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Perfect (Impulse #2)

by Ellen Hopkins (Goodreads Author)

4.36 of 5 stars 4.36 · rating details · 7,973 ratings · 800 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 622 pages

Published September 13th 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

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Sep 18, 2011 Yue [Wonder of living] rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: can-t-wait-2011, young-adult, favorites

I'm dying. Holy guacamole. That was beautiful.
I can't express it into words, what Ellen Hopkins can do. She's unbelievable. A superhuman? I cannot disagree otherwise. To be honest, I'm usually not the person to cry in books. I didn't even cry in Impulse. (Heartless, yeah.) (view spoiler)...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Mikayla_ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I read it. It was so beautiful. More beautiful than Impulse? Maybe. I don't know. What I do know is that I fell in love with characters here more than in Impulse.

Cara, especially since I identify with her so much... (I know what you're thinking, and I don't care if you think it.)

I loved Cara/Dani. I love any gay pairing to be fair. I'm not sure why. As a huge straight against hate supporter, I guess that comes naturally.

Cara, Cara, Cara. The only one worth talking about. Perfection. I adore he...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Madison Fitzgerald rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whether its getting good grades in school, getting the girl or guy, or if its just meeting expectations, we all strive to be perfect. Ellen Hopkins best selling book “Perfect” tells about four strangers aim to be perfect sets them into a downward spiral.

Ellen Hopkins, a poet, freelance writer, and the award-winning author of twenty nonfiction titles and five NY Times Bestselling novels-in-verse, draws in her readers by her style of writing and presenting powerful themes of lost love, betrayal,...more Whether its getting good grades in school, getting the girl or guy, or if its just meeting expectations, we all strive to be perfect. Ellen Hopkins best selling book “Perfect” tells about four strangers aim to be perfect sets them into a downward spiral.

Ellen Hopkins, a poet, freelance writer, and the award-winning author of twenty nonfiction titles and five NY Times Bestselling novels-in-verse, draws in her readers by her style of writing and presenting powerful themes of lost love, betrayal, fear of failure, temptation, pride and downfall.

“Perfect” tells the dramatic story of four seniors who have to face everything life has, even the kitchen sink. Cara Sykes is the daughter of the top two graduates at Princeton and the twin sister of Conner Sykes, who not only has a fetish for women twice his age but is suicidal. Now Cara must give in to her downfalls, heartbreak, and the journey to finding herself.
Kendra Matheson is the pretty girl who wants a little more and a little less. She wants more fame, more attention, and more Conner Sykes. She wants less stomach, less thighs, and less nose. Throughout the whole book it is evident that Kendra, in my opinion, is the one with the most insecurities.
Sean Terrence is the star baseball player at school and has muscles bigger than a gorilla on steroids. Which is ironic due to the fact Sean does take steroids, anything to be on top. Sean has to have a plan for everything, and lately his plans have been revolving around his girlfriend, Cara Sykes. Sean must figure out if his life with Cara is worth losing her and his dreams.

Andre Markus is, how his lady friends may say, the bomb. He is the son of two credible plastic surgeons and his future is heading in that same directions. But not on his will, Andre wants to be a dancer. His future is all about rebelling against his parents and doing his own thing. Until he meets Jenna Matheson, Kendras busty sister. Andre has to make the decision of if having an alcoholic lustful girlfriend is better than his own happiness.

This book is an insight to all the aspects of life and how people cope with their aim at being perfect. We all have our little temptations that make us want to be perfect. But ultimately only you can decide what’s perfect.(less)

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Oct 23, 2011 Sammi rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've read enough Ellen Hopkins books to have an idea of her average character. Addicted to something, self-destructive, beautiful, liable to fall in love over the course of the book. And at the beginning of Perfect I thought that was exactly what I got. It followed the structure perfectly; multiple intertwined lives meshing to prove the same point. It's the point that made on the very first page: perfect is an illusion.

I guess I was a bit disappointed.

There was alcoholism and pill-popping and st...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Rhyanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rhyanne Lynch
January 23, 2012
Period 2
“Perfect” Review
Sex. Sexuality. Deprivation. Desperation. Abuse. Abandonment. The pursute of complete and udder perfection is a very messy one with many turns and tricks. Hopkins positively describes the true emotions and feelings of confused individuals and explaining perfect as an expectation you hold to yourself, not one someone holds for you. The saying “Went looking for perfection, got lost.” comes to mind when reading Ellen Hopkins enthralling book, “...more Rhyanne Lynch
January 23, 2012
Period 2
“Perfect” Review
Sex. Sexuality. Deprivation. Desperation. Abuse. Abandonment. The pursute of complete and udder perfection is a very messy one with many turns and tricks. Hopkins positively describes the true emotions and feelings of confused individuals and explaining perfect as an expectation you hold to yourself, not one someone holds for you. The saying “Went looking for perfection, got lost.” comes to mind when reading Ellen Hopkins enthralling book, “Perfect”. in her book, Hopkins does a great job of explaining the thought process of a confused, unappreciated teenager.

Many people go searching for perfection, and in that frantic search completely loose themselves. This happens to be the case for Kendra, who’s light blond hair and crystal blue eyes have gotten her everywhere she’s wanted to go, so far. Competing in beauty pageants since she was a little girl, she has always been aware of the way she looks; but her mirror no longer suits her expectations. Too fat at 5”10 and 120 pounds, Kendra is constantly dieting (a.k.a not eating).

Cara to all of her friends at school, is the popular “it” girl. With a great body, pretty face, and hot boyfriend, you would think she had everything. But she would argue she has the exact opposite. Never really understanding what love is has frusturated her her entire life- having a boyfriend who “loves you” can only mean so much to a girl who was raised by a mother who never even smiled in her direction; a cold woman with no compassion for anyone, only selfishness. As if these challenges aren’t enough for one girl to handle, Cara is faced with another when meeting an amazing girl and begins to question her sexual preferences.

Sean has got it all- a pretty girlfriend, Cara, who he loves, nice guardians, and since starting steroids, an awesome bod. But without realizing, Sean’s life had actually begun to spiral. Cara was distant and hanging out with a girl more than him, his uncle kept saying he was worried about him, and he began needing more and more steroids to keep up with his expectations.

Andre, an extremely wealthy black guy, has the whole world going for him. Connections to all colleges, creativity, smarts, and experienced. But what he really wants in life is to not be a banker, or a doctor, politician, or a broker, but an artist. Andre must decide whether to follow his dreams and face his parents, or do as he’s been told.

Though none of these teenagers had very similar lives, they all learned important life lessons in what the true definition of perfect is- perfect through their own eyes and no one else’s. (less)

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Feb 10, 2012 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Perfect was a great follow up for Impulse. Ellen Hopkins has this way of writing that just makes you want to read more. The only reason it took me as long as it did to finish is just because of my busy schedule. If I had the time, I’m sure I could have finished it in a day.
Perfect has the same set up as Impulse (being told from different points of view) except it had four characters instead of three. The first character is Cara who is Conner’s twin sister. She is dealing with sexuality issues,...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Brandi rated it 5 of 5 stars

To live up to someone elses expectations is what caused Conner to go over the edge, to fall quickly to his death below, taking the easy way out...rewind to when Conner starts his treatment as Aspen springs and unfold the pressures of others lives as he is in treatment.

Cara, conners sister is fighting the same pressures he did, to be perfect, for her parents, like her parents, but when she experiences a forbidden love, that her parents wouldn't except, she has to find a way to "come out" &&...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Juliana Encinas added it

“Perfect” is a young adult novel written in a poetic form by the amazing Ellen Hopkins. “Perfect” follows the same format, stereotype that all of Hopkins's books do. It tells of the different issues that many teens go through in modern-day time that are often overlooked or ignored. “Perfect” is told by five teenagers whose stories intertwine. The main issues covered were eating disorders, sexuality, suicide, inter-racial relationships and how they’re accepted in society, steroids, heartbreak, an...more “Perfect” is a young adult novel written in a poetic form by the amazing Ellen Hopkins. “Perfect” follows the same format, stereotype that all of Hopkins's books do. It tells of the different issues that many teens go through in modern-day time that are often overlooked or ignored. “Perfect” is told by five teenagers whose stories intertwine. The main issues covered were eating disorders, sexuality, suicide, inter-racial relationships and how they’re accepted in society, steroids, heartbreak, and rape. There were other conflicts, however they were not main events in the book. Hopkins has a very blunt writing style and a very unique ability to relate to her readers and capture their interest. “Perfect” tells each character’s story not only first-hand, but with insight from other characters input of how they were also affected by each-others actions. THe struggles of the characters were very deep and controversial, but I feel like that helped thicken the plot and made for a more interesting story.
The main thing all of the characters had in common is the need to feel accepted. Cara wanted to be accepted as a lesbian. Sean wanted to be accepted to Stanford on a baseball scholarship, so he used steroids. Kendra wanted to be a model so badly she stopped eating and got plastic surgery. When that didn’t help her esteem, she began abusing pills and drinking. Andre wanted to be accepted as a dancer but no one saw his dream as “good enough” so he was forced to hide his passion. Connor felt so accepted by his family that he jumped off of a cliff and ended it all with the easiest option. The sad thing is how common these feelings are for people and how little they’re talked about.
Their stories are told as they go on their downward spirals and they get faced with the worse they’ve seen so far. The plot was well organized with a definite hook, intro, climax, and for some a happier resolution than others. Their stories were not “over” but they each made it through on their own way to overcome their troubles. For all, it was not a happy ending; they all ended up being together at Conner’s funeral. It was the ending place for all of the characters, a creative way Hopkin’s showed that you may stand in a room of people you hardly know, but they all have their own demons. Hopkin’s writing focuses on the message to her readers that you shouldn’t judge people because you never truly know what they go through or where they’ve come from.
Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorite authors because she writes about what most people feel uneasy talking about. Her books are so well written; every character feels like an old friend. I have already recommended this book to several friends nd would recommend it to a lot of parents of teenagers to remind them of the intimidating situations we sometimes feel thrown into;.
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Mar 30, 2013 O.Z. rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am a teenager. I've never drank alcohol, done drugs, had sex, or considered suicide. And yet I liked Identical, loved Crank, loved Impulse. I am hooked on Ellen Hopkins' style of writing, so when I first heard about Perfect, my expectations soared, because I personally see, hear, feel, taste, and smell the struggle to be perfect around and within me, and so I expected this book to resonate even more. I was left sorely disappointed. I did find the four different characters and their respective...more I am a teenager. I've never drank alcohol, done drugs, had sex, or considered suicide. And yet I liked Identical, loved Crank, loved Impulse. I am hooked on Ellen Hopkins' style of writing, so when I first heard about Perfect, my expectations soared, because I personally see, hear, feel, taste, and smell the struggle to be perfect around and within me, and so I expected this book to resonate even more. I was left sorely disappointed. I did find the four different characters and their respective "paths to perfection" to be well chosen, but the characters seemed 2-D to me. No one is so perfectly imperfect. We are all imperfectly imperfect, and that is what is supposed to be perfect. I saw the flaws, but they were just on the surface.

I was shocked by the lack of thought directed from Cara towards the subject of her brother. I was stunned by the lack of sympathy or empathy on her side, but that is not unreal. So either continue to shock me by delving deeper into their flawed and broken sibling relationship or bring out other sides of Cara. The book chose neither. Perhaps it tried to develop Cara further with Dani, but nothing struck a chord. Only the ending I found to be a note of redemption for Perfect, but even that focused on Cara's mother and father rather than Cara herself. Does Cara care for her brother? Does she grow to care? Or has she never cared? If any of these questions had been answered, she would have been less 2-D.

At his worst, stalking Cara, Sean was written best. I was riveted, and I was rooting against him. I had decidedly no sympathy for him, and I had stopped keeping track of the names of the girls he kept around him. But that was just it. Sean had been developed squarely into a comfortable, "bad guy" or "villain of the novel" position, but how many high schoolers are so whole-heartedly bad? Sean is flawed, yes, and his crime towards Cara definitely throws the pace for a loop, yes, but he can't do anything else? Yes, this book is about the need to be perfect consuming everything, but at that point, he obviously believes he is no longer perfect without Cara. He is not perfect, but that is beside the point: he is a jealous and crazy ex. Which sounds human enough to have broken the perfect spell. He doesn't need to be redeemed, but he does need to be human. I would have liked to have seen something else, a trait, an action, from Sean that did not fall into his "bad guy" role.

I was relieved with everyone else when Kendra is finally informed by a nurse before her plastic surgery that she is severely underweight. I internalized a hearty AMEN! when the nurse told her that coming in to the hospital for a nose job may have saved her life. But did Kendra see it that way? Body images are tough to overthrow, especially negative ones that have been repeatedly reinforced by the media and the people around you and eventually yourself, as you take on others' expectations for yourself. I could understand if Kendra doesn't make a sudden U-turn and immediately embraces a healthy weight and loving her body the way it wants to be. But Perfect hardly touched on Kendra's aftermath. The way it treated Kendra made it almost seem Kendra wasn't deterred by the nurse in her quest to become ever thinner. So develop it. Did Kendra change? Did she not change? I understand it's better to show, not tell, but nothing was shown or even told.

Of all the characters, I found Andre the most real. He had struggles, he had warring expectations, he had people he loved and he was distanced with, and he ultimately realized he had to decide which set of values was more important to him in following through with. He was not perfect, he made poor choices, but that is the point. On the other hand - but it has been a long time since I read Perfect, so my memories are faded, and I may have forgotten relevant portions of his role in the novel - it seemed as though his story was not given as much priority as the other three.

I thought Perfect missed the mark and would recommend other great novels with "realer" characters and voices in Ellen Hopkins' repertoire to read.(less)

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Mar 01, 2013 Lauren West added it

The perfect book for a teen is Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. I enjoyed reading this book very much. Its a book about four characters's stories, Andre, Cara, Sean, and Kendra. All of their lives intertwine one way or another. Cara's brother who tried to commit suicide was dating kendra. Knedra's sister was dating Andre. Cara was daitn sean. All four of the characters went through some sort of trouble throughout the book. Cara found out her true sexuality, Kendra had an eating disorder, Sean was addic...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Lauren Brinkman rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was amazing. It is by far the most interesting and attention grabbing bool I've read. The book is about four different teenagers whose lives are all intertwined some how. There names are Cara, Andre, Sean and Kendra. They all go through the journey of dealing with drugs, school stress, relationships, and death. Cara was dating Sean, Kendra was dating Cara's brother Conner, and Andre was dating Kendra's sister. But not only were they all dating, they all had to go through stru...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Crownjoules rated it 5 of 5 stars

Beautifully written verse laden with metaphors, cleverly expressing four separate characters , four separate stories. Each one as raw and real and as shockingly thought provoking as the other.

Less mellow than Impulse but somehow more serious, dealing with themes more sensitive than suicide: like anorexia, racism and rape. Perhaps a little too serious at times with a tad overload of negative themes, but thats something I've come to recognise as one of Hopkins writing quirks.

After the cold heart...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Madyson F. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Perfect
Ellen Hopkins
Fiction - Realistic fiction
622 pages

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins is an inspiration to everyone. It is about four high schoolers named Cara, Kendra, Sean, and Andre. These four all have their own story to tell but somehow they all connect together. This book is about the four main characters finding out their flaws and trying to perfect them. The moral of this story is everyone has flaw but no one needs to be perfect. Kendra is trying to become a super model and she thinks to...more Perfect
Ellen Hopkins
Fiction - Realistic fiction
622 pages

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins is an inspiration to everyone. It is about four high schoolers named Cara, Kendra, Sean, and Andre. These four all have their own story to tell but somehow they all connect together. This book is about the four main characters finding out their flaws and trying to perfect them. The moral of this story is everyone has flaw but no one needs to be perfect. Kendra is trying to become a super model and she thinks to become one you need to be perfect. She thinks she's fat when she's super skinny so she tries to perfect herself by barely eating, which only makes it worse. Cara tries to deal with her parents high expectations for her and see if she can reach them. Her parents expectations drove her twin brother Conner crazy and he tried to cause suicide and failed, so they sent him to Aspen Springs and is living there. See what happens to Conner and Cara later! Sean will throw away anything and everything to reach his baseball dream. He will take steroids or anything to perfect in baseball, but will this interfere with Cara and his relationship? Andre is an African-American dancer, but we won't tell him parents that he loves to dance because he doesn't want to disappoint them. He will have to reach high to achieve his dreams, but will he ever tell his parents?
I really liked this book. I think it could be a great inspiration to people who try to achieve perfect or try to change who they are. Everyone is different so why change yourself if were supposed to be different? My favorite character is Andre because he is a black dancer and even though his parents tell him he shouldn't dance he still does because it's his dream. I like how he tries to achieve it and he does. He gets an audition for a dance show. Here's his chance to shine. My least favorite character is Kendra because she tries to hard to reach perfection. She does whatever to look perfect. She doesn't eat anything at all on a regular basis and thinks she's fat when she's way to skinny. Even doctors tell her that but after a while she listens and is eating up to 1000 calories everyday. Well hopefully u enjoyed and consider reading it!(less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Come check out my Blog http://booknerdrambling.blogspot.com/

The first book I read by Ellen Hopkins was Impulse then after that I was hooked. When I found out that Perfect was a companion book to Impulse I was excited. It's been a few years since I read Impulse so I may have forgot a few details but that didn't matter when reading perfect. Since it's not necessary to read Impulse before Perfect But I would definitely recommend any one to read it and any of Ellen Hopkins other books.

Perfect mostly...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Mrs. S rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Two things I need to say up front: I think Ellen Hopkins is a crazy-talented writer, and there is no one whose books bum me out like hers. For whatever reason, I tend not to get that moment of catharsis that makes me go nuts about a book (see my review for Looking For Alaska. So, for me, Perfect was a really well-told story that I enjoyed, but not a totally consuming story that I loved. I know other people have had that experience. I think it's maybe just too un-endingly grim. (I also recently c...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is another Ellen Hopkins YA novel. If I see an Ellen Hopkins book, especially one I haven’t read, I grab it and read it immediately. Ever since I first read Crank, I have been hooked. I love Hopkins’ books because:

they are written in verse form
they are so poignantly real
the characters are fully developed, yet elusive enough for us to fill in with our own background knowledge
the themes are ones we all struggle with, or know someone who struggles with it
they are thought provoking

I have n...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Rachel Roper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Perfect, a book about 4 teens struggling to be the best. Each with a background that is not so complimentary to them. This story shows the different pressures, and wants that teens face all the time. The pressure to be the best, the struggle to be the most beautiful, and the fear that you won’t ever be what is expected of you. For these 4 high school students perfection means being someone you’re not, it means having surgeries and taking drugs in order to look the best, it means sacrificing all...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Summer rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Cara; has a twin brother named Connor he tried to killed himself. Connor used to date Kendra. Cara compares herself to Connor with everything she does. Connor had a thing with his teacher Mrs. Sanders. Sean and Cara have been dating for over a year and they clam they’re in love. Until she meets a girl named Danielle snow boarding, they shared a kiss in the trees during their snow boarding experience so now she doesn’t no if she’s filled with lust for Danielle or in love with Sean. Which leads to...more Cara; has a twin brother named Connor he tried to killed himself. Connor used to date Kendra. Cara compares herself to Connor with everything she does. Connor had a thing with his teacher Mrs. Sanders. Sean and Cara have been dating for over a year and they clam they’re in love. Until she meets a girl named Danielle snow boarding, they shared a kiss in the trees during their snow boarding experience so now she doesn’t no if she’s filled with lust for Danielle or in love with Sean. Which leads to her struggling between what she wants. Cara feels like the only way she will no if she wants to stay with Sean is to have sex with him when they were about to he stopped and said it wasn’t right, but the real reason was he couldn’t get it up. The next time they hung out they had a little four play and when he went to stick it in her she said no, but he didn’t listen and kept going with having sex with her when he was finished she started to cry and claimed he raped her because of her telling him no. She then decides she knows what she wants and breaks up with Sean. Cara and Dani make their first appearance together at a gay party where they share a make-out session in front of everyone and they run into Dani ex who calls cara fake. After the party they left and Cara and Dani made love? The get a call about Caras brother at Apre Springs a center where kids go when they try to kill themselves. When they went on a mount climb connor walked over the cliff and died.

Kendra; is this pretty, pageant girl. Who is madly in love with Connor they dated for awhile and he then broke up with her she has no idea why but cant seem to move on. She is struggling with her image weather or not she is fat or not. She constantly works out and counts her calories. Kendra’s sister is Jenna who is seeing Andre. Her mom and dad are devoiced which lead to her mom marrying an orthodontist named Patrick. Her father is very racist and doesn’t seem to come around. Finds out Connor was seeing his teacher and feels like he picked Mis. Sanders over her, and is now not sure if he even loved her. She takes a painkiller to help with the pain and takes off to her next photo shoot. She then gets a new manager who just seems like bad news always advising her to lose more weight and to get a boob job. He advices her not to go to college and focus on her run way career. She meets up with her father and his fiancé and try’s to tell Kendra she has an eating disorder. Kendra’s dad makes a huge scene at the get together when Jenna shows us with her black boyfriend Andre. Kendra asks Sean to go to a movie with her when she gets their she sees Connor and makes casual conversation with him, and remembers how much she loves him. When Kendra went to her apt. for her nose job Andre mom told her she could not have it done because of her weight. He new coach tells her he has a gig for her but she has to do whatever he wants to keep him happy, so she’s sleeping with the guy.

Sean; Buff, athletic (takes steroids), popular guy his mom died giving birth to his little brother wade 4 years later his dad died from a bus excited. He now lives with his aunt and uncle. He had to watch his mom die and has now grown to hate her because she decided to have a at home birth instead of a hospital birth where they could of saved her life. (She bleed to death) He is madly in love with Cara and would do anything for her. He wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Says its not all about sex with Cara he’s willing to wait but his older brother says test out the protect before you commit to it. Sean struggle’s with hid man hood when he cant get it up for his girlfriend, seeks advice from his brother Chad who tells him its from the steroids he’s taking and if he wants to stay on them he might want to look into Viagra. After the whole incident with Cara, Sean take the break up pretty hard and turn to face-book to talk bad about her and everyone joins in on calling her a whore and saying he deserves better. Sean goes snow boarding and see Cara and Dani making out in the trees. He calls cara and makes jokes and threatens to tell everyone. Sean then follows Cara to Dani house and takes picture of them doing things and send it around school. Cops show up at Sean house asking question about the photo he has taken, and how cara might be pressing charges.

Andre; Rich, Black, doesn’t want to have to follow in his fathers footsteps (become a banker) his passion is dance & his after kind is Jazz. He try’s to stand up to his dad but his dad doesn’t not stand for it. His mom is a plastic sergeant and meets a girl name Jenna is his moms office goes on a couple dates kissing her on the third, but his dad disagrees and thinks he should be dating from his own race. They are from different age groups 18 and 16 but leaves that part out to his dad. Andre think he might be falling in love with Jenna and they start to take thing to the next level with their clothes off, more like 3rd base. Andre and Jenna are moving up in their relationship Andrew told Jenna he loves her and she hasn’t admitted to loving him back. Andre hides his passion for dancing away from Jenna. He goes to dance class and he runs into Shantell where she tells him he a wonderful dancer and he should be on tv. Then his teacher tells him about an addition for a tv show and he starts to think about it. Andre breaks up with Jenna because of her drinking problem. Jenna asked some random guy to buy her alcohol and she was raped, beaten, and left to die when a stranger ran by and saw her laying on the side of the rode.

To sum up all whatever one wants is a “perfect” life but truth is no one promised us one so if you want the so called “perfect” life your going to have to take sacrifices and work your butt off to have it.
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May 31, 2012 Lucille rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, verse

Perfection. What does it mean, and how far will people go to find it?
Cara's parent's heavy demands have already sent her brother Connor spiraling into depression and an attempted suicide. With him in rehab, their attention is turned to her. She's a straight A student, a cheerleader, a beautiful girl, dating the star of the baseball team. What more could her parents ask for? But for Cara, it doesn't feel right. The quest for perfection has become routine, it is what is expected of her, but is thi...more Perfection. What does it mean, and how far will people go to find it?
Cara's parent's heavy demands have already sent her brother Connor spiraling into depression and an attempted suicide. With him in rehab, their attention is turned to her. She's a straight A student, a cheerleader, a beautiful girl, dating the star of the baseball team. What more could her parents ask for? But for Cara, it doesn't feel right. The quest for perfection has become routine, it is what is expected of her, but is this really who she is? A chance encounter while snowboarding is about to teach her more of who the real Cara is.
Cara's boyfriend, Sean, is desperately in love with her. He is trying to get into Stanford so that they can be together, maybe forever. But to get there, Sean needs to be the best in baseball. He needs to be able to wow the scouts. Heavy workouts have gotten him this far, but he feels like he needs something more, just a little bit of a push to get his body where it needs to be for college level sports. But as Cara starts to discover more about herself, Sean uncovers a darker side of himself. He cannot handle the changes that she has brought about.
Kendra is an aspiring model. She is also the ex-girlfriend of Connor. Being dumped by Connor felt like the end of her world, and she pushed herself further into her modelling aspirations. Everyone tells her that she can make it, she has the look, but when she sees herself, nothing is good enough. Her mother and step-father are paying for a nose job and Kendra plans to get a boob job after she turns 18. She will do anything to make her dreams come true and to perfect her body. But no matter how little she eats or how hard she works out, she feels like she is still too fat to make it in the business. The only question is, how far will she go to reach her goals.
Andre comes from a wealthy family. His grandfather and father worked their entire lives to get to their position, and it is expected that Andre will follow in their path to wealth- go to college, go into business, work tirelesly. But Andre loves to dance, something that he hides from everyone, especially his parents. When he dances, something natural comes out in him, his own kind of perfection. While waiting to see his mother at her office, he runs into Jenna, who is waiting for her sister Kendra to finish her nose job consultation with Andre's mother (sorry, complicated sentence). Andre is instantly attracted to her curvy body and strong confidence. But there is so much more to Jenna than meets the eye. She may not have the body image issues of her sister, but there are deep problems that may be too much for Andre to face.
I really enjoy the interwovenness of this story, how the characters connect in each other's lives. I also like the tie-ins with Impulse, which is one of my favourite Ellen Hopkins books. As always, the writing is beautiful. Hopkins is a master of verse. And she so fearlessly tackles the issues that face youth today. Another strong novel. Can't wait for the next. (less)

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May 23, 2012 Morgan rated it 5 of 5 stars

The novel Perfect tells the story of four high school seniors trying to reach the perfect expectations of their parents and society. Cara, a cheerleader, class president, and straight A student, seems to be the epitome of perfection to her classmates. What she doesn't show to even her closest friends though is her family's dark secret of where her brother is, and how she struggles with self identity. Sean, the baseball star, strives to be perfect for Cara, his girlfriend. He gives his all to ple...more

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May 06, 2012 Sarah Stewart added it

Sarah Stewart
Poetry
Four teens, different situations, all with the same problem: perfection. Cara fights her parent’s expectations, these high expectations, which lead her twin brother to attempt suicide. Through the struggle, can she find love, even if it’s with another girl? Kendra, a model, struggles with her body image and how skinny she should look to please the model agencies. She will go to all lengths to create the perfect body. Sean will go to all lengths to become an accomplished athlet...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Lauren Alparaz rated it 4 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I've always taken an interest in the topics of Ellen Hopkins' books, and this is her most recent book. "Perfect" is about four teenagers, Cara, Andre, Kendra, and Sean, each with a different idea of perfection and a different battle to fight. All of the battles they face are common yet taboo amongst teenagers: anorexia, steroid abuse, cyber bullying, so on and so forth. My favorite quote from the book is, "Sometimes that (taking chances) means getting hurt. Getting an F...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Sydney rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 31, 2012 Marla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, young-adult

Cara, Kendra, Andre, and Sean - they are the teens readers will meet in Perfect. Another gut-wrenching portrayal of the uglier sides of life by Hopkins.

This novel is an extension of sorts of Impulse. In this story, two of the main characters, Cara and Kendra, are closely related to Connor who plays a major role in Impulse. Cara is Connor's sister and Kendra his ex-girlfriend. They both have secrets, both have troubled families, and both are left with confusion, hurt, and anger over Connor's dec...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Khornberger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ellen Hopkins stays true to both her style and her coverage of important and high interest issues in her latest novel, Perfect. This story tells of four teenagers that are struggling to achieve perfection. We see Cara, a popular girl with emotionally distant parents, a homecoming queen who presents the ideal image yet grapples with her sexuality. We see Cara's boyfriend, Sean, who obsessively desires Cara along with athletic recognition and perfection, abuse steroids to achieve his goals only to...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Alma Bucio rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story is about Cara Sierra Sykes she has to deal with her parents after her twin brother Conner tries to kill himself and when she finds someone else in her life that’s not her boyfriend Sean. It’s also about Sean Terrence O’Connell and how he wants to be in the same college as Cara but he doesn’t know that she doesn’t love him anymore.
This story is also about Kendra Melody Mathieson and how she will go through anything just to become a perfect model and that means plastic surgeries and...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Emma C. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 7th-grade

Perfect is the story of four high school students struggling with colleges, love, their futures, and what perfect really means.
This was the first book to get me to cry. Ever. I'm so serious. And I read the Five People You Meet in Heaven, which I like to think of as a pretty sad book. Also, I read it in one day on the nook so I didn't get a chance to log with no internet. It was so beautiful and sad and heart wrenching (chesse, i know).

This book was amazing. When I first read the blurb, I thought...more Perfect is the story of four high school students struggling with colleges, love, their futures, and what perfect really means.
This was the first book to get me to cry. Ever. I'm so serious. And I read the Five People You Meet in Heaven, which I like to think of as a pretty sad book. Also, I read it in one day on the nook so I didn't get a chance to log with no internet. It was so beautiful and sad and heart wrenching (chesse, i know).

This book was amazing. When I first read the blurb, I thought it was going to be cheesy. But it was so intense and saddening and an amazing mix of poetry and narrative. The stories were so believable it hurt. You could feel all the raw emotion.
The ending is what really did me in. It's so impossibly unhappy, but hopeful. Andre is ready to face is family, but Jenna is raped. Sean's life is permanently messed up and he's borderline crazy thanks to obsession and steroids, Conner dies, but Cara find her true self and finally finds love with Dani.
Kendra is torn and anorexic (and seems to stay that way), but has seen inside her family and admitted her feelings fully for maybe the first time.

It's the mix of jealousy, desire, love, hate, lust, anger, violence, sadness and maliciousness that make this book such a deliciously dark read, and reel you in.
I hated Sean. He was so self-involved, and kind of childish. But by the end of the book, I was afraid of him, and afraid of what he thought was right in his twisted broken mind. He's so creepy and insane at the end, it's hard to imagine who would do that. But he was so in love with Cara, you feel sorry for the guy that she didn't try to justify herself to him at all. She just broke it off, then even though he was hung up over her and one of her best friends (as she mentions in the first part of the book), she doesn't try to explain anything

Cara was near the most relaxed character I think. Most of the story, she was just crazy in love and handling it or thinking about her older brother. I thought that her realizing she was lesbian was a little too fast (like when they're skiing she just automatically says 'Maybe' she's lesbian when Danielle asks? There is no hint of that she is before that. I think it's amazing that she found what she really wanted, but it was kind of forced, especially if it was her first time with a girl. I think she would have been a little more nervous.), but her sadness at the end of the book was just so real. Her crying mommy and daddy when Conner died, even though she hated them most of the time and resented them? It was so raw.

Kendra was in so much denial. I wanted an emotional breach. It was almost hard to get attached to her. But her problem was so much more than her eating disorder. She reminded me of a mild Sean, because she only thought of Conner. She used him to justify her own madness.
Andre was also really mild compared to everyone else. He should be himself. I think that his relationship with Jenna really made him interesting. He adored and loved her unconditionally. But she was too childish, and too scarred by her parents to reciprocate. It's almost a relief when you see she realizes this. And when she gets raped right after Andre breaks it off with her, it's so sad.
THE BOOK IS SAD.

But...
This is by far the best book I have read this year. I give it 5 out of 5 stars with no hesitation. (less)

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Dec 26, 2011 Alyssa Calhoun rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: new-winter-11, novels-in-verse

Ellen Hopkins is, in my opinion, the best young adult writer out there. She tackles hard issues, and does so using poetry as her art form. Poetry is such an emotional way to tell the compelling stories that Hopkins chooses.

Perfect uses four different voices to tell the story of the high school seniors in this book. Kendra struggles with an eating disorder and body image while on her way to a modeling career. Cara, whose brother Connor just tried to commit suicide, is having a hard time deciding...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Onna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I started reading it this morning and finished it this night when I got back home. All 622 pages. It doesn't feel like it, but that's the gift of Hopkins' writing. I was half way through when I realized that it was connected to her other book. And I felt my heart drop. Conner. I have just stopped crying. I was almost done and had to stop because I couldn't see through the tears. Finished and kept crying.

Her books are a must read for EVERYONE. Plain and simple. I relate to more of these character...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Stefani rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-teen, audiobooks

This sequel surpassed the original. While book 1 (Impulse) focused mainly on suicidal teens, we found other teens - some tied to Connor in Impulse - who struggle under the weight of attaining their own perfection. Including eating disorders, sexual orientation, sports performance and steroid use, and even a natural skill and desire for dance with disapproving parents, the range of expectations of parents and of society is something any teen can relate to. Hopkins uses her verse format to focus r...more

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About Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins is the New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, Fallout, Perfect, Triangles, Tilt, and Collateral. She lives in Carson City, Nevada, with her husband and son. Hopkin's Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest pages get thousands of hits from teens who claim Hopkins is the "only one who understands me", and she can be visited at ellenhopkin...more

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Quotes from 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.” — 104 people liked it

“...what good would it
do to
shutter your windows, never
dream of rainbows or find hope
in promises? Why choose to
walk away
rather than hold your ground
and fight for love?” — 55 people liked it

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Perfect (Impulse #2)

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