English Book Post One

Post 1

The book I read was Burned by Ellen Hopkins. It was 531 pages long; I read the whole thing. The summary of the story is: A Mormon girl named Pattyn, whose mother was being beaten by her father, starts questioning her religion and has a relationship with a boy from school. When her dad finds out, Pattyn ends up sent away to her Aunt Jeanette's farm. Out there she falls in love with a guy named Ethan and they begin dating. At the end of summer he goes off to college and she goes back home to school; before she leaves Aunt Jeanette gives her a paid-for cellphone and Ethan gives her a handgun. Once she gets home she is beaten for challenging her dad and once more after that. After telling Ethan about what happened and how she is pregnant they forge a plan to run away from Pattyn's family and live together. On the way to California the car slides off the road and Ethan and the baby are killed. When she wakes up in the hospital and hears the news she wishes she had died too. After that the last few pages leave it to your imagination to figure out what you think happened next. This story was an emotional journey and i loved it. It kept me interested and wanting to read even more. I think Ellen Hopkins wrote it to entertain her readers and talk about hard issues people might face. She told a story about a young teenage girl that even when everything seemed to be going wrong she kept on fighting and refused to give up.The big theme seemed to be about struggling with who you are and what you believe in. I think Pattyn (the main character) was the best. She let us know what she was feeling and how confused she was on what her faith is. She grew up a lot during the story. Pattyn shows how you can learn from your mistakes and make better choices; it also showed you need to own up to the bad things you did. The quotation from the book is "I'm trying hard to despise Dad for what he did to me. But part of me thinks I deserved it. Besides, compared to other episodes in the Stephen Von Stratten saga, this chapter was nothing." (Found on page 481.) Pattyn was talking about how her dad beat her; it was sad because thinking about how she said that the time he beat her compared to other times it seemed like nothing it. I would be extremely scared to be in her position. The only question i have is what happened in the end of the book. The ending left me hanging; wanting to know what really happened. I wasn't sure if she commit suicide or if she started planning revenge. I can't wait to find out!( I have been informed she is making a sequel called "Smoke" which is coming out in 2013)