vanessa feels flawed as a person and only feels good when she is cutting herself.  Tony is a young, homosexual drug user who is living on the streets, trying to recover from the lose of his partner and from being abandoned by his father.   Conner is a teen who feels he cannot live up to the high standards his parents have set for him and recovering from having a sexual relationship with a teacher.  Each of the three find themselves locked up together in a psychiatric hospital called Aspen Springs.  The three each tried to commit suicide in their own way: Vanessa by cutting, Tony by pills, and Conner by shooting himself in the chest.  They are each sent to Aspen Springs to recover.  The three connect in a very special way.  The ending was shocking.

Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler

Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler, 209 pages

Missy is a cutter. It's the one way she knows how to release all the anger, frustration, hurt and other emotions that war inside her body. Cutting herself brings release, she believes. One day, she meets Death... and slams the door in his face. She learns she is to become one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - WAR. As she comes to terms with her life and who she is, changes for the better will start to take place. Don't worry, it isn't all doom and gloom. There is a bit of romance, peace and love in this novel, too.
While Rage is an emotional journey through one young teenage girl's life, it is also a good guide for parents and peers to understand a little more of what an "emo" might go through. It's a real eye opener. The author really did her homework by researching various sites and speaking with different people about the psyche of a cutter.