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Three female friends face midlife crises in #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins’s no-holds-barred exploration of sex, marriage, and the fragility of life.
Holly is filled with regret after eighteen years at home with her three children. She sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea is a single mom watching her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for. So what if she picks up Holly’s castaway husband? Marissa has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay, rebellious teenage son; a terminally ill daughter; and a husband who buries himself in his work.
As one woman’s marriage unravels, another’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s reconfigures into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.
Unflinchingly honest, emotionally powerful, surprisingly erotic, Triangles is the ultimate page-turner, told in gorgeous, expertly honed poetic verse that perfectly captures the inner lives of Hopkins’s unforgettable characters.
“Though Hopkins is known mostly for her young-adult novels, her latest is an absorbing grown-up story, told in beautiful blank verse, about three friends with messy family and romantic lives.” —EW.com, "Must List" pick
Ellen Hopkins is the New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, and Fallout. Her novels are praised by teens and adults alike, and she has been called the “bestselling living poet in the U.S.” by mediabistro.com. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada. Be sure to visit Ellen Hopkins online at ellenhopkins.com; myspace/com/ellenhopkins; and twitter.com/ellenhopkinsYA.
TRIANGLES
Scientists say every action
initiates an equal and opposite
reaction. I say that’s just the start.
I say
every action initiates a most
unequal and unpredictable
chain reaction, that
every
filament of living becomes
part of a larger weave, while
remaining identifiable. That each
line
of latitude requires several
stripes of longitude to obtain
meaning. That every universe
is part
of a bigger heaven, a heaven
of rhythm and geometry,
where a heartbeat is the apex
of a triangle.
© 2011 Ellen Hopkins
Three females are hovering around the dreaded age of forty, and each and every one of them seems to be falling apart in as many ways as humanly possible. Holly is about to turn forty and has a devoted husband who loves her and is a good provider; three healthy children; a VERY financially stable life; doesn't have to work a day, and.she hates everything about it. So Holly began to work out, run five miles a day, and become a beautiful "goddess-like" woman. When she heads out to the bars with her friends, she soaks up the fact that all the men's eyes are directly focused on her. Between her brief affairs and outlandish flirting, Holly is also thinking of writing erotic fiction to make some cash of her own, and find something that will save her from the absolute boredom of her life. Marissa has a "crap life, lousy children, a troubled marriage, and, quite frankly, thinks God must be laughing himself silly over the life he gave to her." Her son, Shane is gay; her husband sleeps in another room and drinks more than anything else; and, her poor little daughter, Shelby, was born with a debilitating disease which makes Marissa's life a living hell. She even says, many times, that she wishes she'd never had Shelby in the first place. Maybe then, she'd have a life. Andrea is a single parent and best friend to Holly. However, Andrea is really sick of listening to Holly whine about absolutely everything - considering the woman has everything. Andrea is raising a thirteen-year-old daughter, and trying to rise in her career at the DMV. She deals with many issues besides her moronic girlfriend, including dealing with her ex, and trying desperately to find something that makes her feel good in life. Each and every woman crosses paths and finds themselves with serious midlife crises. From children to sex to marriage to pain to death.the whole rainbow of emotions are making them each a little crazy. Sometimes they want to explore new heights, while other times they want to "run away" from everything and start their lives all over again. This author writes, once again, in her signature poetic verse style, but definitely steps away from the 'YA' category as she takes on the tough subjects of forgiveness, betrayal, hate, and friendship. This book is not for, shall we say, the "weak" of heart. When it comes to risqué, Triangles is that and more. And, the writing is so well done, that most of the time readers will absolutely hate the women they're reading about. The depression, the greed, the ridiculousness they feel for their families, their constant whining, and the type of somewhat slimy thoughts and emotions they represent will have readers voicing their opinions and heading to opposite sides of the fence for an all out debate. Quill Says: The plotline is intense, but does have brief moments of happiness and light that leak through the bitterness and anger that these women possess.
12 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ninja2011
Posted September 21, 2011
For the review that said the book was terrible, maybe your just not able to understand her writing style. The book was great for her first adult novel. Every book she writes is written like poetry and most of her books focuses on different in each chapter. The book was great, just like all of her others. It sad and depressing in some parts, but all of her books depict real life situations, maybe you can't relate to it, but in my experience, I always learn something new from her books, whether its about a health condition, experiencing prostitution, or religion. Every book has given my insight to an aspect of life that I hadn't thought much about before. She is a great author.
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The emotions and daily lives of Holly, Marissa, and Andrea are the focus of the novel. These women are all connected to each other, one even directly affecting another's life within the novel, thus making Triangles an appropriate title for this novel. These three women give strength to each other, while at the same time; some must lie to avoid destroying their friendship.
Triangles deals with many heavy issues such as commitment, betrayal, adultery, and alcoholism. These three women learn that every choice they make will bring consequences that connect to these issues in some way. With alternating narrators, readers will be sucked into this powerful read, and will experience the many issues present in today's society through the eyes of these women. From the very first page, Triangles will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that will last right to the very end.
My favorite aspect of this novel is that Ellen Hopkins writes about relatable adult issues, that many women and families go through. I also appreciate that the secondary as well as the main characters are realistically portrayed. The alternating narration was brilliantly pieced together and is yet another aspect of the novel that I appreciated, as it gives the opportunity to readers to feel the thoughts and emotions each character experiences.
Ellen Hopkins is an incredible writer with a wonderful way with words and that has a unique writing style. For those who are not familiar with Ellen Hopkins' writing, she writes in poetic verse, and is definitely one of my favorite authors. Ellen Hopkins takes a bold stand with this remarkable adult novel Triangles, presenting many lessons readers should consider and can easily relate to. Ellen Hopkins' novels are the kind that will leave you thinking about the issues presented, long after reading the novels, Triangles is no exception.
I recommend this novel to those who enjoy Adult Fiction with emotional depth. For readers who enjoy YA, you should definitely consider picking up Ellen Hopkins' previous novels, you will not be disappointed!
5/5 MUST READ, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
3 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.Mavis1129
Posted September 7, 2011
Ellen Hopkins is a popular teen writer and this is her first adult novel. I have not read any of her books previous to this one and was not impressed. Her books are written in verse and at first I found it interesting and quick to read. After a while, the novelty wore off and it just got annoying. Throughout the book, the story would be interrupted by an actual poem about what just happened. The extra poetry slowed down the story when I already wanted it to be over. I knew the book was covering dark subject matter which wasn't the problem. The problem was that there was so much going on at the same time that it didn't really show the characters dealing with any problem in particular. Read my summary and you'll understand. The book concluded with the characters figuratively shrugging their shoulders and moving on with their lives, even after life altering situations. I didn't find any of her characters particularly likable or well fleshed out.
The book follows three women. Holly, Andrea and Marissa. Holly is a woman about to turn 40 and looks outside of her marriage to spice up her life. She starts writing erotica and has an affair with a man in her writers group. He introduces her to a club for swingers and she ends up falling in love with him. At the same time, she is searching for her birth parents and her teenaged daughter gets pregnant. Andrea is Holly's single friend who watches Holly flirt with guys when they go out and envies her perfect husband. Even though she judges Holly for being adulterous, she doesn't think twice about having an affair with Holly's husband when he comes crying after he discovers Holly's infidelity. Andrea is also dealing with a dead beat ex husband and a young daughter who develops a crush on her ex husband's girlfriend's son. She also seems to have a problem coming to terms with her hippie parents' communal lifestyle and how her dad might not be her biological dad. Marissa is Andrea's sister who has a terminally ill child who is dying and a gay teenaged son. She also finds out her husband has been cheating on her for the past 5 years. Does this all sound like too much? It was. Have you ever heard of "too much of a good thing"? This was too much of a bad thing.
3 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 29, 2012
Will only open up cover and then freezes my brand new nook tablet. Tried several times... Want my money back
2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 19, 2012
Good but sad. Ellen hopkins is one of my favorites. Its a little different from her teen series but not by too much.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 28, 2011
Help me!!!! I cant read this book): it wont turn pages and it slows my nook down.
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.Three women struggle to keep their family and sanity together when all they want to do is fall apart. Holly joins a writing group as a way to escape her rebelling daughter and a husband who is no longer fulfilling her needs. Marissa is dealing with a gay son, a daughter requiring extreme special care, and a husband who distances himself more with each passing day. Andrea is a single mother with not much on her plate except loneliness and watching her daughter Harley grow up too fast, but when her best friend's husband presents an alluring opportunity, she takes it. Whether they are family or friends, these women experience their lives shatter in both similar and different ways, and pull from themselves and each other as life continues to move on.
Whoo boy. Be warned: emotions run high in this book! Though the constant onslaught on heavy emotions weren't always happy, they did an amazing job in building desires and actions for the characters. With unhappiness running so rampant, the women will have a wide appeal to readers. The misery and longing to escape will resonate with audiences from all backgrounds, even if the situations do not. I typically stay far away from novels written in verse, but was strangely drawn to this book. Perhaps because it is a well-known YA writer's first venture into adult fiction. Whatever it was that made me pick up this book, I am very glad I did. There was a staggering amount of stunning beauty in the simple poems at the end of the chapters. And the sheer emotion almost tipped me over the edge a few times. I barely paused to look up from this book while reading it, and will definitely be picking up more from Ellen Hopkins.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 1, 2012
This book shows three women all in very different points in there lifes. I loved every second! Ellen Hopkins is so talented!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 5, 2012
I Also Recommend:
SPOILER
I loved this book! I thought it was great! I always learn something from reading books written by Ellen Hopkins. I enjoy seeing how she uses verse-style writing and I enjoy the poems in between that segue from one character to the next. She looks at different issues that maybe I have never had to deal with. In Triangles we see three different women (Holly, Marissa and Andrea) trying to keep their lives together as they slowly unravel, one of the main joining features is infidelity. And at some points the women are so closed up in their world that they hardly realize what is going on with their husbands, children and friends. T
Holly is too busy writing her erotica novellas and trying to escape the mundane routine that is her life to realize her daughter is pregnant by the end of the summer. It isn't until Andrea calls Holly with the information that she becomes aware.
Marissa is too preoccupied being the main caregiver to her terminally ill four year old daughter that she barely has time for her son Shane who happens to be gay. Marissa makes it out that God is punishing her with a terminally ill daughter and a gay son, I don't think she should see her gay son as punishment, but that's just me.
Andrea (who is Marissa's sister and Holly's best friend) is wrapped up in Holly could be stepping out on her wonderful husband, her sister's terminally child and dating to really talk with her daughter. A few moments Andrea finds time to bond with her daughter, but they don't approach many big subjects with the exception of teen pregnancy when Holly's daughter gets pregnant (one of Holly's other children is best friends with Andrea's daughter).
I really enjoyed reading this book. Watching as the women's lives shattered around them and how they have to pick up the pieces and move forward. It is not easy and that is demonstrated here. I am really looking forward to when Tilt becomes available because that book follows Holly's daughter, Marissa's son and Andrea's daughter.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 29, 2012
Ellen Hopkins has always been one of my favorite authors since she wrote Crank so I expected this book to be just as amazing as all of her other ones. She definitely proved me right! Instead of following teenagers dealing with drugs, we now have adult women dealing with their own problems like adultery and lust. Anybody who loves Hopkins books should buy this one ASAP!!!
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 15, 2012
This is my first time reading a book by Ellen Hopkins. I've always heard amazing things about her work, and I can clearly see why she has so many fans. I love Ellen's writing style and amazing characterization. While I was reading the book, I found myself enraptured in the convoluted stories of Holly, Andrea, and Marissa. I love the switch of first person point of view between the three main characters, followed by a poem that signaled the end of their narratives.
In the beginning, I really didn't like some of the characters, such as Holly. Now I see that she has a lot of personal demons that influenced her decisions. What she did was wrong, but at the same time we are all human and make mistakes. The problem is the aftermath. Holly is a perfect example of when we let our fantasies take control of our lives. Is it really worth it in the end?
What I really like about this novel is that it shows how life is not black and white. It is always much more complex than that. I find this to be true in Marissa's case. It's horrible what happens to her in regard to her relationship, but she doesn't take the popular route. There is no right or wrong decision because everyone is different in regard to forgiveness. I think that's the biggest message about this novel. It's so easy to preach about what is right and wrong, but in real life, it is much more complicated than that.
Another thing I admire about this novel is the way it outlines friendship, especially the friendships between females and how powerful they can be. I feel like society is always portraying female friendships as shallow and driven by jealousy. While jealousy may occur sometimes, it doesn't mean that it's the end of the friendship. I like how Ellen challenges the definition of friendship, especially with Andrea and Holly.
All of the characters in this novel are very realistic; they all have their achievements and failures. They have positive traits and negative ones, just like everyone else. Personally, the biggest problem many of these characters have is lack of communication. Perhaps Ellen is trying to show how problems arise when issues are not discussed. They become a bigger problem and in the end hurt others, too.
I highly recommend this novel to both fiction and poetry lovers alike. There are some intense graphic scenes here, so I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending it to younger readers. However, everyone's maturity level is different so it depends on the reader. I know that Ellen Hopkins is considered a young adult author but this novel is definitely meant for an older audience.
Five stars.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.My Review:
This book was sent to me unsolicited by the publisher. I like that sometime because it challenges me to read books outside the lines of my normal reading. This book DEFINITELY falls in that category. This is not anything that I ever would have picked up for myself to read. One reason for that is because of the story, but we'll discuss that in a moment.
But first we have to talk about the way that this book is written. The ENTIRE book is written in poetic, stanza-like prose. It's incredibly creative and interesting. Straight up, I am NOT a poetry person, so I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to read this book, but it worked. I found it a really interesting way to read the book and absolutely would like to read another book written like this (as long as the story was a completely different story.)
The story is about three women: Holly, Marisa, and Andrea. The story changes to each of their point of views on a regular basis. The way the book is arranged is they each have around 6-8 poems each time it is their section. The first 5-7 of those are straight up telling the story, albeit in ever changing poetic style verse. Then the final poem is a true poetic poem (i.e. lots of symbolism...by the end of the book, I wasn't even reading the last poem in each section anymore. I told you, I am NOT a poetry person.)
I could have really liked this book, but the story just wasn't the type that I enjoy. I had a pretty good idea of that going in. I am a romance reader. I like books that overall leave me with a happy feeling. This is not one of those books. These three women have incredibly messed up lives and their focus on sexual matters when it comes to every aspect of their lives means that things aren't going to change for them. There are no happy endings here. Quite honestly, I don't even feel like the book resolved anything in these three women's lives. You follow them and hope that things are going to get better after the book ends, but I have my doubts. That being said, though, it is thought-provoking. I'm at the same place as these women...41, with a teenager and a 20 year marriage. There were definitely aspects of the story that resonated with me, but only enough to terrify me...LOL!
Overall, it wasn't a book for me, but I could see how it would appeal to a lot of other people. I see this as an Oprah book club kind of book. Don't let the poetic slant put you off if the story appeals. I think you'll find that you like that aspect of it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 18, 2012
‘Triangles’ is the first adult novel that Ellen Hopkins has written and I think it was absolutely brilliant. ‘Triangles’ was the story of three women whose lives connect in multiple ways, some of those ways being through friendship, tragedy, and family. As these stories unfolded I really got pulled into their worlds and I couldn’t get enough. Each individual story is amazing in its own way.
Marissa’s story broke my heart but I think it was beautifully written and it touched me on many levels. I couldn’t imagine going through what her family had to and I realize so many families out there do, which is just so devastating. It’s a real eye opener and I hope more people will read this book if simply for that reason.
I feel for Andrea, she is a very strong woman who continues to get dealt a bad hand. However throughout it all she knows her daughter is all that matters, even when she stumbles into some really bad habits involving a friend’s husband.
Holly however is a bit of a wild child still and if I want to be completely honest there was a few times I wanted to smack her but her story was still very entertaining and sometimes bordered on being raunchy.
Overall this book was brilliant; the writing took some amazing talent and I was addicted to it. I finished it in two days. I literally couldn’t put down. Ellen Hopkins has done it again, if you haven’t read any of her books, you don’t know what you are missing. These will one day be considered classics as far as I am concerned. So if you haven’t read her work, do it now, trust me you won’t be disappointed.
‘Triangles’ was an amazing novel and I would recommend it to everyone.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 17, 2012
I've read all of her YA novels and when I heard about Triangles, I knew I had to get it. By the time I was done with it, I was speachless. It's like her other novels... just in adult format. She is the most amazing author who ever lived! ROCK ON ELLEN!!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 4, 2012
I have always loved ellen hopkins books and have to say i was again not disappointed! For her first adult novel id say it was very very good. I could not put it down! I even read a few lines to my husband and he wanted to read it. I always struggled with poetry but ive never had trouble getting into one of her books! Trust me when i say you will not regret reading this book! So excited for her next adult novel coming out Nov 2012
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 9, 2012
amazinnnnnnnnggggggggg
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 16, 2012
People say that it frezes ther nook.... theyr using it right now.... plus u can just delete it by going to ure library and holding it it should say delete and u should get uree monet back
1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 24, 2012
Stays up top with her other books
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 19, 2012
I really loved the book but it kept freezing my nook! She is one of my favorite authors but I strongly recommend reading this book not on your nook!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
Three female friends face midlife crises in #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins’s no-holds-barred exploration of sex, marriage, and the fragility of life.
Holly is filled with regret after eighteen years at home with her three children. She sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea is a single mom watching her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole ...