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Burned
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(2 Votes)From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–Once again the author of Crank (S & S, 2004) has masterfully used verse to re-create the yearnings and emotions of a teenage girl trapped in tragic circumstances. Poems in varied formats captivate readers as they describe a teen's immobilizing fear of her abusive father, disgust with a church hierarchy that looks the other way, hope that new relationships can counteract despair, joy in the awakening of romance, and sorrow when demons ultimately prevail. Pattyn Von Stratten is the eldest of eight sisters in a stern Mormon household where women are relegated to servitude and silence. She has a glimpse of normal teenage life when Derek takes an interest in her, but her father stalks them in the desert and frightens him away. Unable to stifle her rage, Pattyn acts out as never before and is suspended from school. Sent to live with an aunt on a remote Nevada ranch, she meets Ethan and discovers forever love. Woven into the story of a teen's struggle to find her destiny is the story of her aunt's barrenness following government mismanagement of atomic testing and protests over nuclear waste disposal. Readers will become immersed in Pattyn's innermost thoughts as long-held secrets are revealed, her father's beatings take a toll on her mother and sister, and Pattyn surrenders to Ethan's love with predictable and disturbing consequences. Writing for mature teens, Hopkins creates compelling characters in horrific situations.–Kathy Lehman, Thomas Dale High School Library, Chester, VA
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Gr. 9-12. Full of anger at her father, an alcoholic who abuses her mother, Pattyn begins to question her Mormon religion and her preordained, subservient role within it. She is confused by her mother's acceptance of the brutal abuse, and although she is furious at and terrified of her father, she still longs for his love and approval. As the consequences of her anger become more dramatic, her parents send her to spend the summer with her aunt on a Nevada ranch. There she finds the love and acceptance she craves, both from her aunt and from a college-age neighbor, Ethan. Told in elegant free verse, Burned envelopes the reader in Pattyn's highs and lows, her gradual opening to love, and her bouts of rage, confusion, and doubt. It exposes the mind of the abused, but regrettably offers no viable plan to deal with the abuser, a reality perhaps, but a plot element that may raise eyebrows in the adult community. Still, this will easily find rapid-fire circulation among its YA audience. A troubling but beautifully written novel. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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06/01/2007
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I chanced upon this book, and raced through it. Surprisingly, I found the poetry format easy to read, though I would normally avoid this style. The author's talent was undeniable, in the terse, honest, sometimes rhyming verse. The emotions, dramas, and joys of late teen-age years were viscerally accurate and real. I would rate the book a 4 if it ended on a more optimistic note, as it is skillfully written, and the story engaging and worthwhile. In today's world, I simply cannot condone the ending, and found it not only disappointing but deeply disturbing. Pattyn Van Stratten is a high school junior, from a Mormon family. Her father, an alcoholic, abuses his wife and tyrannizes his 7 daughters. Pattyn struggles to find answers to her questions about faith and redemption; she wants to reconcile the violence and tyranny of her home life with her religious faith, but finds only complicity there. After her own small transgressions, she is shipped off to an Aunt in Nevada, where she is surprised to discover acceptance, friendship, freedom, love, and honesty. Unfortunately, this state of grace can't last, and ultimately it was the end of this book that I could not reconcile: it utterly lacked hope, and also seemed to justify the "Columbine" mentality, which repelled me. Although some reviewers were concerned about innacurate portrayal of Mormans in the book, that issue seemed minor to me: religion is often (always?) used as a tool of domination, one need look no further than Jimmy Jones and his kool-aid brew, or David Koresh, or Osama Bin Laden, or the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, or even the born-again revival fueled by W's presidency to see this as a sadly repetitive pattern in human history. On the greater issue of abuse and its inevitable isolation, the book is both accurate, and despairing. Certainly there are enough newspaper articles to prove this tragic fact, though there are also some bright examples of overcoming the odds. I prefer to think of literature as escape, a way out, maybe even a real lifeline for those in need of rescue. In that light, I cannot accept the proffered solution for Pattyn's difficulty; too tragic for my taste.
20/06/2006
I received a copy of BURNED in the mail from my cousin yesterday & couldn't put it down. I finished it all last night & was completely smitten! My cousin & I were both reared Mormon, & thus identified intensely with the story. We both come from dysfunctional families, which often made me feel like Hopkins had been peeking through my curtains to obtain her material for BURNED. I am now almost 30 & think this book is long overdue. Hopkins portrayal of a battered young girl in a devoutly religious (& more specifically, Mormon) family is dead on the mark. If only I had the clarity of Pattyn when I was a teen. (As conflicted & confused as Pattyn often is, she is wise beyond her years. My adolescence was marked with a blur of foggy madness...a fury of anger, loneliness, & confusion.) I have since made peace with my past & have left the Mormon church. Yet all the years and miles later, reading BURNED was like going home.
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