Reading isn't something many people enjoy. I never thought that reading would be something that I like, until I found the right book. I started off with adventure and teen fiction, but one day while I was searching up book to order I fond the book Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. This was the type of book that wasn't just for enjoyment, but for purpose. This book was written to teach a lesson. The book is four combined stories of modern teenagers. Each of who see perfect as something different. Perfect is different for everyone; your perfect may be different from mine or someone else. This book shows the lives of four teens who are all trying to achieve their perfect, yet no two people have the same goal.
One of the character is a Beauty Queen, her idea of perfect is trying to look perfect. She's willing to go to all measure whether its surgery or drugs to have the perfect appearance. This is the one that's most common among teen girls. Everyone is trying to be a model when in reality everyone has their own beauty, whether you believe it or not. You shouldn't change yourself for anyone, not for a comment someone made or for the perspective of the media's beauty. People, especially teens, make comments about someones appearance because of jealousy or attention. Never believe anyone when
they tell you that you aren't beautiful. You shouldn't listen to the media's perception of beauty because its always changing. Just because they something is beautiful today doesn't mean it will be beautiful tomorrow. I've noticed and I'm pretty sure everyone else has that trying to lose weight and be skinny has been a trend ever since I can remember. So many people think that being a size 0 means your beautiful, but its not true. That trend may change in the next 10 yrs, believe it or not being skinny a long time ago wasn't considered beautiful. It meant that you weren't wealthy enough to eat. You had to be as big as possible to be considered beautiful. Yet that all changed, just like being extremely skinny will go out of style one day. Your beautiful in every size and if someone doesn't like you because of your size then they don't deserve to be in your life. Everyone was put in your life to be either a blessing or a lesson.
You shouldn't change for anyone. Another character in the book had the perception that being the ultimate athlete was perfect. Just like girls, guys also have their own perception of perfect, but the same rules apply. You shouldn't change yourself for anyone. Being the ultimate athlete isn't something that's going to make people like you more, and if that is something that makes people like you more than they're not real friends. People should like you for YOU, not for the way you look or how many touchdowns you can get. Being big and buff doesn't mean your a better person. You shouldn't workout for hours unless its something you enjoy or its for yourself. Another character believed that reaching her parent's expectations made her perfect.
I get that everyone wants to make their parents proud, but if its driving your insane then it isn't healthy. You shouldn't try and live your parents dream for them. Yes, making your parents proud is important but you have to understand that even though they may not show it your parents will always be proud of you. You could seriously damage yourself if your main priority is trying to reach impossible expectations. Be yourself and try your hardest and your parents will most definitely be proud of you. The last character in the book was trying to achieve acceptation from his parents.
His perfect was to be the perfect performer, while his parents perfect was to be the perfect doctor. Again you can't let your parents decide your life for you. Yes, you can try and please them and try to make your parents proud. But at the end of the day its YOUR life. You should chose how to live it. Basically all I'm trying to say is that Perfect isn't the same for everyone so don't try and make yourself "perfect". In the back of the book there's a poem of some sort.
Perfect?
How do you define a word without concrete meaning? To each his own , the saying goes, so
Why push to attain an ideal state of being that no two random people will agree is
Where you want to be? Faultless, Finished, Incomparable, People can never be these, and anyway,
When did creating a flawless facade become a more vital goal than learning to love the person
Who lives inside your skin? The outside belongs to others. Only you should decide for you-
What is perfect.
This is one of the most inspirational poems ever. So just remember that perfect is for you to decide. I definitely recommend this book. :) Thanks for reading and if you have any questions be sure to email me :)
