Book Review: What about Will

By Ellen Hopkins 

4 stars 

What about Will follows Trace and his relationship with his older brother, who is struggling with addiction after a horrifying accident that left him scarred. Seventeen months later, Will is depressed and begins to act differently than he normally does. Trace soon figures out that Will is using painkillers and is addicted to them. Trace must learn to deal with the pressure and try to help Will rid himself of his addiction. Trace has to learn to advocate for himself as his father focuses less on him and more on work and other relationships, while Will begins hanging out with others and getting into something he shouldn't.  

This book is very interesting; it's written in almost a poetry kind of way, which makes it memorable to the reader. The main topic of the book is addiction, as the main character's brother struggles with an addiction after an accident that left him injured and disabled. This book shows just how much something like this can affect someone's mental state, just enough to lead them to turn to something like addiction. But this book also shows how addiction affects those around you; it affects Trace the most, with Will often stealing from Trace to buy drugs to abuse, affecting Trace in his basketball team too. This book is compelling in its story with Will and Trace and makes you interested in their stories. Overall, I think this book is a good representation of how addiction can affect yourself and others in your life. 

Reviewed by Martin 

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