Ellen Hopkins’s portrayal of the daily lives of four teenagers in the novel “Perfect” is intriguing and thought provoking throughout the entire plotline. Hopkins is able to put herself in the shoes of the difficult lives of these four teenagers excellently and convincingly. This book is great for teens to relate to the struggle of trying to hold on to the modern standard of “perfect.” This audience for this novel is young adults, as it follows the characters around a high school and shows their difficulties as the year goes on. The unique writing style of Hopkins can be intimidating at first, as it is written in free verse format. I have read other novels of Hopkins so I knew that the novel reads normally, it is just written like it looks like poetry. This book is a sequel to the book “Impulse,” but it is not necessary to read it first because the story lines are completely different. I read “Impulse” and since the plotlines occur at the same time, I already knew how the story ended for one of the characters.

This novel reflects reality in a very convincing way. It deals with issues like anorexia, steroid abuse, sexual identity, and parent’s impossible standards. I think that the book accurately imitates how people deal with these situations, and teens will be able to relate to it.

The literary artistry of Ellen Hopkins really shows through in “Perfect.” I thought that the writing style of this book was very interesting to read and is easily accessible for teenagers to read. The narration of the book switches off between the four characters, so you get to see how their stories intertwine and relate as the story progresses and see all of the dimensions of the story. The free verse format reads very beautifully and it lets you see the emphasis on certain words that she wants to really show through on the page. She always has her characters introduced by outlining fears, thoughts, or concerns of people in general, and then it jumps into the normal story line.

This is not an escape novel, because this book is very descriptive and literally reads like you are in the mind of an actual teenager. Ellen Hopkins is consistent with the theme of struggling for perfection and challenging the beliefs of the characters and the people around them.

All in all I thought this was a very enticing and interesting book and I recommend it to any young adult who wants to relate to other people with similar struggles.