Book Discussion: Rumble

Okay, maybe I'm cheating a bit because this "discussion" is not actually a real discussion. It's just a record of my imaginary discussion with some people who wrote about Rumble on Goodreads.

I had originally went to Goodreads to look at some other reviews of Rumble. While I was there, I happened to stumble upon the comments, where I was surprised with some people's thoughts on the book. Many of them had lots to say on the book's topics, such as depression/suicide, the LGBT+ community, anxiety, family issues, religion, and so forth. And while I do not have a Goodreads account, I still have a lot to say myself. So, without further ado, I shall begin.

Note: the dialogue below are not actual quotes. They are just lines that I wrote that show a general thought by some readers of Rumble. Also, this post contains spoilers. If you would like to read my book review on Rumble instead, click here.


"Why did Hopkins write her book in free verse?? Like, seriously...it doesn't serve any significant purpose! Also, it doesn't make sense. Too difficult to comprehend & pointless!" 
First of all, I would like to apologize if I made that sound too whiny. Moving on, I do not agree with this viewpoint. An author would not simply write a book in free verse for no reason. The structure and word choice of the poems that make up the book have probably been selected carefully by the author. While I do have to agree that this is not the best example of free verse in novels that I have seen, it is still alright. And I do not believe that it is too difficult to understand, as long as you look at it properly.

"Hopkins ended the book with, 'Because if there's one thing I've learned through all of this, it's to have faith in love.' I did not like this. Where did that come from? What about everything else?"

Okay, I have to say that I agree with this one. This really was not what I was expecting. What about the whole forgiving thing? Is that not important enough to put at the end? I suppose I kinda see how the love fits in with forgiveness, but I don't think that this theme was very strong throughout the book. More towards the end, I would say. Overall, I believe that there were some more important ideas/themes to end with...

"Why does the book discuss religion so much? I hate it! In the book, Matt hardly cares for any type of religion and the Christians shown in the book are portrayed as really rude! Ellen Hopkins shouldn't do that, and should be respectful towards all religions."

I actually like how Hopkins took the chance and wrote so openly about religion. After all, religion is something debated on and can actually cause a lot of conflict in the world. Also, so what if Matt isn't involved in religion? People can choose what they do and don't believe in. Yeah, maybe the Christians in the book are shown as rude. But this doesn't mean that all Christians are rude or homophobic. I'm sorry if this has hurt you, but, unfortunately, a good deal of people claim that being homosexual is wrong because the Bible says this. To add, just because the main character has these certain views towards religion, it doesn't mean that Hopkins is trying to say that all religion is wrong and that Christians are evil.

"Ew: the romance. More than I wanted."

Yeah...there was more romance than I wanted, too. But, hey: we have to accept that most teens will like romance in books. I am actually starting to believe that some authors include romance to make a book sell better...

"I hate Matt. I absolutely hate him. He's such a glass-half-empty sort of guy, and he's so judgy, too! And then he goes and whines about it? Ugh: how could anyone stand to read 500-something pages with him as the narrator?"
Okay, I hate to tell you this, but sometimes characters in books are going to be awful. I mean, every character has to have some sort of flaw. It just makes them more realistic. Also, the reason why Matt is "judgy" and "a glass-half-empty sort of guy" is because of what he has gone through. His life stinks, and hardly anything seems to go well for him, so wouldn't it be understandable if he's pessimistic? I'm not exactly sure where people are getting the "judgy" idea from, but perhaps it is because of his views towards those who were mean to him? Sure, he could be less "judgy", but that's something he'll learn and grow from.

"Such a rushed ending. Seriously?"
Yeah, that really was rushed. I think there was only about 30 pages left of the book once the climax came. Also, like I said in my book review of Rumble, Matt suddenly started to forgive and love himself and others because of one thing. I didn't like this because 1) it was very quick, and 2) it seemed a little unrealistic. Not everyone will learn to forgive themselves due to a big accident.

"I like the open-mind concept of the book."
I do too. This book did deal with a lot of open-mindedness, including having an open-mind on homosexuality, depression, divorce, love, etc.

Well, that ends my "little" book discussion on Rumble. Don't agree with me? Have more to say? Then feel free to leave a comment below!

[If anyone is still reading this, I would like to apologize for our inactivity on Instagram. We are going through something right now, and I, Julia, usually take care of most of the things, but this thing has been bothering me quite a bit, so I have not felt like staying active. My apologies.]