Lauren Wilkerson

I have a steadfast love/hate relationship with this book. I hated how some of the women cheated. No one condones cheating, but this was a part of what the book was about. It was hard for me at first to feel for the women who had cheated. I'll admit, I was prejudiced towards them completely. I did what every reader does and related the characters to myself and for me, it just did not compute. But then my eyes started to open. These women suffered. They bore the grief of their families and tried so hard to numb the pain. Someone doesn't just wake up one day and say, "Hey! I'm going to cheat on my husband!" At least these women didn't. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the world who do wake up and think that, but that's a whole other discussion. I believe it takes small steps that eventually lead a normal person with morality to cheat. Once again, I do not think cheating is ok by any means at all, but after reading Triangles, I can see how small things in life can lead a person to cheat.

This was my first verse novel and just... wow. The stanzas, the poem-like writing worried me at first. I didn't want to read a book of poems. I discovered that verse novels are not like that by any means. Far from it, actually. Triangles read just like a prose novel. The words were simply... beautiful. This will definitely not be the only verse novel I will read.

I know that Ellen Hopkins' other books are all YA. I read how Ellen hopes Triangles, her first adult novel, will appeal to the people who grew up reading her YA novels are now adults. Even though this is the first novel I've read by her, I can't help but feel comforted that she thought of her readers like that... how she wanted her writing to transcend genres with us. I will definitely have to dive into her YA novels now!