A review by nickyfox13
Collateral by Ellen Hopkins

4.0

My love of Ellen Hopkins might make me biased because I'm a consistent fan of her work. It is amazing in the way Hopkins so effectively creates a raw, gripping, emotionally charged narrative in such a sparse style while frankly, boldly discussing controversial issues in a powerful and honest way. This novel, surprisingly enough (to me at least), is a novel not in the young adult genre; instead, it's a story directed towards adults.

This novel is about the romantic relationship between sweet, indecisive civilian poet Ashley and the man she falls in love with an impassioned Marine named Cole who is deployed as a soldier for four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. As much as I love all of Hopkins' books, I found this novel to have fallen flat in ways that her prior novels didn't. I feel like Hopkins's writing style is more suited to young adult novels. I don't think that's a flaw, per se, because YA realistic fiction is Hopkins' strength. However, I felt like her typical style didn't translate very well into this novel. I felt like everything seemed too emotionally subdued, and therefore everything seemed to fall flat as I didn't relate to Ashley or Cole; whenever the high action arrived, I felt like it was jarring because the pacing of the action felt all over the place. Jumping between the past and the present would've been more effective if the pace was more solid, but I liked that it was utilized anyway because it brought an interesting layer to the romantic relationship.

I felt like the hugest flaw of the narrative was the fact that such a divisive and polarizing event in recent US history such as the war in Afghanistan/Iraq and treating it like a backdrop to the drama of Ashley and Cole's relationship. I felt like the war was treated without much neutrality and with a very biased view, as it was viewed mostly from the point of view of a very liberal but also passive and wishy-washy character. Had the novel treated the war with more respect, as Hopkins does treat taboo/controversial opinions/actions with respect & neutrality, I would've enjoyed that aspect.

I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, because I didn't relate to them since I felt that the pacing mean that there wasn't enough time for me to get attached to the characters.