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My Book of Life by Angel
When sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she's addicted to his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a trace, and the authorities don't care. But after her friend Serena disappears, and when Call brings home a girl who is even younger and more vulnerable than her to learn the trade, Angel knows that she and the new girl have got to find a way out, in Martine Leavitt's My Book of Life by Angel .
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 22, 2012
25 people are currently reading
2968 people want to read
About the author
Martine Leavitt
12 books232 followersMartine Leavitt has published ten novels for young adults, most recently Calvin, which won the Governor General’s Award of Canada. My Book of Life by Angel was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year. Other titles by Leavitt include Keturah and Lord Death, a finalist for the National Book Award, Tom Finder, winner of the Mr. Christie Award, and Heck Superhero, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Her novels have been published in Japan, Korea, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. Currently she teaches creative writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a short-residency MFA program. She lives in High River, Alberta.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 416 reviews
April 15, 2021
book #4 out of 4 for school
“when so many people try to beat the angel out of you, you hang on for dear life.”
“he wanted to suck her out until he glowed in the dark.”
this was absolutely amazing. i read it in one sitting and found myself on the verge of tears multiple times. it’s a heartbreaking story about a young girl that has been taken and forced into prostitution. it’s not the easiest story to read and definitely not something i would suggest to everyone but it’s absolutely fantastic and if you don’t think it’ll affect you, i wholeheartedly recommend
tw: abuse, sex trafficking, rape (let me know if i missed anything)
“when so many people try to beat the angel out of you, you hang on for dear life.”
“he wanted to suck her out until he glowed in the dark.”
this was absolutely amazing. i read it in one sitting and found myself on the verge of tears multiple times. it’s a heartbreaking story about a young girl that has been taken and forced into prostitution. it’s not the easiest story to read and definitely not something i would suggest to everyone but it’s absolutely fantastic and if you don’t think it’ll affect you, i wholeheartedly recommend
tw: abuse, sex trafficking, rape (let me know if i missed anything)
November 23, 2012
My Book of Life by Angel was one of those books that I challenged myself to read. You know the type, you see it sitting there being all of these things that are interesting but not at all what you look for in a book. The type that every once in a while you make yourself pick up, just to prove that you haven’t let yourself be neatly filed and categorized as a reader. My Book of Life by Angel is a very recently placed Historical Fiction, set in the 1980s in Vancouver, BC. It focuses on heavy issues such as drug addiction, forced prostitution, and child prostitution, all at a time when a city and its police force have more or less turned a blind eye to the many women who were going missing. Additionally, it is a novel written in verse, a style that has been a deal breaker word for me for some time.
My Book of Life By Angel was not an easy or comfortable read by any means, but it was well worth pushing myself to pick up. The use of verse for this story is stylistically counter-intuitive. Instinctively, I would state that it is a bad choice to choose such a format for such heavy subject matter, but my reaction while reading was quite the opposite. If Angel’s story had been written in prose rather than verse, there is a good chance that I would not have been able to stomach it. As is, Angel’s story is told through words that are beautifully rendered and reflect perfectly the fractured mindset of a drug addled girl slowly surfacing to real life.
Angel is the perfect character to open this world to us. She is not free of blame, it is clear that she made a myriad of bad decisions that led her to her current state, but as she becomes more and more determined to break free of the life she has let herself be bound to it becomes so easy to root for her. It is Angel’s fault that she has become a prostitute, but it isn’t her’s alone. Blame also rests on the shoulders of her father, who turned his back on his daughter who so obviously needed him, and mostly Call, the man who convinces Angel he loves her and turns her into a whore. Angel wishes she could rewrite her story, and throughout My Book of Life By Angel she begins to see that while she cannot rewrite it, she can still work to change the ending.
The book begins almost in a jumble with the flighty thoughts of a brain jumping from drug use and recent withdrawal. Our horror at Angel’s state only increases as she becomes more sober. As she is better able to perceive the world around her and the acts that are done to her body, we bear witness. Angel’s mind is a simple, but insightful one. One where she only fully comprehends what has happened to herself when she sees the opportunity to stop it from happening to another. Angel proves that it is so much easier at times to help others than to help ourselves, but that sometimes these things go hand in hand.
In My Book of Life by Angel, Angel is chillingly aware of a number of women of her profession that have gone missing and the beleif that a murderous man is behind these disappearances. While this plot may not have been our primary concern while reading, it was one of the more disturbing aspects of the story. Martine Leavitt’s author’s note reveals that from 1983 to 2002 at least 49 women went missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I am rarely so sickened or angered as I was by the information that the Vancouver police continued to do nothing to stop these disappearances for nearly two decades. They insisted these disappearances were not the work of a serial killer, and did nothing to stop or solve cases they deemed unimportant because the women involved were sex workers. This includes one victim who escaped with stab wounds, whose testimony (which pointed to the man who was eventually arrested and confessed) was thrown out because she was not considered credible. This case was utterly disgusting to me, though I am glad that Martine Leavitt selected to highlight it in the backdrop of My Book of Life By Angel. It’s the type of horror we should not forget.
My Book of Life by Angel is not everyone’s type of book–heck, it’s certainly not my type of book, but it’s one I’m very glad I took a short time out of my life to read. As Angel points out, we cannot have happy endings without the possibility of sad endings, an idea Leavitt plays with until the end. I’m not sure what happened after the close of My Book of Life by Angel. If it’s the ending I hope for, or the ending I fear–but I love balancing on a thin strand between the two, which is something Angel does excellently.
Original review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks.
My Book of Life By Angel was not an easy or comfortable read by any means, but it was well worth pushing myself to pick up. The use of verse for this story is stylistically counter-intuitive. Instinctively, I would state that it is a bad choice to choose such a format for such heavy subject matter, but my reaction while reading was quite the opposite. If Angel’s story had been written in prose rather than verse, there is a good chance that I would not have been able to stomach it. As is, Angel’s story is told through words that are beautifully rendered and reflect perfectly the fractured mindset of a drug addled girl slowly surfacing to real life.
Angel is the perfect character to open this world to us. She is not free of blame, it is clear that she made a myriad of bad decisions that led her to her current state, but as she becomes more and more determined to break free of the life she has let herself be bound to it becomes so easy to root for her. It is Angel’s fault that she has become a prostitute, but it isn’t her’s alone. Blame also rests on the shoulders of her father, who turned his back on his daughter who so obviously needed him, and mostly Call, the man who convinces Angel he loves her and turns her into a whore. Angel wishes she could rewrite her story, and throughout My Book of Life By Angel she begins to see that while she cannot rewrite it, she can still work to change the ending.
The book begins almost in a jumble with the flighty thoughts of a brain jumping from drug use and recent withdrawal. Our horror at Angel’s state only increases as she becomes more sober. As she is better able to perceive the world around her and the acts that are done to her body, we bear witness. Angel’s mind is a simple, but insightful one. One where she only fully comprehends what has happened to herself when she sees the opportunity to stop it from happening to another. Angel proves that it is so much easier at times to help others than to help ourselves, but that sometimes these things go hand in hand.
In My Book of Life by Angel, Angel is chillingly aware of a number of women of her profession that have gone missing and the beleif that a murderous man is behind these disappearances. While this plot may not have been our primary concern while reading, it was one of the more disturbing aspects of the story. Martine Leavitt’s author’s note reveals that from 1983 to 2002 at least 49 women went missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I am rarely so sickened or angered as I was by the information that the Vancouver police continued to do nothing to stop these disappearances for nearly two decades. They insisted these disappearances were not the work of a serial killer, and did nothing to stop or solve cases they deemed unimportant because the women involved were sex workers. This includes one victim who escaped with stab wounds, whose testimony (which pointed to the man who was eventually arrested and confessed) was thrown out because she was not considered credible. This case was utterly disgusting to me, though I am glad that Martine Leavitt selected to highlight it in the backdrop of My Book of Life By Angel. It’s the type of horror we should not forget.
My Book of Life by Angel is not everyone’s type of book–heck, it’s certainly not my type of book, but it’s one I’m very glad I took a short time out of my life to read. As Angel points out, we cannot have happy endings without the possibility of sad endings, an idea Leavitt plays with until the end. I’m not sure what happened after the close of My Book of Life by Angel. If it’s the ending I hope for, or the ending I fear–but I love balancing on a thin strand between the two, which is something Angel does excellently.
Original review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks.
September 8, 2012
A grim, ugly subject but a beautifully told story, poignant and full of compassion.
October 3, 2014
Angel is a sixteen year old girl who needs help. And she finds it. She meets Call, and soon believes she is finally loved again, and believes that she found someone that truly understands her and won't leave her. Angel moves in with Call, and from the day she moves in she is part of Call's "business." Angel is taking drugs that Call gives her and is being used by Call to make money. He asks for her help in the business, asks her to be nice to some of his friends. But when the friends don't stop walking through the door, what will stop Angel?
Angel's best friend went missing, and lots of people believe it's connected to all the other girls that have gone missing in that neighborhood. Angel wants her friend to come back more than ever, but she then realizes she may never. Angel is scared and wants to leave Call, saying no to his "candy" and doing business so he won't harm her or her family. But when Call brings home Melli, not even eleven years old, Angel knows Call just crossed the line. Angel is told to show her the ropes, but Angel has another plan on her mind. Will Angel's plan work? Will she finally be free of Call and his business? Will she be free of his friends that humiliated her? Or will her plan back fire and put her and her family in danger? Melli brings Angel back to reality, but can Angel take the harsh reality of her world? She's been on candy for so long, she doesn't know how the world works anymore. Or does she? Will anyone save Melli and Angel?
If you like drama and are okay with reading more mature books, this book is good for you. My Book Of Life By Angel never gets boring. It is a fast pace book that is always adding new drama every chapter. Carolyn Coman calls it' "Exquisite..." Tim Wynne - Jones reviews it by saying, "Astonishing! Dark matter shot through with light...".
Angel's best friend went missing, and lots of people believe it's connected to all the other girls that have gone missing in that neighborhood. Angel wants her friend to come back more than ever, but she then realizes she may never. Angel is scared and wants to leave Call, saying no to his "candy" and doing business so he won't harm her or her family. But when Call brings home Melli, not even eleven years old, Angel knows Call just crossed the line. Angel is told to show her the ropes, but Angel has another plan on her mind. Will Angel's plan work? Will she finally be free of Call and his business? Will she be free of his friends that humiliated her? Or will her plan back fire and put her and her family in danger? Melli brings Angel back to reality, but can Angel take the harsh reality of her world? She's been on candy for so long, she doesn't know how the world works anymore. Or does she? Will anyone save Melli and Angel?
If you like drama and are okay with reading more mature books, this book is good for you. My Book Of Life By Angel never gets boring. It is a fast pace book that is always adding new drama every chapter. Carolyn Coman calls it' "Exquisite..." Tim Wynne - Jones reviews it by saying, "Astonishing! Dark matter shot through with light...".
June 21, 2013
Full disclosure: I met Martine at the CLA awards in May. My new book, "Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen," was picking up an award, and so was Martine's. We exchanged copies. I politely told her I would read it, but secretly thought, "What a harrowing topic" (perhaps ironic since you could say that about my book, too!).
This is just an incredible, beautiful, painful, absorbing read. I am quite frankly blown away by Martine's talent. She immerses me in the world of Angel. I live in Vancouver, and watched the horrific real-life events unfold in the media ... she puts you right there, in a way that is manageable but still real. She also helped make real for me the fact that these women are just like us - with maybe a bit more shitty luck along the way. I am in awe of her talent.
This is just an incredible, beautiful, painful, absorbing read. I am quite frankly blown away by Martine's talent. She immerses me in the world of Angel. I live in Vancouver, and watched the horrific real-life events unfold in the media ... she puts you right there, in a way that is manageable but still real. She also helped make real for me the fact that these women are just like us - with maybe a bit more shitty luck along the way. I am in awe of her talent.
October 1, 2014
When Angel is misled by Call in the dark and dangerous world of prostitution and drugs, she can't seem to see a way out. Call's love and favors turned into a job, and in this book the setting mostly is the streets Angel works on. She does her job, without knowing a way to do anything about it. When Call brings home a Melli though, a silent 11 year old who is much to young and innocent for the business call provides, Angel knows she has to do something. She protects the young girl, earning double on the streets to avoids Melli having to work, but will it be enough? Will she be able to pull herself out of the shadows to save herself and Melli? If you enjoy books with serious topics, but characters who are strong enough to pull through, the you'll like My Book Of Life By Angel by Martine Leavitt.
September 23, 2012
I really enjoy novels-in-verse. The good ones are propulsive. The poetry invites you to linger over the way things are said, yet pushes you along to flow of the words. I find it very easy to slip into the rhythm of the story in a way that rarely happens with prose fiction.
National Book Award Finalist Martine Leavitt tackles tough topics in MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL, much like YA-novel-in-verse-heavy-hitter Ellen Hopkins. The narrator Angel is sixteen, working as a prostitute in Vancouver. She ran away to live with her boyfriend Call, who unbeknownst to her was a pimp. He got her addicted to drugs and convinced her that she wouldn't ever be welcome in her home again. It's a series of events that's happened to far too many girls.
But two events happen that give Angel the strength to go cold turkey. The first is the disappearance of Serena, a more experienced hooker who watched out for her. The second is the appearance of Melli, a mute eleven year old who Call wants to turn out. Angel is not so inured to her life that she's okay with that. She works double shifts and keeps turning down the drugs in order to protect her young charge. But as long as Melli is with Call she'll never be safe.
There is a noticeable shift in Angel's narration as she becomes more coherent and able to think more clearly about multiple things at once. The poetry always felt like a logical way for Angel to express herself. One of the things that makes the most impact on her during her time with Call is PARADISE LOST, Milton's epic poem, which a john makes her read aloud.
MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is for mature readers only. It deals with prostitution of underage girls, drug abuse, and murders that go ignored. They are all concepts people have to deal with eventually, but some younger readers may not be ready to handle the intensity of the novel yet. I had trouble with the end note, which discusses the real court cases and disappearances that inspired MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL.
This is a good book for anyone looking for a contemporary dealing with the darker side of modern life. I expect fans of the aforementioned Ellen Hopkins will really enjoy it.
National Book Award Finalist Martine Leavitt tackles tough topics in MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL, much like YA-novel-in-verse-heavy-hitter Ellen Hopkins. The narrator Angel is sixteen, working as a prostitute in Vancouver. She ran away to live with her boyfriend Call, who unbeknownst to her was a pimp. He got her addicted to drugs and convinced her that she wouldn't ever be welcome in her home again. It's a series of events that's happened to far too many girls.
But two events happen that give Angel the strength to go cold turkey. The first is the disappearance of Serena, a more experienced hooker who watched out for her. The second is the appearance of Melli, a mute eleven year old who Call wants to turn out. Angel is not so inured to her life that she's okay with that. She works double shifts and keeps turning down the drugs in order to protect her young charge. But as long as Melli is with Call she'll never be safe.
There is a noticeable shift in Angel's narration as she becomes more coherent and able to think more clearly about multiple things at once. The poetry always felt like a logical way for Angel to express herself. One of the things that makes the most impact on her during her time with Call is PARADISE LOST, Milton's epic poem, which a john makes her read aloud.
MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is for mature readers only. It deals with prostitution of underage girls, drug abuse, and murders that go ignored. They are all concepts people have to deal with eventually, but some younger readers may not be ready to handle the intensity of the novel yet. I had trouble with the end note, which discusses the real court cases and disappearances that inspired MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL.
This is a good book for anyone looking for a contemporary dealing with the darker side of modern life. I expect fans of the aforementioned Ellen Hopkins will really enjoy it.
September 20, 2012
Utterly awesome!!!!!!Just finished reading Martine Leavitt's My Book of Life By Angel, an absolutely breath-taking novel in verse, which brilliantly, hauntingly, provocatively explores the life of 16-7ear-old Angel, who works the "kiddie stroll" in downtown Vancouver's Eastside during the Pickton murders - powerful stuff indeed!
One thing I found especially moving is the list of names of the missing women of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside that Leavitt gives her readers at the end of the book after a powerful author's note - it is a heart-breaking ending to a novel which is superlatively poetic, passionate and filled with the human spirit. This novel really is a true gift to teen readers.
One thing I found especially moving is the list of names of the missing women of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside that Leavitt gives her readers at the end of the book after a powerful author's note - it is a heart-breaking ending to a novel which is superlatively poetic, passionate and filled with the human spirit. This novel really is a true gift to teen readers.
April 22, 2014
Sixteen-year-old Angel, a vulnerable teen, is coerced into drugs and prostitution by a young man she meets in a mall during a time when sex workers disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. What Angel must endure to get through every day life is heroic enough, but when Melli comes into her life, the stakes get a lot higher.
Told with heart, courage, and amazing insight into emotion and human struggle, Martine Leavitt writes a story that is impossible to forget.
And for readers who rely heavily on a fabulously meaningful ending, this book does not disappoiont.
Told with heart, courage, and amazing insight into emotion and human struggle, Martine Leavitt writes a story that is impossible to forget.
And for readers who rely heavily on a fabulously meaningful ending, this book does not disappoiont.
July 2, 2012
I was surprised that I liked this book. Typically, I don't enjoy books that are written in verse. However, Martine Leavitt writes powerfully, her words injected with strong emotions that stick with the reader throughout the novel. Angel is a girl who has fallen on hard times at a very young age. After her mom passed away, Angel feels lonely and vulnerable. With her father and her arguing more and more, Angel turns to drugs to feel better-a man named Call her supplier. Before long, Call convinces her to leave her home and turn tricks for him. Angel, her brain addled with drugs and pain, is slowly working her way out from under the influence of the drugs when the reader meets her. Melli, a young child brought in by Call, provides further encouragement for Angel to escape from her current lifestyle and ensure Melli's safety.
Angel's character is depressing. Her mother is dead, her father and brother moved, and she is turning tricks in very dangerous streets. Many women have gone missing over the past few months, including Angel's friends, and Angel must be constantly on the look-out...a hard thing to do when one is on drugs. Though Angel wants to dull the pain of her everyday life, she knows she must work past the withdrawal period and begin to feel again. Melli is brought in maybe halfway through the book. Her presence will likely depress the reader even more. She is the one innocent person in the book, someone previously untouched by this kind of lifestyle. Her presence hits Angel hard, reminds Angel of her younger brother. The book continues with Angel doing her very best to "save" Melli.
The humiliation that Angel endures at the hands of the people who "buy" her for a short time is almost unbearable. It's literally like a train wreck that the reader is powerless to stop. She can't seek help from the police; Call has at least one policeman under his thumb. She does not really have her own savings, though she does have her dead friend's "escape money." With Melli in the pictuer, the pressure is on for Angel to "shape-up" and escape with Melli's childlike innocence intact. This book is a quick read, but one that will haunt the reader after setting the book down. The author bravely highlights a very problematic issue and makes it known to her readers with glaring reality. My Book of Life by Angel is recommended to young adult/adult readers.
Angel's character is depressing. Her mother is dead, her father and brother moved, and she is turning tricks in very dangerous streets. Many women have gone missing over the past few months, including Angel's friends, and Angel must be constantly on the look-out...a hard thing to do when one is on drugs. Though Angel wants to dull the pain of her everyday life, she knows she must work past the withdrawal period and begin to feel again. Melli is brought in maybe halfway through the book. Her presence will likely depress the reader even more. She is the one innocent person in the book, someone previously untouched by this kind of lifestyle. Her presence hits Angel hard, reminds Angel of her younger brother. The book continues with Angel doing her very best to "save" Melli.
The humiliation that Angel endures at the hands of the people who "buy" her for a short time is almost unbearable. It's literally like a train wreck that the reader is powerless to stop. She can't seek help from the police; Call has at least one policeman under his thumb. She does not really have her own savings, though she does have her dead friend's "escape money." With Melli in the pictuer, the pressure is on for Angel to "shape-up" and escape with Melli's childlike innocence intact. This book is a quick read, but one that will haunt the reader after setting the book down. The author bravely highlights a very problematic issue and makes it known to her readers with glaring reality. My Book of Life by Angel is recommended to young adult/adult readers.
January 7, 2013
In a dentist chair
when you're so upside down
and you don't have anything else to hang on to
you want to believe maybe this isn't all you get--
when so many people try to beat the angel out of you,
you hang on for dear life.
And then the baby dentist was done
and I lived.
I always live.
-----
I said, I'm sorry Melli.
I said, there has to be the possibility of sad endings
or there couldn't be such a thing as happy endings.
Endings are happy because they could have been sad.
Maybe ours will be sad.
-----
Child prostitution.
Angel is sixteen and popular with johns because she looks thirteen.
Things were rough at home and Call gradually lured her away from her dad, got her hooked on the high of his "candy" and made her think that he loved her. Now she is trapped living with Call working the streets night after night in a drug-induced haze with no hope of escape.
Serena (who was nineteen but looked sixteen) took Angel under her wing and loved and protected her, but Serena has disappeared. And now Call has brought in eleven-year-old Melli for Angel to teach and mentor.
Angel doesn't really care what happens to herself, but she can't let Melli become first her and then Serena, so now she is going to try to write her own book of her own life with the ending of her choosing.
If she can.
-----
In the Vancouver Downtown Eastside,
where Call lives and now me too,
all the doors and windows are barred at night--
the street is the jail
and there's no escape.
Where Call lives
people know how to sleep sitting up
and how to eat without teeth
and how to carry their whole world
on their backs.
Where Call lives
most of the churches are shelters,
with beds for the bedless
and soup for the soupless.
Call has a good haircut and good shoes--
shoes with laces double-knotted and hard soles
and stiff heels
and pockets in his shirts--
he could walk into an office
and nobody would blink.
But here they blink.
Here, he is gentry.
He says, I am the beginning of gentrification
at Hastings and Main.
Call wants to be the boss of something.
He can't do it in the real world
so he will be the king of Eastside.
He is always disappointed with Eastside.
It lets him down every day.
when you're so upside down
and you don't have anything else to hang on to
you want to believe maybe this isn't all you get--
when so many people try to beat the angel out of you,
you hang on for dear life.
And then the baby dentist was done
and I lived.
I always live.
-----
I said, I'm sorry Melli.
I said, there has to be the possibility of sad endings
or there couldn't be such a thing as happy endings.
Endings are happy because they could have been sad.
Maybe ours will be sad.
-----
Child prostitution.
Angel is sixteen and popular with johns because she looks thirteen.
Things were rough at home and Call gradually lured her away from her dad, got her hooked on the high of his "candy" and made her think that he loved her. Now she is trapped living with Call working the streets night after night in a drug-induced haze with no hope of escape.
Serena (who was nineteen but looked sixteen) took Angel under her wing and loved and protected her, but Serena has disappeared. And now Call has brought in eleven-year-old Melli for Angel to teach and mentor.
Angel doesn't really care what happens to herself, but she can't let Melli become first her and then Serena, so now she is going to try to write her own book of her own life with the ending of her choosing.
If she can.
-----
In the Vancouver Downtown Eastside,
where Call lives and now me too,
all the doors and windows are barred at night--
the street is the jail
and there's no escape.
Where Call lives
people know how to sleep sitting up
and how to eat without teeth
and how to carry their whole world
on their backs.
Where Call lives
most of the churches are shelters,
with beds for the bedless
and soup for the soupless.
Call has a good haircut and good shoes--
shoes with laces double-knotted and hard soles
and stiff heels
and pockets in his shirts--
he could walk into an office
and nobody would blink.
But here they blink.
Here, he is gentry.
He says, I am the beginning of gentrification
at Hastings and Main.
Call wants to be the boss of something.
He can't do it in the real world
so he will be the king of Eastside.
He is always disappointed with Eastside.
It lets him down every day.
October 13, 2012
Prose poetry cry to the angels—or anyone really, even herself—to be saved from life as a 16-year-old drug addicted prostitute in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Angel starts her story after the disappearance of her street friend Serena, she who believed in angels and Wednesday night church, where they served the free hot dogs. If fact, many street girls have gone missing. There’s talk of a hunter, a Mr. P. with his van who takes and hurts the girls. They never come back, and when Serena’s gone and her emergency money is still stashed under Angel’s mattress, things look bleak. Bleak enough for Angel to remember when her pimp Call was her boyfriend, when he first fed her candy and what seemed like love. Bleak enough for her to write a letter to her dad, asking for help. Bleak enough that she stopped the drugs, no more candy, no matter how sick and yawning and miserable she was and no matter how bad turning tricks is without that safety haze.
When Call senses that he might be losing Angel, he tries two ploys in the midst of his local political efforts to legalize prostitution: 1) he brings home a silent 11-year-old girl named Melli pinched from a group home and 2) he shows Angel the stuffed blue rhino that belongs to her younger brother Jeremy. The threats hardly need be explicit to work.
Angel keeps earning, enough for two, even while she struggles with withdrawal and pervert dentists and dirty cops and her older corner companion Widow being attacked on the street, even while the college professor who gets off on her reading Book 9 of Milton’s Paradise Lost on their dates uses her. Angel faces an epic battle of her own, good versus evil and innocence versus experience. Is she a fallen angel or beyond the pale? Can she save herself or find a savior?
Beautifully written but still gritty enough to appeal to Ellen Hopkins’ fans.
When Call senses that he might be losing Angel, he tries two ploys in the midst of his local political efforts to legalize prostitution: 1) he brings home a silent 11-year-old girl named Melli pinched from a group home and 2) he shows Angel the stuffed blue rhino that belongs to her younger brother Jeremy. The threats hardly need be explicit to work.
Angel keeps earning, enough for two, even while she struggles with withdrawal and pervert dentists and dirty cops and her older corner companion Widow being attacked on the street, even while the college professor who gets off on her reading Book 9 of Milton’s Paradise Lost on their dates uses her. Angel faces an epic battle of her own, good versus evil and innocence versus experience. Is she a fallen angel or beyond the pale? Can she save herself or find a savior?
Beautifully written but still gritty enough to appeal to Ellen Hopkins’ fans.
June 17, 2017
When something is based on a true story, especially when it is something so horrible, it gives you an awful feeling in your gut. This is a book about the women who were involved with prostitution in Vancouver in 1983. Dozens of women went missing and were being killed every day and the police force did NOTHING about it. The story is told by Angel, a 16 year old girl who got herself involved in this horrible "business". My Life by Angel is haunting, but leaves you with an important message, which is hope. Hope will help drive you through life. With hope, anything can happen. It will leave you reading page after page after page. At times the wording of things confused me a little bit, but overall, it was a good read that leaves you feeling a lot of emotions.
March 12, 2019
I was not aware that this was written in verse until I opened it but I think that's one of the things that made me like it so much. Short, sweet, to the point. I was so interested in Angel's story, in Melli, and how they were going to overcome the situation they found themselves in.
I think it took incredible strength for Angel to say no to "candy" so many times. Her rational mind was still awake under all of the drugs and nasty things that Call made her do and I think that is the ONLY reason she was able to do what she did with Daddy Dave.
This was a REAL topic and a REAL rendition of the lives lived out there on the street. I was very impressed and couldn't put this one down. HAD to know what happened to the girls.
I think it took incredible strength for Angel to say no to "candy" so many times. Her rational mind was still awake under all of the drugs and nasty things that Call made her do and I think that is the ONLY reason she was able to do what she did with Daddy Dave.
This was a REAL topic and a REAL rendition of the lives lived out there on the street. I was very impressed and couldn't put this one down. HAD to know what happened to the girls.
November 16, 2018
I found Leavitt's poetic sensibilities simultaneously compelling, original, and painfully straightforward. Angel's interior voice is a devastatingly beautiful blend of childlike, wise, plainspoken, and poetic. The ending speaks painful truth inside elements of hope.
May 9, 2018
I was very interested in this book. It has a pretty straight foward way of explaining how life can be. This book was about a girl who started doing drugs after meeting a boy named Call. She liked to call it "Call's Candy" and he gave it to her when she needed it. She ended up doing prostitution and started realizing the way Call really was; abusive and controlling. For example, Angel stopped taking Call's candy and tried to be her own person but Call wouldn't allow it and fostered a little girl named Mellie. Call made Angel work double shifts and work with strange men to fend for the new addition to their "family", and threatened to hurt her little brother. It was very dark but it was eye opening because Angel's situtation can really happen. The way the book was written was not what I was used to and it made the book a really quick read. I would have liked to know more as to what happens to Angel after she got away from Call and the whole life she was living. If Call would come back or if he stays away.
November 24, 2023
The story of Angel is so tragic, but told so honestly and beautifully. Such an important subject that doesn’t get talked about enough.. would totally recommend reading this.
January 26, 2019
A deeply powerful story told in verse about sex trafficking. I couldn't put this one down.
December 28, 2024
A heavy and tragic story told gently and carefully but in a way that leaves the reader with a deeper understanding. I knew this book wouldn’t be happy and it wasn’t but it left me with some hope which was a nice addition.
October 18, 2018
Poetry-formatted novels are not my first choice of literature, but upon the recommendation of a professor, I picked up this book with hopes to deter, or at least soothe, the lasting stressors of trauma. The form is very halting and abrasive. Perhaps it is because Angel herself cannot interpret her life, or maybe it’s only to protect the reader. However, even though Leavitt is trying to protect the reader, she leaves in some seriously nasty details. This book is concentrated in depressing and overwhelming themes like abuse, trauma, exploitation, and love or lack thereof.
Angel is a dope-sick child-prostitute who is doing her best to keep her indifferent hustler’s newest recruit off the streets and away from the horrible situation Angel finds herself in. Angel stops taking the drugs and she tries to rescue Melli instead. After years of prostitution, Angel found purpose first in a simple journal and then in a young girl. Angel writes all her heart’s thoughts and her mind’s troubled emotions down in her Book of Life, thus providing some sort of respite as she suffers from the side effects of a horrible life. However, Angel is not entirely blameless; it is clear throughout the book that she has made a myriad of poor decisions but she slowly starts to turn that around once she understands the importance of getting Melli out of the slums and back to her family.
In a discussion had with the professor who recommended the book, she stated that Leavitt wrote the story in stream-of-consciousness because she did not want the reader to feel so burdened and heavy that he or she couldn’t finish the book. The purpose of this book is not to depress or trigger the readers. My Book of Life by Angel has found its own niche within cathartic literature. My favorite lines read:
When he was done his face was disappointed
and I looked and he’d put a wing on my shoulder
so real, so feathers,
pretty and weepy and bleeding,
but he was not proud—
He said, that’s not what I wanted, not what I meant (157.)
This excerpt truly relates what the plot and interpretation are all about. In this passage, Angel is explaining an experience she had with a tattoo artist. He wanted to use her body as a canvas which is not dissimilar from the way other men were using her body. Angel has regular clients who she describes in detail throughout the novel; each of them are disturbed and disgusting but Angel tries to turn off and do anything to not make her pimp upset with her. Angel has settled into complacency and apathy, which is the most heartbreaking change.
My Book of Life by Angel left a deep impression on me. As a survivor of trauma and assault, it is wonderfully reassuring to know that there are literary heroes who have gone through similar experiences. I sincerely appreciate the care that Leavitt has taken with such a sensitive subject. The format of the novel helps soften the difficult discussion that needs to happen but hardly does and although Angel’s life is hard to read about, it is worth reading.
September 26, 2013
I love how verse novels can be short on words but long on impact. I didn't think this would necessarily be my type of book. Historical fiction about a teenaged prostitute? That's a little bit out of my comfort zone. But My Book of Life by Angel was a story that I just couldn't put down. I read it all in one sitting, transfixed by the awfulness of the main character's situation and the lyrical beauty with which she told the story.
This book takes place during the time when sex-trade workers were disappearing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside; this happened in the late 1990s. It must have been an absolutely terrifying time if you were in that line of work; knowing what we know now about what was actually going on makes you feel fear for the characters in the story. Robert Pickton was eventually convicted of the murders of six women and charged with the murders of twenty more. In the book, there are references to a "Mr. P.", presumably Pickton; one of Angel's co-workers warns her about him and his van, hinting that he may be behind the disappearances of the women. But the police wouldn't listen, and the terror continued for years.
Against this backdrop is the story of Angel, a sixteen-year-old runaway who falls into the lifestyle after being lured there by her "boyfriend", Call. Call is a real piece of work, though he seems to think of himself as an upstanding citizen, an entrepreneur who's trying to clean up the trade by getting it legalized. He spends much of the book threatening and blackmailing Angel, until she finds a reason to stand up to him: to keep Melli, an eleven-year-old girl that Call wants to groom into a prostitute, safe.
I don't know if it was due to the verse format, or if this is just a really skilled author, but the characters were all so well developed -- despite the lack of physical descriptions. We get to know these people through what they say (and how they say it) and what they do (and how they do it). Leavitt makes the outcasts of society into people that we truly come to care about. They all have their own stories, their own reasons for being where they are. Even the johns were unique and colourful characters; they were more than just one-dimensional, stereotypical villains.
I'm not quite sure who I would recommend this book to. Fans of verse novels... contemporary fiction... historical fiction... Or maybe just fans of beautiful words. (Despite the subject matter, this book is not overtly graphic. There isn't even any swearing.)
Even if you think this book is not your thing, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It's a quick read, and you never know: you might find you really enjoy it.
http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...
This book takes place during the time when sex-trade workers were disappearing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside; this happened in the late 1990s. It must have been an absolutely terrifying time if you were in that line of work; knowing what we know now about what was actually going on makes you feel fear for the characters in the story. Robert Pickton was eventually convicted of the murders of six women and charged with the murders of twenty more. In the book, there are references to a "Mr. P.", presumably Pickton; one of Angel's co-workers warns her about him and his van, hinting that he may be behind the disappearances of the women. But the police wouldn't listen, and the terror continued for years.
Against this backdrop is the story of Angel, a sixteen-year-old runaway who falls into the lifestyle after being lured there by her "boyfriend", Call. Call is a real piece of work, though he seems to think of himself as an upstanding citizen, an entrepreneur who's trying to clean up the trade by getting it legalized. He spends much of the book threatening and blackmailing Angel, until she finds a reason to stand up to him: to keep Melli, an eleven-year-old girl that Call wants to groom into a prostitute, safe.
I don't know if it was due to the verse format, or if this is just a really skilled author, but the characters were all so well developed -- despite the lack of physical descriptions. We get to know these people through what they say (and how they say it) and what they do (and how they do it). Leavitt makes the outcasts of society into people that we truly come to care about. They all have their own stories, their own reasons for being where they are. Even the johns were unique and colourful characters; they were more than just one-dimensional, stereotypical villains.
I'm not quite sure who I would recommend this book to. Fans of verse novels... contemporary fiction... historical fiction... Or maybe just fans of beautiful words. (Despite the subject matter, this book is not overtly graphic. There isn't even any swearing.)
Even if you think this book is not your thing, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It's a quick read, and you never know: you might find you really enjoy it.
http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...
August 9, 2012
I don't think I have ever read a novel in verse before. I was amazed at the complexity of thought and emotion that could be packed into so few words and phrases. Angel has a very powerful voice. I felt so sorry for the child who dealt with grief by stealing and who ran away to the Mall to get away from her sorrow. And even more sorry when she fell for what Call was offering.
It is easy to see how vulnerable children can get sucked into prostitution one little step at a time. Seeing that world through the eyes of a young woman who is still clinging to a little bit of hope and goodness but seldom finding the goodness was heartbreaking.
When Call brings home a little girl of eleven named Melli, Angel tries to protect her. She takes her out with her to her stretch of street by the gate of ten thousand happiness and has Melli hide in the shadows while she works. She is watched over by another of the women when Angel goes on her "dates." The other woman is called the Widow and has lost her name because of the drugs and the abuse she has faced on the streets. Angel tries to find her name but none of them seem right to the Widow. Still she does do what she can for the two younger girls until she is attacked and beaten.
I was disgusted by all the "normal" people who could look right through this child and not do anything. I was angry at the father who threw her away when she acted out. I hated the car loads of young men who drove through the area where Angel was and threw words and garbage at her. I hated the men who bought her but never even saw her as someone real. And I especially hated Call. He was busy trying to get a petition going to legalize prostitution and busy seeing himself as a businessman. No matter what promises he made to Angel he still didn't see her as a person worthy of respect or, even, a person at all. He tried to hold her with drugs and threats but her spirit wouldn't be held.
This was a remarkable story about a remarkable young woman in a horrible situation. It is about the power of hope. It doesn't have a happy ending. As Angel says, "there has to be the possibility of sad endings, or there couldn't be such a thing as happy endings. Endings are happy because they could have been sad." But the ending is hopeful.
I recommend this one to thoughtful readers. The lyrical language and gritty realism will not be easily forgotten.
It is easy to see how vulnerable children can get sucked into prostitution one little step at a time. Seeing that world through the eyes of a young woman who is still clinging to a little bit of hope and goodness but seldom finding the goodness was heartbreaking.
When Call brings home a little girl of eleven named Melli, Angel tries to protect her. She takes her out with her to her stretch of street by the gate of ten thousand happiness and has Melli hide in the shadows while she works. She is watched over by another of the women when Angel goes on her "dates." The other woman is called the Widow and has lost her name because of the drugs and the abuse she has faced on the streets. Angel tries to find her name but none of them seem right to the Widow. Still she does do what she can for the two younger girls until she is attacked and beaten.
I was disgusted by all the "normal" people who could look right through this child and not do anything. I was angry at the father who threw her away when she acted out. I hated the car loads of young men who drove through the area where Angel was and threw words and garbage at her. I hated the men who bought her but never even saw her as someone real. And I especially hated Call. He was busy trying to get a petition going to legalize prostitution and busy seeing himself as a businessman. No matter what promises he made to Angel he still didn't see her as a person worthy of respect or, even, a person at all. He tried to hold her with drugs and threats but her spirit wouldn't be held.
This was a remarkable story about a remarkable young woman in a horrible situation. It is about the power of hope. It doesn't have a happy ending. As Angel says, "there has to be the possibility of sad endings, or there couldn't be such a thing as happy endings. Endings are happy because they could have been sad." But the ending is hopeful.
I recommend this one to thoughtful readers. The lyrical language and gritty realism will not be easily forgotten.
January 27, 2025
Yesterday I blogged about controversial themes in verse novels. A recent release verse novel goes further into controversial themes than almost any I’ve ever read. MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL by Martine Leavitt combines a universally relatable tale about a girl who has fallen as far out of respectability as is possible (she’s become an addicted prostitute) with a very specific rather pointed indictment of the city of Vancouver’s lukewarm investigation of the serial killings of prostitutes by Robert Pickton.
Politics aside this is a deeply involving story driven by a heartbreakingly sympathetic character and several nasty but three dimensional villains. The titular narrator, Angel finds herself on the street as many young women do, by feeling rejected by her family and trusting the wrong man. After the disappearance of a sympathetic colleague, she begins writing her experiences in a journal, her “book of life”. Her verse is harsh, vivid and graphic, though somehow still discrete enough for this to work as a YA text, even perhaps in some more liberal classrooms.
Though poetic and expressionistic, MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is nevertheless strongly plot driven with a tense narrative and a nail biting climax.
As a Vancouver resident, I was a little disappointed that the issue of race wasn't explored further. A disproportionate number of Vancouver prostitutes are Indigenous (First Nations) women (and men) and many of Pickton’s victims were First Nations. One source estimates that over 600 First Nations women have been murdered in the sex workers’ trade in Canada. So that this issue was not prominent felt a bit jarring.
Apart from that MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is a superb addition to the verse novel genre. Given its subject matter and political overtones it will find readership both within and beyond the YA age group.
MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL was released on September 4th, 2012. I received a review eARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
Politics aside this is a deeply involving story driven by a heartbreakingly sympathetic character and several nasty but three dimensional villains. The titular narrator, Angel finds herself on the street as many young women do, by feeling rejected by her family and trusting the wrong man. After the disappearance of a sympathetic colleague, she begins writing her experiences in a journal, her “book of life”. Her verse is harsh, vivid and graphic, though somehow still discrete enough for this to work as a YA text, even perhaps in some more liberal classrooms.
Though poetic and expressionistic, MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is nevertheless strongly plot driven with a tense narrative and a nail biting climax.
As a Vancouver resident, I was a little disappointed that the issue of race wasn't explored further. A disproportionate number of Vancouver prostitutes are Indigenous (First Nations) women (and men) and many of Pickton’s victims were First Nations. One source estimates that over 600 First Nations women have been murdered in the sex workers’ trade in Canada. So that this issue was not prominent felt a bit jarring.
Apart from that MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL is a superb addition to the verse novel genre. Given its subject matter and political overtones it will find readership both within and beyond the YA age group.
MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL was released on September 4th, 2012. I received a review eARC from the publisher via Netgalley.
March 17, 2016
After the death of her mother, Angel is lost and finds solace in shoplifting shoes. She meets Call, who pays attention to her and provides drugs that seem to ease the pain of her loss. Although Call takes her in when her father kicks her out, the sixteen-year-old quickly realizes that he is a pimp, and she is his to sell, to do with as he wishes. Or, as he would say, it's all a matter of supply and demand. In this novel in verse set in Vancouver, Angel hears rumors about the many girls and women who have disappeared from the city's streets, and wonders about the whereabouts of her friend, Serena. Although she wants to leave, Angel has nowhere to go, especially when Call threatens to harm her younger brother Jeremy. Unable to leave to save herself, Angel realizes she must act quickly to save Melli, an eleven-year-old girl Call brings home and plans to send out on the streets. As moving and effective in its own right as Almost Home and Sold, Angel's story will surely bring attention to those who live on the fringes of society. Her determination to survive while finding a way to help someone else is inspiring, reminding readers of the courage and innocence that pulse only, even in the most desolate of places. If the author's intention is to make her readers care about child prostitution and wonder about the police force's lack of concern for those missing women, then she has certainly succeeded. This is a compassionate, sometimes humorous, often heart-rending look at the way real individuals live. Although how Angel will manage to make her way now that she is free from Call's clutches remains to be seen, the fact that she is reading while that threatening van circles the block shows readers that she has choices. Maybe literature, in the end, can save her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2013
The night I started Martine's book, MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL, I had only ten minutes to read. Ten minutes turned into thirty. The next morning I did what I never do: after I got my family off for the day, I opened the book again, planning only to read "Just a page or two.”
Despite the call of a long To Do list, I couldn’t stop reading until I finished the book. I’m busy, so I have to be a disciplined reader. But MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL was just so incredible that I had to stay with it until the last page.
The main character, Angel, gets hooked on “candy” given by a boyfriend who then traps her into prostitution to support her habit. The pimp, aptly named Call, threatens to hurt her little brother unless Angel stays with him. But when Call brings an eleven-year-old child for her to train, Angel knows she has to find a way free of both the drugs and Call.
It takes an extraordinary author to make a difficult topic irresistibly pleasant to read. Martine Leavitt skillfully combines gorgeous free verse, masterful plotting, and just a touch of magic to create a verdantly beautiful story.
I am once again, wowed by this author. She's a great teacher as well, and I'm looking forward to being in her five-day writing workshop this summer at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference. I can't wait to glean from her wealth of ideas and knowledge.
Despite the call of a long To Do list, I couldn’t stop reading until I finished the book. I’m busy, so I have to be a disciplined reader. But MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL was just so incredible that I had to stay with it until the last page.
The main character, Angel, gets hooked on “candy” given by a boyfriend who then traps her into prostitution to support her habit. The pimp, aptly named Call, threatens to hurt her little brother unless Angel stays with him. But when Call brings an eleven-year-old child for her to train, Angel knows she has to find a way free of both the drugs and Call.
It takes an extraordinary author to make a difficult topic irresistibly pleasant to read. Martine Leavitt skillfully combines gorgeous free verse, masterful plotting, and just a touch of magic to create a verdantly beautiful story.
I am once again, wowed by this author. She's a great teacher as well, and I'm looking forward to being in her five-day writing workshop this summer at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference. I can't wait to glean from her wealth of ideas and knowledge.
December 15, 2015
"I thought she would be
all floaty and filmy,
all fragile ghost bones that break,
all dandelion-seed hair and weightless--
but no,
She was stone, fixed, forever...
Her words dripped into my ear--
each drop weighed a star.
She said, Angel,
when God reads your book of life,
boy, are some people ever gonna get it."
Holy. Smokes. This book. THIS BOOK. It absolutely blew my mind. It deals with one of the darkest topics I can think of, YET...
As Martine herself puts it:
"It is not the gray areas that are interesting, but darkness shot through with light, light reflected into the corners that nobody has seen before. Darkness is and will be. Darkness cannot and should not be ignored, but it is light that makes a soul and a book great."
While creating awareness of an awful true life tragedy, Martine also sheds light directly into the mind of a beautiful and broken girl. This book is written in verse--which may put off some readers--but ultimately the style makes the story both unique and stunning.
I couldn't help be horrified a number of times (this is NOT for young readers, unless you use it as a platform for discussion, moms) but nothing about it is nitty-gritty details.
Martine is as impressive of a writer as she is as a person and a teacher.
all floaty and filmy,
all fragile ghost bones that break,
all dandelion-seed hair and weightless--
but no,
She was stone, fixed, forever...
Her words dripped into my ear--
each drop weighed a star.
She said, Angel,
when God reads your book of life,
boy, are some people ever gonna get it."
Holy. Smokes. This book. THIS BOOK. It absolutely blew my mind. It deals with one of the darkest topics I can think of, YET...
As Martine herself puts it:
"It is not the gray areas that are interesting, but darkness shot through with light, light reflected into the corners that nobody has seen before. Darkness is and will be. Darkness cannot and should not be ignored, but it is light that makes a soul and a book great."
While creating awareness of an awful true life tragedy, Martine also sheds light directly into the mind of a beautiful and broken girl. This book is written in verse--which may put off some readers--but ultimately the style makes the story both unique and stunning.
I couldn't help be horrified a number of times (this is NOT for young readers, unless you use it as a platform for discussion, moms) but nothing about it is nitty-gritty details.
Martine is as impressive of a writer as she is as a person and a teacher.
August 5, 2016
VERSE NOVEL CATEGORY
Bawl. My. Face. Off. In a good way. Martine Leavitt is becoming one of my new all time favorite authors. This books follows Angel, a girl dealing with the death of her mother who unwittingly gets pulled into prostitution by her so called boyfriend. Angel suffers through the horrors of prostitution until one day her boyfriend brings home an 11 year old girl to help Angel bring in profits. What follows is one of the most beautifully depicted stories of love and sacrifice I've ever read. Angel does whatever she can within her power in order to protect this girl. All these sacrifices and Angel's own philosophical ponderings lead angel to question her position with God. After all she has done, is she still God's little girl? Written in absolutely gorgeous blank verse, Leavitt challenges the world of teenage prostitution and allows for big questions to surface such as the worth of a soul that has descended below them all? I recommend this book to lovers of poetry, Milton, God, not God, justice and love of all ages. But particularly those who are 14 and older.
Bawl. My. Face. Off. In a good way. Martine Leavitt is becoming one of my new all time favorite authors. This books follows Angel, a girl dealing with the death of her mother who unwittingly gets pulled into prostitution by her so called boyfriend. Angel suffers through the horrors of prostitution until one day her boyfriend brings home an 11 year old girl to help Angel bring in profits. What follows is one of the most beautifully depicted stories of love and sacrifice I've ever read. Angel does whatever she can within her power in order to protect this girl. All these sacrifices and Angel's own philosophical ponderings lead angel to question her position with God. After all she has done, is she still God's little girl? Written in absolutely gorgeous blank verse, Leavitt challenges the world of teenage prostitution and allows for big questions to surface such as the worth of a soul that has descended below them all? I recommend this book to lovers of poetry, Milton, God, not God, justice and love of all ages. But particularly those who are 14 and older.
Read
December 9, 2014My Book of Life by Angle is a story of a young girl that has to work on the streets selling her body for a living. After many girls have mysteriously disappeared Angle decides she no longer wants to live the way she is. However that requires her to get away from a very controlling pimp, completely detox off of cocaine and find a way to support herself. Through out the book a reader can watch Angle grow into a brave young girl who is determined to change for the better. I think this book should be read by students in high school due to some of the details given during certain sections of the book. While the author does a great job of not describing in detail certain thins there are parts of the book that may be too graphic for young readers. This book is a great way to show readers that there are different living situations and that regardless of whether or not they have heard about them they do exist.
August 20, 2012
2.5.
I'm not entirely sure if the verse format worked with such a heavy story. I feel like it captured Angel's voice right and really added to the despair and pain of her character, but at the same time, the story itself was so tough I'm not sure the verse was necessary to convey the voice, either.
I think there's something topically and stylistically that'll appeal to some fans of Ellen Hopkins, but this is much more literary. This feels like one of those books that could have some award-y talk around it, but I have to be honest in saying I wasn't entirely impressed. It didn't feel fresh and I wasn't all that invested in the horrific events going on -- I wanted to be but something left me feeling pretty removed.
Longer, more thoughtful review to come. This one will take some digesting.
I'm not entirely sure if the verse format worked with such a heavy story. I feel like it captured Angel's voice right and really added to the despair and pain of her character, but at the same time, the story itself was so tough I'm not sure the verse was necessary to convey the voice, either.
I think there's something topically and stylistically that'll appeal to some fans of Ellen Hopkins, but this is much more literary. This feels like one of those books that could have some award-y talk around it, but I have to be honest in saying I wasn't entirely impressed. It didn't feel fresh and I wasn't all that invested in the horrific events going on -- I wanted to be but something left me feeling pretty removed.
Longer, more thoughtful review to come. This one will take some digesting.
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