Tilt Book Review

Tilt 

Written by Ellen Hopkins

Number of Pages: 608

Average Rating: 4.19/5 stars

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Published on September 11, 2012

Read in August 2016

Summary according to Goodreads

Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt….

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened?

Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be.

Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

My Thoughts

Ellen Hopkins is one of my favourite authors, and whenever I want to be captivated, she is the one I pick up. All of her novels deal with heavy topics, and is something that I have come to appreciate in YA literature. Halfway through reading this novel I discovered that it is a companion to Triangles, from different perspectives, but it did not hinder my experience reading this story. 

The plot lines in this story were so realistic, it was almost scary! Throughout my reading experience I really bonded with these characters, even the secondary ones! Mikayla’s story was not one that is unique in our society, that of a sixteen year old girl discovering an unwanted pregnancy. She begins this novel completely head-over-heels with her boyfriend, only to discover that first love is not always perfect. Shane’s story is one that I have not read much before, that being a young teen growing into his sexuality while living under a strong religious household. Discovering first love and the harsh realities of death, the reader can relate to Shane on so many different levels. Finally, Harley’s story portrayed first love and how far a young girl will go to impress the one she “loves”. She was my least favourite character to read, because she was filled with angst, and was constantly doubting herself wanting to impress a jerk who didn’t care about her. 

There was so much development between everyone, I am very happy with how the three stories progressed. If I had to pick a favourite character it would be Shane because it was encouraging to see a young man stand up for himself and who he is, even when it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I related a lot to his mental struggles, and was compassionate when he dealt with them through self-medication. Life is not an easy journey, but Shane’s story felt the most real without the angst. 

This novel had quite a few plot twists, a few of which I did not anticipate. I wish I had been able to read this book in fewer time, but my work schedule kept me fairly busy. One of my favourite things about this novel, was although we followed three main perspectives, at the end of each we got a look into a character close to the one we followed (best friend, boyfriend, etc) - which made you feel like you were getting a complete story!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and will continue to auto-buy Ellen Hopkins’ novels! If you enjoy young-adult novels that are written in verse, or deal with heavier plot lines, I recommend you looking into her books!