| Burned | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Ellen Hopkins |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult |
| Publisher | Margaret K. McElderry Books |
| Publication date | October 23, 2007 |
| Pages | 544 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1416903550 ISBN 978-1416903550 |
Burned is a young adult novel written by American author Ellen Hopkins and published in April 2006. Like all of Ellen Hopkin's works, the novel is unusual for its free verse format.
Contents |
Seventeen-year-old Pattyn, the eldest daughter, of seven girls, in a patriarchal Mormon household. Her father is an alcoholic who beats her mother, believing a wife must succumb to his husband's actions. Her mother believes her duty is to make as many children as possible, especially a boy to carry on the family name, just as her husband wishes. But Pattyn's mother only conceived seven girls, named after famous generals: (youngest to oldest) Georgia (George Patton), Roberta (Robert E. Lee), Davie (Jefferson Davis), Teddie (Theodore Roosevelt), Ulyssa (Ulysses S. Grant), Jackie (Jack Pershing), and Pattyn (George Patton).
Pattyn is unable to take the stress going on in her home, and begins to question her role in life, especially through her father's eyes. Eventually, she starts to experiment with dating Derek behind her parents' backs, then leading to her getting caught drinking with her boyfriend in the desert, by her drunken father. Derek, her boyfriend, leaves her for another girl who is more experienced, whom Pattyn later on punches in the face in rage. As a punishment, she is sent away to live with her Aunt Jeanette in eastern Nevada, for her mother is finally expecting a son and does not need to handle the stress Pattyn creates.
As Pattyn stays with her aunt, Aunt Jeanette—who tells Pattyn to call her "Aunt J", continues, she finds love from her aunt and a boy named Ethan, who studies at UC Davis and is described by Pattyn as "beautiful". Ethan's father, Kevin, was once Aunt J's high school sweetheart, but after he received a threat with a gun and a beating from Aunt J's brother (Pattyn's father) for not being Mormon, they were forced to separate.
During the time Pattyn lives with her aunt, she learns how to love and how to be self-confident, and finds out that there is more to life than just religion, as she thought before. Pattyn is led to believe in God the way her aunt believes in him. Aunt J explains that one does not need "a Mormon husband to meet you at heaven's gates and pull you in", and believes that with love—true and forever love—heaven's gates will open wide. Ethan becomes a dream come true to Pattyn, loving her even though she does not believe that she's beautiful. He teaches her the true meaning of love:
Towards the end of the summer Ethan and Pattyn don't know what to do after Pattyn receives letters regarding Jackie(The next oldest sister)receiving beatings as a stand own for her pregnant mother. They do not confide in Aunt J in fear that she will contact the authorities. At the end of the summer, Pattyn returns to her family and receives her first beating after defying her father and later, she also discovers that she is pregnant with Ethan's baby. When she calls Ethan to tell him the news, she is overheard by two jealous girls, one of them Derek's new girlfriend (Carmen). They proceed to tell everyone and the word gets back to Pattyn's mother, though Pattyn denies it.
Attempting to escape her father's wrath, Pattyn and Ethan take off for California, unaware that Trevor, a "perfect Mormon child" who loved Pattyn, has written down the car's license plate number. When her father finds out, he calls his "Highway patrolman friend" to track them down, to find them on an icy road. Ethan speeds up in attempt to lose the patrolman, but loses control of his car and crashes. Pattyn wakes up in the hospital, to find out that both Ethan and their baby are dead. Her father disowns her, unable to bear the recent events. Pattyn is left with a life-changing decision in the end: shoot and kill all those who caused her pain and Ethan and their baby's deaths, or move on? Pattyn states that if her father would just say he loved her she would spare him - but he will not. (She has sought love and approval from her father her whole life. She has yearned to be what she can not be as her father will never love her like a son of his first son Dwight) She learns the true meaning of love.
There will be a sequel titled Smoke that will be released sometime in 2013.[1] Smoke will be told from the perspectives of both Pattyn and her younger sister, Jackie.[2] It is unknown if there will be a third novel in the Burned series.
The book was also roundly criticized for its apocalyptic finale and for its portrayal of Mormonism as a stern, abusive and misogynistic faith. Jeff Gottesfeld, a Jewish novelist for teens and stage/film/television writer, characterized the book in an op-ed piece as "literary group character assassination" of Mormonism, and that the church is "unrelentingly bashed" in the novel.[3]
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