Tricks

This book provides a roller coaster ride of emotion by painting the highs and lows of life with excellent character studies. The cultural cliches speak to the books popularity, but they also are reasons why this culture creates problems instead of solving problems so I will expose the ugly truth. The major problem is people do not teach or learn the science of human behavior, thus we do not use the behavioral methodologies documented in the book The Reluctant Alliance Between Behaviorism And Humanism by Bobby Newman and improve the human condition, instead many reinforce cultural assumptions such as this book does. Didn't we see the problems prohibition caused? Criminalizing non-violent behavior causes more problems than it solves. People do not stop doing behaviors because of laws, they avoid the laws. Saying your protecting people by making laws is fascism. Fascism sucks! Instead of accepting that prostitution should be illegal we should shout, give me liberty or give me death, criminalization is stupid so we should not criminalize non-violent criminal behavior. Plus, sex is pleasurable and monogamy is not human with people I encounter. Why does prostitution lead to degradation, excessive drug use, violence AND other unhealthy behaviors. Criminalization and religious dogma. Where is prostitution healthiest? Where it is legal. Why is prostitution considered dirty, repulsive and disgusting. Religious dogma. St. Augustine had bad sexual consequences so he demonized sex and his outrage fueled religious dogma. Religious dogma allowed people to pile on and they use this cruel tool to make people feel guilty for many pleasurable or harmless behaviors. Religion is the root of all evil, it controls people by making them feel guilty for enjoying themselves instead of making natural behavior healthy. Telling people they are sinners so they don't revolt or rock the boat is a sin AND even worse they tell you religion is love. Therefore, people don't see the problems their slave owners perpetuate and just accept atrocity after atrocity. Religion is a cruel tool used to perpetuate evil agendas and outlawing prostitution is just one. Thus, this book should expose the problems created by religion and not continue reinforcing the system. This book and culture never questions the system and instead blames natural behavior such as prostitution, like those in power control popular people to do. I mean the ignorance and propaganda of people saying they are protecting you so they can easily enact fascism while telling you they are the only defenders of liberty should not be tolerated. Sex is pleasure and paying for pleasure is healthy and natural. Making it illegal causes the problems. In addition, the religious institution of marriage is another source of religious dogma that contributes to the outrage over natural behavior prostitution. Reinforcing these institutions goes against human behavior while natural behavior is demonized so we get hypocrisy, jealousy, violence, fighting and unhealthy behavior after unhealthy behavior do to religious dogma and that needs to be fought, not embraced. Beware of dogma. We need to eliminate marriage, not criminalize it and certainly not glorify it. We are all completely unique individuals that all have different experiences with different consequences that have a cumulative effect. We also are all born with different brains. We are more unique then snowflakes. Thus, the subjective judgmental prick behavior we reinforce in this culture is dangerous and needs top be eliminated, not reinforced. I mean how is the golden rule, do unto others as they would want to be done unto, selfish subjectivity, instead of do unto others as they would want to be done unto. Everything we do is the opposite of healthy and assuming it is "good" makes an ass out of you and me. I mean this author still assumes we will our behavior. There is no self initiating force in the universe, much less the brain. People are just told they control themselves because that way they are easily controlled. That way people never question the system, they just blame the individual. Therefore, when it is obvious of the contingencies people have to behave the way they do, people in this culture and this author just say they have free will so it is up to them. NO! People don't have free will. When this culture reinforces this delusion, people are made to ignore natural contingencies so when people have the correct circumstances to be rich or poor they credit themselves for getting rich and blame inner city people that don't have the right tools to overcome their situation for being poor, the lottery system stays in place AND is miserable for everyone. Nobody has ever seen a will. Thoughts do not cause behavior, they are effects. Causes happen 100% of the time. We have all thought we would do something and done something else. We have all thought something and done nothing. If natural selection selected us to think before behaving there could never be a mutation for every thought and select different thoughts for different people. Natural selection could not select thoughts to cause behavior, what it did select for was superstitious behavior (coincidental reinforcement). Thoughts are given causal effect because once in a while they are paired with behavior AND confident behavior has been selected to attract mates and pass on your DNA so we think we are right even when we are wrong. Therefore, this culture and this book reinforce being wrong (LOL). This had healthy short term effects, but in the long term we are paying the consequences. Therefore, Ellen your characters did not will themselves not to throw up, they didn't throw up because the circumstances of their body and situation determined that they didn't throw up at that time. Nobody has ever seen a will cause behavior, but people love all the cultural presuppositions that are wrong so unhealthy behavior is inevitable, but we must be aware of the truth so we can adapt. Thus, we must embrace science and ignore the superstitions used in this culture and as a by-product this book. This author reinforces many cultural presuppositions SO read this book, it has many fascinating ways of articulating life as we know it WHILE ignoring the regurgitated cultural assumptions, because superstitious behavior makes life suck!

You can read this book for FREE online at Riveted until 9/9/18! 😊That’s what I did! Naturally I loved it so much that I bought the ebook as soon as I finished reading (as well as the sequel!) and quickly re-highlighted all of my favourite first read passages before agonising about what I could write about this book without wandering into spoiler territory.Trigger warnings include sexual assault, gambling, abandonment, alcohol and drug use, murder, homophobia, seriously dodgy parenting, religion used as a weapon and probably a whole range of heartache I’ve already repressed. ‘Can you tell me how you ended up in “the business”?More mostly truth. “I never wanted to.I just didn’t know any other way to survive.”’Ellen Hopkins. Whenever I begin one of her novels I know I’m setting my heart up to be broken. It always feels as though my heart is being folded into some distorted origami design each time one of her characters is hurt or betrayed. Then the inevitable happens; one fold too many breaks me.‘When you sell your body, youalso sell what’s inside. Pieceby piece, you sell your soul.’Why do I put myself through this? Because it’s worth it! I don’t think there’s an Ellen book I’ve read where I haven’t come away changed by the experience. They’re just so real and I love that about them.Ellen opens my eyes in a way that I don’t think any other author ever has, and she does it over and over again. She takes issues I know about from personal experience, validates my feelings, shows me other perspectives and introduces me to characters who are willing to discuss what people I know don’t/won’t. She also takes issues I only know anything about from reading news stories, blogs or textbooks and gives me insights and understanding I may never have gained any other way.‘When all choice is taken fromyou, life becomes a game of survival.’Ellen breaks my heart but she also enlarges it. I come away with empathy I didn’t know I still had. I come away with the confidence that regardless of how dire your situation may look and feel there is hope.‘What is wrong withme? Why aren’t I worth loving?’Ellen opens my mind, allowing me access to people I don’t know in my life outside books. She takes topics that people discuss in terms of statistics and humanises them. Her characters stay with me when I finish reading and in the case of this book I wanted to adopt all of the kids I encountered.I found myself with a preconceived stereotypical notion that all of the characters would eventually meet one another on the streets in Vegas. I was wrong. As I began to read about the five main characters I couldn’t help wondering how their lives were going to intersect. I became attached to the five as well as others like Ginger’s Gram and younger sister Mary Ann, and Andrew, who made me want to believe in true love.Although I read the blurb prior to reading that told me otherwise I still assumed that most of the kids who feature in this book would come from extremely abusive families; probably because everyone I know personally who has been homeless has been for that reason. Again I was wrong. ‘You might be surprised at what you can do, shouldcircumstances dictate.’I loved the book’s title even more after reading it. Tricks. I originally associated it solely with prostitution yet while I was reading I also began to associate it with the deception employed by the adults in the book.I need to know what happens to these kids so I’m diving straight into the sequel.

This book is brutal. It doesn't shy away from the horrors of teen prostitution -- which I applaud Hopkins for, as she has wrote a painfully real portrayal of what some teenagers/children have experienced and are experiencing around the world.It sheds a light on a subject rarely talked about or acknowledged in today's society or any society for that matter.This is an immensely dark read with scenes that shocked me and stayed with me long after reading. The emotional state of all 5 characters was written superbly, leaving tears in my eyes in many parts of the novel. Ellen's writing is beautifully lyrical and adds so much to the story. Hopkins writes this story with realism, demonstrating how and why each character turns to selling their body.The themes of religion, sexuality, homophobia, relationships (parental, family & romantic), substance abuse, poverty, sex, love and of course prostitution were all handled seamlessly by Hopkins.This story explores these serious themes brilliantly with caution, while also questioning what it means to love & what love is.

Ellen Hopkins did an amazing job once again. A brilliant read you will not be disappointed. I couldn’t put the book down

Excellent book, really loved it.

When I went to pick this book up at the library, I was surprised at how small and fat it was. Great, just what I need…a 600+ page book and hardly enough time to read. When I opened up the book and glanced at the first few pages, I was delighted and shocked the margins were so wide and there were no more than seven words per line. Then I thought, “wait a minute, this is freakin’ poetry!” Since I read so little poetry and never developed an appreciation for it, I left the library slightly disappointed. Well, Tricks isn’t exactly poetry, but a novel written in verse. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. Dishes were piling up, dust bunnies were fighting back, and I was late to work.Tricks is a story about five deeply troubled teenagers, all from different areas, backgrounds, and family situations who end up falling into prostitution.Each character has a story to tell. These stories are brief, and jump from one character to the next and back again. At the beginning, I was a little frustrated at how short their stories were and was afraid that I would not be able to distinguish one character from the next. It turns out there was no need to worry. Hopkins does a brilliant job of infusing her characters with life, personality and emotions. As I continued to read, and the characters’ situations became more harrowing, I found the stories very intense and was relieved there was some separation. I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed the writing style. These stories told in verse allowed me to get into the minds and feelings of the characters without extraneous detail, and helped me feel a deeper connection with them.Tricks broke my heart and made my stomach churn. The stories were gripping, painful, and honest. My own teenage years, painful memories, wrong choices, and difficulty with parents all came flooding back. I wish my own parents could have read a book like this, just to see how their own behavior and actions could irreparably damage a child’s life.

...aber es wird von Seite zu Seite besser!Die Story entwickelt sich rasant und spätestens ab dem ersten Drittel kann einen nichts mehr halten. Es ist sehr ergreifend und spannend geschrieben, und über die Verstrickungen der Geschichten musste ich manchmal schmunzeln. Viva Las Vegas!Erwähnen wollte ich noch kurz, dass die Angabe auf dem Umschlag "one gay, four straight" nicht ganz stimmt ;)Das Ende finde ich nicht ganz zufriedenstellend. 50 Seiten mehr hätten es doch sein dürfen.