Book cover image from Amazon.com
TRICKS
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hopkins, Ellen. 2009. TRICKS. New York: Margaret K. McElderrey Books. ISBN 9781416950073.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Eden lives the beginning of her life with her evangelical preacher father and mother. When she falls in love with a boy from another religion, she is sent away to "A sizable chunk of desert dubbed Tears of Zion. Oh, it's a very special place where Father and his 'disciples' rehabilitate incorrigible youth." Ginger has been used and abused by her prostitute mother for childcare, housekeeping, and even for a few "tricks" with older men. Ginger escapes with her girlfriend to Las Vegas and begins life as a stripper/escort.
Seth, a farm boy, is disowned when his father discovers that Seth has been involved in a homosexual relationship. Seth begins his life as a kept man, being cared for by older gentlemen until he discovers Vegas and becomes an escort.
Whitney has an absentee father, a "perfect" older sister, and a mother who loves her older sister more. Whitney falls in love with an older man, who takes her away to Las Vegas. He becomes her pimp, and introduces her to heroin.
Cody becomes trapped in financial worries as his gambling addiction grows and his stepfather passes away, leaving Cody with a pile of debt. He is lured into becoming an escort for other males, and uses the money to help his family out.
"Lucky me. I found the right kind of love. With the wrong person." So could be the lament of the five main characters in Tricks. Five different teens with five different stories all wind up in Las Vegas, pulling tricks.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Hopkins tells the story of each character in their own voice. The book is written as a series of different poems. Just as in Crank and Glass, Tricks tackles tough issues in a straight forward way. There were times that I did not think I would be able to get through the book due to the nature of the subject matter, "Graphic sex, rape, drugs, bitter loneliness, despair—and eventually, blessedly, glimmers of hope"(Kirkus Reviews. The hope at the end of the book makes the rest of it bearable. This book is clearly for older readers.
One of the unique traits of Hopkins writing is when she spaces some of her words out to the side of a poem so that when they are read individually, they create their own mini poem.
Possibilities
As a child, I was wary,
often felt cornered.
To escape, I regularly
stashed myself
in the closet,
comforted by curtains
of cotton. Silk. Velour.
Avoided wool, which
encouraged my
itching
the ever-present rashes
on my arms, legs. My skin
reacted to secret, lies,
and taunts by wanting
to break out.
(The italicized lines are the lines which would appear to the right of the poem and can be read together.)
4. HONORS AND AWARDS
ALA's 2010 Rainbow List
5. REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist:"Teens will queue up for this one—some, admittedly, for the sensational subject matter—and find Hopkins’ trademark empathy for teens in rough situations."
From Kirkus Reviews:"Hopkins sharply portrays extreme adolescent turbulence with her biggest cast yet, as five disparate, desperate teens are sucked into the Las Vegas world of selling sex."
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