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The riveting final chapter of the Crank trilogy, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins.
Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.
As each teen searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle.
Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family’s story, Fallout is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by Crank and Glass, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person’s problem.
"Hopkins’ pithy poetry is the perfect vehicle to deliver the festering emotional beating that drug addiction inflicts on families. . . . Fallout is impossible to put down." - VOYA
Crank (2004) and Glass (2007) readers will relish this look at Kristina's three oldest children, now teenagers, all conceived in the chaos of crystal-meth addiction. Hunter, 19, lives with Kristina's parents, who adopted him years ago; Autumn, 17, lives with an aunt, ignorant of any extended family; Summer, 15, bounces between her father's trailer and unsafe foster homes. Their legacy is not only drug addiction but also the underlying malaise—half unhappiness, half boredom—that set up Kristina for addiction years ago. Parched for connection and excitement, these teens turn to love and sex, and sometimes booze and drugs, because their lives offer no other interests (though a convergence at their grandparents' house offers a faint whiff of hope). The clipped free verse sharply conveys fragmented and dissociated emotions. Autumn and Summer are completely believable characters, Hunter less so. This loosely reality-based conclusion (Hopkins's daughter is the real "Kristina," but her actual kids are much younger) will heartily satisfy series fans despite gratuitous emphasis on the bestseller-driven fame of the author's fictionalized alter ego. (author's note) (Fiction. YA)
Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, Fallout, and Perfect, as well as the adult novels Triangles and Collateral. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative. Visit her at EllenHopkins.com and on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter at @EllenHopkinsYA. For more information on Ventana Sierra, go to VentanaSierra.org.
We Hear
That life was good
before she
met
the monster,
but those page flips
went down before
our collective
cognition. Kristina
wrote
that chapter of her
history before we
were even whispers
in her womb.
The monster shaped
our
lives, without our ever
touching it. Read on
if you dare. This
memoir
isn’t pretty.
© 2010 Ellen Hopkins
ReadingAngel002
Posted Mon Sep 13 00:00:00 EDT 2010
I don't know how to put into words what I feel about these books. They are so powerful that I know I just can't do this review the justice it deserves. I stay so emotionally wrecked while reading these books that it takes me a couple days to recover. Fallout was no exception. It had me laughing, crying, and shaking with anger in the span of only a few pages.
In CRANK and GLASS we go through teenage Kristina's dance with "the monster", meth. We see her spiral deeper and deeper into addiction. When reading these two books from Kristina's point of view you just can't help but feel sorry for her, feel like it's not all her fault. But, while reading Fallout, which is from the point of view of her 3 teenagers, we see the fallout of Kristina's addiction of a completely different point of view. I found myself hating that same girl that I once felt sorry for. How dare she keep doing the things she's doing when she has these wonderful children that she should be living her life for?
We learn that her amazing mother has been through so much for her and that she could have gotten help, if she would have just reached out and accepted when it was offered to her time and time again. I don't know how anyone could read these books and even consider trying drugs afterward. Once you see how one person's addiction can spiral out of control and affect so many peoples lives.
These books should be required reading in every high school across the country in my opinion! Don't ban it, celebrate it! I suggest all of my readers who haven't read this series yet run out and buy it right now!!! What are you waiting for?
16 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2011
the book was good and i read it all in a day, but i hated how it just left you wondering what happened to everyone. the boyfriend in the hospital, the pregnant autumn i just hate it when books leave you wondering what's gonna happen and then never have another book about it. since this is the final chapter, you'll never know.
4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2011
this book is amazing it teaches u things that i never thought was possible
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Apr 05 00:00:00 EDT 2011
a good book.the series speaks out about how drugs ( or the monster) can effect your life,but not just yours. drugs will effect others if they cant find the courage and hope to break the cycle. thought you can do it once?think again!
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Reviewed for Monster Librarian as part of Banned Books Week
With Fallout, the third book in the series that started with Crank centered on Kristina, a meth addict, Hopkins moves on to show the effect Kristina's selfish and yet victimous ways have had on her children. Fallout is told through three narrators: Hunter, Kristina's first child, born of a rape and trying to deal with rage; Autumn, who struggles with OCD and turns to alcohol to get her through a major life change; and Summer, who doesn't know about any of her siblings, and has been raised by a series of abusive foster homes and her own addict father. It focuses on the effect Kristina still has on those around her, and covers a wide spectrum of emotional and psychological problems.
Fallout is raw, as can be expected from Hopkins, sharp and yet beautiful as well. Hopkins manages to bring new sympathy to the subject, even to the characters readers already know about have have started to hate. While the full scope of the story would be missed if readers started here this is the book of the series that most calls to the loved one of friend struggling to support (or justify not supporting) an addict. Highly recommended.
Contains: drug use, sex, language
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013
i picked up crank from my school library... after reading 13 reasons why by jay asher. reading crank,
i wasnt used to how it was written in verses but ellen hopkins really made it interesting.
when i finished reading crank and glass, the book weirdly made me think about this girl in my school
who is a meth user... she isnt an addict but she plays with other drugs.she like the real kristina/bree
it is a sad thing.... i try to help her but she doesnt let me. im reading the fall out now which is about her 3 older kids, its very interesting so far to see how this kids lives are due to their mother and fathers mistakes. i really like summer view on the situation. ellen hopkins with these books really touched me and i hope her daughter is recovering well. addiction is a hard thing to get rid of. i have a addiciton to self harm.. and i hope to recover.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Wed Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2012
When I first started reading this, I had to stop and double check that I didnt skip a few books. Was confused that Kristina's children were telling their side of the story and how their lives were affected by her and her addiction. I felt that Kristina's side of the story wasnt finished. There couldve been a few more books from her view.
It was hard to keep up with which kid belongs to who so I kept mixing up the characters but I ended up catching on after a bit. I liked each one of the kids in their own way. Each of them had their own issues. Bugged me how issues were brought up and then that was it...nothing more about it.
I was expecting more of an ending and it seemed like it just ended too fast. There was too much unfinished business and unresolved conflicts with Kristina and her kids. Wouldve been a better ending if there was more of a meaningful resolution.
I still read this book fairly quickly but not as quick as the first two books. I am a bigger fan of the first two books for sure but the third is still decent in its own way.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Perfect way to end this trilogy: writing a book in Kristina's childrens point of view(: (Ellen Hopkins you ROCK!!!)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2011
very good, I read it in about 2 days, I could not put it down!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Hello! My names Azerix. I have played New Vegas and Fallout 3 so please dont as me about 3 or the origional.
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Posted Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2013
I like all of them alot
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Posted Thu Jan 31 00:00:00 EST 2013
Fallout by Ellen Hopkins was the third installment of the Crank Series. This was the story of all of Kristina's children (she happened to have five of them), and how they are coping with their lives in many different situations. Throughout all of these children's misadventures, they somehow find a way to make it all together, and meet their mother. And what Kristina says to her children at the end will surprise everyone. Hopkins writes this novel in a way that makes all of the other books in this series spin together and everything ends with one clear ending that ties up all loose ends, and leaves the reader, with, with a feeling of hope. I look forward to reading anything written by this author.
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Posted Sat Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2013
I read the whole series. <3 So sad its done with.
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Posted Fri Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2012
I reccomend this book to all lovers of Ellen Hopkins but DONT READ IF YOU HAVENT READ THE OTHER TO BOOKS!
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Posted Thu Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2012
I've read all of Hopkins' books (other than Perfect, which I'm about to start), but this is probably one of my favorites. Her style is very unique and always keeps me hooked on the story. I also loved the different points of veiw. It gives it a lot of variety. Overall, i basically couldn't put the book down. Stunning.
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Posted Sun Sep 02 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Iv read the other two books in this series an i greatly enjoued them. Im 14 and after reading thes books i reall umderstod a lot abot wat meth does to someone. My names autumn so it was little weird reang this book exspwcialy since my boyfriends name is bryce....kinda weird exspecialy since mu bryce is a big tree days grace fan(:
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Easy, interesting read.
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Posted Sat May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2012
I think this book is awesome, complex, and beautiful. I would recomend this book to everyone. Except for maybe, 14 year olds or younger. Extreamly inopropriate, but still very nice
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Posted Wed May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Best book iv ever read bravo Ellen Hopkins!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Read this series you will never try crank. Interesting view of the other people around the druggy who are hurt
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Overview
The riveting final chapter of the Crank trilogy, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins.
Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.
As each ...