Perfect

by Ellen Hopkins

Overview

What would you give up to be perfect? Four teens find out in the New York Times bestselling companion to Impulse.

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.

Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never understand.

A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins’s Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442423572
Publisher:	Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date:	09/13/2011
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	155,788
Lexile:	HL570L (what's this?)
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of thirteen young adult novels, as well as the adult novels Triangles, Collateral, and Love Lies Beneath. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative. Visit her at EllenHopkins.com and on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter at @EllenHopkinsLit.

Read an Excerpt

Cara Sierra Sykes

Perfect?

How

do you define a word without

concrete meaning? To each

his own, the saying goes, so

why

push to attain an ideal

state of being that no two

random people will agree is

where

you want to be? Faultless.

Finished. Incomparable. People

can never be these, and anyway,

when

did creating a flawless facade

become a more vital goal

than learning to love the person

who

lives inside your skin?

The outside belongs to others.

Only you should decide for you—

what

is perfect.

Perfection

I’ve lived with the pretense

of perfection for seventeen

years. Give my room a cursory

inspection, you’d think I have OCD.

But it’s only habit and not

obsession that keeps it all orderly.

Of course, I don’t want to give

the impression that it’s all up to me.

Most of the heavy labor is done by

our housekeeper, Gwen. She’s an

imposing woman, not at all the type

that most men would find attractive.

Not even Conner, which is the point.

My twin has a taste for older

women. Before he got himself

locked away, he chased after more

than one. I should have told sooner

about the one he caught, the one

I happened to overhear him with,

having a little afternoon fun.

Okay, I know a psychologist

would say, strictly speaking,

he was prey, not predator.

And in a way, I can’t really

blame him. Emily is simply

stunning. Conner wasn’t the only

one who used to watch her go

running by our house every

morning. But, hello, she was

his teacher. That fact alone

should have been enough warning

that things would not turn out well.

I never would have expected

Conner to attempt the coward’s way

out, though. Some consider suicide

an act of honor. I seriously don’t agree.

But even if it were, you’d have to

actually die. All Conner did was

stain Mom’s new white Berber

carpet. They’re replacing it now.

Mom Stands There Watching

The men work, laying mint

green carpeting over clean beige

padding. Thick. Lush. Camouflage.

I sit on the top stair, unseen.

Invisible. Silent. I might as well

not even be here at all. And

that’s all right. At least I don’t

have to worry that she will focus

her anger on me. Instead she blasts

it toward the carpet guys. Idiots!

You’re scratching the patina!

Her hiss is like a cobra’s spit.

I might want to expose that wood

one day. I can’t if it’s marred.

But she never will. That oak

has been irreparably scarred

by gunpowder-tainted

blood. And even more by

the intent behind the bullet.

Sprawled on the floor,

Conner wanted to die.

Mom and Dad don’t think

so. In fact, for once they agree

on something besides how bad

their stock portfolios looked

last year. Both of them believe

Conner only wanted attention.

But he was way past hoping

for that, at least the positive

kind. No, Conner was tired

of the pressure. Sick of trying

to find the equation that would

lighten the weight of expectations

not his own. Listening to Mom

tell skilled laborers how to do

their job is almost enough to make

me empathize. The more she goes

on, the more I’m sure the carpet

guys understand. There is no

possible way to satisfy our mother.

I Guess In A Way

I have to give Conner a little

credit. I mean, by putting the gun

to his chest, he made an overt,

if obscene, statement—

I will no longer force myself

inside your prefab boxes. I’d much

rather check out of here than let

you decide the rest of my life.

“You,” meaning Mom and Dad.

The pressure they exert individually

is immense. As a team, it’s almost

impossible to measure up

to their elevated criteria. I have done

my best, pushed myself to the limit.

To get into Stanford, I have had to

ace every test, stand out as a leader

(junior class pres, student council),

excel in sports, serve as a mentor,

take command of extracurricular

pursuits—cheerleading, honor choir,

theater. All around dating Sean.

Sometimes I just want a solo vacation.

Hanging out on a beach, submitting

to the temptation of sand, sun, salt

water, sans UV protection. Who

cares what damage they might

inflict on my skin? Nice dream.

But what would my mother say?

I can hear her now. Don’t be

ridiculous. Who in their right

mind would invite melanoma

and premature aging?

When I look at her, I have

to admit her beauty regime

is working. It’s as if by sheer

force of will she won’t permit

wrinkles to etch her suede

complexion. But I know, deep

down, she is afraid of time. Once

in a while, I see fear in her eyes.

That Fear Isn’t Something

Most people notice. Not Dad,

who’s hardly ever home, and even

when he is, doesn’t really look

at Mom. Or me. Not Conner,

because if he had even once seen

that chink in her fourteen-carat

armor, he’d have capitalized on it.

Not her friends. (I think the term

misrepresents the relationship,

at least if loyalty figures into

what it means to be a friend.)

Book club. Bridge club. Gym

spinners. She maintains a flock

of them. That’s what they remind

me of. Beautiful, pampered birds,

plumage-proud, but blind

to what they drop their shit on.

And the scary thing is, I’m

on a fast track to that same

aviary. Unless I find my wings.

I Won’t Fly Today

Too much to do, despite the snow,

which made all local schools close

their doors. What a winter! Usually,

I love watching the white stuff fall.

But after a month with only short

respites, I keep hoping for a critical

blue sky. Instead, amazing waves

of silvery clouds sweep over the crest

of the Sierra, open their obese

bellies, and release foot upon foot

of crisp new powder. The ski

resorts would be happy, except

the roads are so hard to travel

that people are staying home.

So it kind of boggles the mind

that three guys are laying carpet

in the living room. Just goes to

show the power of money. In less

than an hour, the stain Conner left

on the hardwood will be a ghost.

The Stain

That Conner left on our lives will

not vanish as easily. I don’t care

about Mom and her birds.

Their estimation of my brother

doesn’t bother me at all. Neither

do I worry about Dad and

what his lobbyist buddies think.

His political clout has not diminished.

As twins go, Conner and I don’t share

a deep affection, but we do have

a nine-months-in-the-same-womb

connection. Not to mention

a crowd of mutual friends. God,

I’ll never forget going to school

the day after that ugly scene.

The plan was to sever the gossip

grapevine from the start with

an obvious explanation—

accident. Mom’s orders were

clear. Conner’s reputation

was to be protected at all costs.

When I arrived, the rumors

had already started, thanks

to our neighbor, Bobby Duvall.

Conner Sykes got hurt.

Conner Sykes was shot.

Conner Sykes is in the hospital.

Is Conner Sykes, like, dead?

I fielded every single question

with the agreed fabrication.

But eventually, I was forced to

concede that, though his wounds

would heal, he was not coming

back to school right away.

Conner Sykes wasn’t dead.

But he wasn’t exactly “okay.”

When People Ask

How he’s doing now, I have

no idea what to say except for,

“Better.” I don’t know if that’s

true, or what goes on in a place

like Aspen Springs, not that any-

one knows he’s there, thank God.

He has dropped off most people’s

radar, although that’s kind of odd.

Before he took this unbelievable

turn, Conner was top rung on our

social ladder. But with his crash

and burn no longer news of the day,

all but a gossipy few have quit

trying to fill in the blanks.

One exception is Kendra, who

for some idiotic reason still

loves him and keeps asking about

him, despite the horrible way he

dumped her. Kendra may be pretty,

but she’s not especially bright.

© 2011 Ellen Hopkins

Reading Group Guide

A Reading Group Guide to Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

ABOUT THE BOOK

Everyone dreams about the perfect life, but an obsession with perfection can be crippling. Cara Sykes is beautiful, rich, and destined for Stanford. She has the seemingly ideal circumstance; however, unreal parental expectations have already sent her twin brother, Conner, to a psychiatric hospital for attempted suicide, and Cara herself, confused over her sexual identity, is afraid to admit that she is not sexually drawn to her boyfriend, Sean, but rather to Danielle, a girl she meets snowboarding. Her admission will destroy the perfect image her parents have impressed upon her. Sean O’Connell, a baseball star resolute on earning a scholarship to Stanford to be near Cara, pumps iron and takes steroids to become the perfect hitting machine, but the steroids send him into a spiral of rage. Paralleling their relationship is the story of two sisters, Kendra and Jenna Mathieson. Kendra, Conner’s former girlfriend, will do anything to become a supermodel, including starving her 5'10" frame down to a size 2, having rhinoplasty and a breast augmentation, and having sex with older men in the modeling world who promise to take her to the top. Jenna, wounded by living in the shadows of her “perfect” sister, pops pills, drinks, and flaunts her sexuality. Andre Kane, Jenna’s rich boyfriend, does not escape perfectionism—his mother is a plastic surgeon who turns image dreams into reality, and he himself, interested in becoming a professional dancer, fears sharing his passion with his parents because they believe a perfect life includes a financially rewarding career. Driven by expectations, all five teens feel disempowered and fear not living up to expectations. In order to survive, they must find courage to stand up for who they really are.

PREREADING ACTIVITY

Is perfection a reality or an unattainable abstraction? Explain.

In what ways do today’s youth feel a need to be perfect?

Is the need for perfection self-imposed or is it caused by external forces? Why are some individuals more driven than others to be perfect? Explain.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

How does Cara view her parents? Describe her relationship with them. What happened to her brother, Conner?

Compare and contrast Kendra and Jenna. Are they close? Why or why not?

Why does Kendra’s mother impress the importance of pageants upon Kendra? What effect does the pressure have?

Jenna appears not to be driven by perfection. In fact, she seems to retaliate against her parents’ expectations, but she is self-destructive all the same. Explain.

Why does Jenna take Andre with her to have lunch with her father and his future wife? Why does she not feel good enough for Andre?

Sean begins as a likeable character, but as the story progresses he spins out of control. Why does he have difficulty accepting Cara’s sexuality?

Andre feels special affection for his grandparents. What did he learn about pursuing one’s dreams from his grandfather? How are his decisions affected by his relationship with his grandparents?

Kendra believes “Empty is the perfect state of being” What does she mean? What other characters in the story would agree with her? How might they define empty?

Sean lost his parents at an early age. How might this loss affect his fear of losing Cara? How might it impact his behavior?

Cara says, “Transformation begins—and ends—inside of you.” What accounts for this belief? What does it say about her ability to deal with her parents’ expectations of her?

When Sean learns that Cara is no longer interested in him, he does not want to stop his anger. He says he doesn’t want to stop it “because anger feels better than the pain of losing someone.” Do you agree or disagree? What accounts for Sean’s perspective?

In what way is Cara impacted by her brother’s death? Her parents? What does Sean learn from Conner’s death?

Shantell is a minor character in the story. In what way does she foil Jenna’s personality? What does Andre learn about relationships from Shantell?

One might say Andre finds release in dancing. Explain.

Which character has the most difficult challenges to overcome? Why? Who is the most likely to succeed and why?

Compare and contrast Andre’s mother and Cara’s mother. Which mother is more capable of understanding the damage she may have caused as well as her son’s or daughter’s feelings? Who is more likely to admit she has made parenting mistakes?

How can an emphasis on perfection make an individual believe he/she is not worthy or good enough?

ACTIVITIES

Identify passages for the main characters that illustrate their perspectives on and/or definition of love. Do their beliefs change throughout the story? What accounts for the way they define relationships? Write a short poem from the perspective of one character that illustrates his/her perspective on male/female relationships.

Individuals who have been driven to be perfect often say they are afraid of failure. Why might this fear exist? Is it rational? Interview a family member or another older person about how he/she set goals in high school. What goals did they achieve and what or who influenced the choices they made? What fears did they have? What would they change now if given the chance?

Hopkins’s work is rich in metaphor. Examine the metaphor that begins “Some people say love is fire.” What does this metaphor tell readers about the complexities of love? Find other examples of metaphor in the text and discuss their meaning. Try your hand at writing your own metaphor for perfection.

Research statistics on teens and plastic surgery or steroid use. What trends do you see? What dangers exist for young people who undergo plastic surgery or who use steroids?

Guide prepared by Pam B. Cole, Professor of English Education & Literacy, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.

This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—This companion to Impulse (S & S/Pulse, 2007) can stand alone, but packs considerably more punch when read contiguously as intended. Impulse featured the interlocking narratives of Vanessa, Tony, and Conner, teens confined to a psychiatric facility after failed suicide attempts. Cara, Conner's twin, is Perfect's first narrator. Her story begins immediately after Conner's departure for the facility. She is on the cusp of her high school graduation and attempting to figure out who she is, if not the perfect image her mother expects. Kendra, Conner's ex-girlfriend, will do anything to become a model, regardless of what it means for her health or sense of self-worth. Andre wants to be a dancer, though this goal couldn't be further from what his parents expect for him. Sean is dead set on being with Cara for the long haul and dreams of playing ball at Stanford, but what will he sacrifice to get there? As Hopkins's readers have come to expect, each of the teens' lives spins out of control over the course of the novel as they stumble through sexual awakenings and violations, violent crime, and confrontations with racism. Some characters' voices are less clear than others. Andre's story, for example, focuses so much on his relationship with Kendra's daredevil sister that his important internal struggle—to dance or not to dance—is underplayed. Yet Hopkins's legions of fans will no doubt devour Perfect and welcome the return of the characters they learned to love in Impulse.—Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

School Library Journal

Hopkins sticks to the signature style that has made her books bestsellers, blending verse poetry with controversial topics. In her eighth novel, four teenage protagonists alternately narrate their struggles with perfection. Sean and Kendra's struggles are physical—he's a baseball player who turns to steroids, and she's an aspiring model who develops a severe eating disorder ("Real control is/ not putting in more than you can work off.... Shaving off every caloric unit you can/ without passing out"). Cara and Andre's issues are more about identity (Cara is an all-American girl realizing she is a lesbian, while Andre is under parental pressure to pursue a lucrative, ambitious career path and is afraid to admit his passion for dance). This is a sequel, of sorts, as Cara's twin, Conner, a protagonist in Hopkins's suicide-themed book, Impulse, makes an appearance. There is an overabundance of plot points, as readers learn about Sean's dead parents, Kendra's racist father, a vicious attack on Kendra's sister, and more. But Hopkins explores enough hot-button issues (rape, teen plastic surgery, cyberharassment, etc.) to intrigue her fans and recruit new ones. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"This page-turner pulls no emotional punches."
—Kirkus Reviews, April 2011

"Hopkins sticks to the signature style that has made her books bestsellers, blending verse poetry with controversial topics . . . to intrigue her fans and recruit new ones."
—Publishers Weekly, July 2011

"This companion to Impulse can stand alone, but packs considerably more punch when read contiguously as intended. . . . Hopkins’s legions of fans will no doubt devour Perfect and welcome the return of the characters they learned to love in Impulse."
—SLJ, August 2011

"Hopkins addresses teens’ struggle with unrealistic expectations in gut-wrenching free verse."
—Booklist, August 2011

"At its nucleus, four teenagers are grappling with insecurities that become exacerbated when loved ones turn up the heat. . . . The unrestricted access Hopkins employs is formidable: parents, siblings, love interests, and outliers all thrust frank judgment on the characters. It is how Cara, Sean, Kendra, and Andre react that encourages readers’ emotional attachments. Her writing conveys teenage quandaries with all of the intended consequences, as the verse style only serves to shock as the events unfold."
—VOYA, October 2011

From the Publisher

"Hopkins addresses teens’ struggle with unrealistic expectations in gut-wrenching free verse."

Booklist

For the reader who is looking for the stereotypically worst parents accompanied by all of the problems that assail, or may assail teens, this is the book. Parents of the young adults in this volume are either cruel, physically abusive, verbally abusive, neglecting, ruthlessly ambitious or absentee. The result of such "parenting" is promiscuity—both heterosexual and homosexual, defeat, depression, eating disorders, or attempted and finally successful, suicide. Readers may discover themselves in one of the characters, but they will find little hope to deal with their crisis. The only air of anything like hope is the author's note at the conclusion of the book with statistics reflecting the current epidemic of eating disorders and the terrible price they exact, with some encouragement to be oneself, whatever that may mean to a floundering, desperate teen. The literary taste may be pleased with some sparklingly bright poetry, since the entire volume is written in blank verse and some descriptions are well done and beautiful. However, graphic scenes of sexuality, a veritable barrage of profanity and total lack of communication among family members rounds out this book that is, in this reviewer's mind, far from "perfect." Reviewer: Janice DeLong

Children's Literature - Janice DeLong

A companion to Impulse (Simon & Schuster, 2007/VOYA February 2007), this vigorous verse novel highlights Conner's twin sister, Cara; her sporty boyfriend, Sean; pageant queen and model Kendra; and rich, aspiring dancer Andre. At its nucleus, four teenagers are grappling with insecurities that become exacerbated when loved ones turn up the heat. Cara's brother has attempted suicide, spotlighting an inexpressive mother who stresses distinction rather than showing affection. Similarly, Kendra's mother turns a blind eye to her daughter's anorexia, while Andre's parents' expectations keep him from pursuing his dance dream, and Sean's father's fixation with his baseball prowess fuels Sean's steroid abuse. Within these dilemmas, two begin to blossom while two begin to seethe. The unrestricted access Hopkins employs is formidable: parents, siblings, love interests, and outliers all thrust frank judgment on the characters. It is how Cara, Sean, Kendra, and Andre react that encourages readers' emotional attachments. Her writing conveys teenage quandaries with all of the intended consequences, as the verse style only serves to shock as the events unfold. The ill-fated conclusion continues to establish Hopkins as a realist, someone with vested concern for the challenges teens face daily from cyberbullying, dating violence, sexual orientation, prejudice, and fractured families. Ideally, readers will want to read Impulse first, as events began there and conclude here, but those who invest in Perfect will also be looking to find out the fate of these characters in the near future. Reviewer: Alicia Abdul

VOYA - Alicia Abdul

While not razor-edged like her previous work, Hopkins' portrait of four 12th-graders who are expected to be perfect will nonetheless keep teens up all night reading.

In a Reno suburb, expectations take heavy tolls. Trying to excel at baseball and get into Stanford, Sean takes steroids and spirals into rage and rape. Kendra does pageants but wants to model, so she schedules plastic surgery and stops eating. Andre takes dance lessons in secret, funding them with money that his wealthy, status-conscious parents give him for fashionable sweaters. Cara seems faultless at everything from cheerleading to grades, but she's falling in love with a girl. The four first-person narrations are set in different type and have mildly different styles, but the free verse lacks Hopkins' trademark sharp, searing brittleness. However, the less-sharp tone works here, because these characters are more depressed than dissociated. The ostensible focus on perfection is a coping mechanism against families that are absent, cold and brutally silent, so the consequences—anorexia, drugs, booze, rape, delusion, deception—all ring true. It also rings true that some characters buckle, worst off at the story's end, while others find themselves and may make it.

This page-turner pulls no emotional punches; readers should find Impulse (2007) first, because this is a sequel at heart, and knowing the prior work in advance adds crucial layers of meaning. (author's note) (Fiction. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews