Simone Elkeles (born April 24th, 1970) is an American author. She was born and raised in the Chicago area. Simone is a New York Times Bestselling young adult author. And, USA Today bestselling author. She is known for her teen romance “Perfect Chemistry” trilogy and “How to Ruin” trilogy. She started writing in 2000, her first book “How to Ruin a Summer Vacation” came out in 2006. “Perfect Chemistry” won the 2010 RITA Award for Best Young Adult Romance from the Romance Writers of America.
“Perfect Chemistry” came out 23 December 2008, published by Walker Books for Young Readers. In this novel, the story takes place on the outskirts of Chicago. The place is divided by north and south. In this novel, everyone knew that the south siders and the north siders are not getting along together. As in every book or movie; there are always some rich or poor people that does not live together. Like in this story.
On the north side, they usually live in big houses, are rich, everything was perfect, were athletics, and popular. south is completely opposite of north. On the south side, lives the Mexicans, people live by train tracks, people were in gangs, is a dangerous area, and is known as “a lower class”. Brittany Ellis is forced to be lab partner in chemistry with Alejandro Fuentes, or Alex. They live two completely different lives on two different sides of Chicago. Alex and his friend bets that he cannot get Brittany in bed, so Alex starts to flirt with her. When they start to know each other, they slowly start to fall in love with one another.
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Because of their family and friends, it is difficult to be together. Alex is part of a dangerous gang, the Latino Bloods, and Brittany’s family wants the best for her. Alex scares Brittany away, because he is afraid of losing her too, since the loss of his father. He realizes that he cannot live without her, he quits the gang and lives with the consequences. Brittany also quit the cheerleading squad to be with him. He promised to never leave her again.
It is used different literary devices like dialogue, irony, and symbolism in this novel. Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. For example, when they were forced to be lab partners; Brittany “I don´t date guys in gangs, and I don´t use drugs.”. Then Alex answers “I don´t date guys in gangs, either, and I’m not a user”. This is also a little humoristic. Irony is a use of words in such a way in which the intended meaning is completely opposite to their meaning. For example, when Alex acts so cool and says that he never will fall in love with a girl like Brittany.
He did fall in love with her. The last one was symbolism. That is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. One symbol in this novel was when Brittany was wearing her designer clothes. People thought that she was showing off what she had and how rich she was. But she only wanted to make her mom happy. The themes of the novel are love and pressure. The conflicts come from the love that Brittany and Alex has for each other. Alex sacrificed so many things, like his gang, for talking to Brittany. They also suffer a lot of pressure from their friends and family about being together. So, discrimination is also a theme.
The title of the novel relates to the theme love. The “Perfect Chemistry” title relates to that they were forced to be lab partners in chemistry, but it turned out that they have such a strong chemistry and are perfect together. The climax of this novel is when the gang leader of the Latino Bloods, tell Alex to go and sell drugs to someone. He does not want to do this since his father died because of drugs. Paco, his best friend, takes his place without him knowing, because he does not want Alex to risk his life. Alex finds that out and goes to save Paco, little did he know that it was too late. Paco is dying, and he is bleeding all over. Alex says that he is feeling Paco´s pain like it is his own.
Alex says that everything will be fine, but he knows that he is lying to himself and to Paco. Paco dies. The leader of the gang tries to kill Alex, but he fights back. According to that, he gets shot, but he managed to kill the leader. There are several different conflicts throughout the story. The main conflict of the story is that Alex and Brittany suffer a lot of pressure from their friends and family about being together. Brittany and Alex are falling in love with each other, but certain circumstances like that Alex must protect his family, and to stay safe within the Latino Blood, make their romance a struggle.
Alex’s family and fellow gang members think that Brittany is too flighty and judgemental, while Brittany’s family and friends believe that Alex is a bad influence and want her to go back to Colin. Alex seeks to avenge the murder of his father and wants to leave the Latino blood to be with Brittany, but both are extremely dangerous. The resolution of the conflict is that Brittany breaks free from the pressure of being the head cheerleader, and resolves family matters. Alex eventually leaves the Latino Blood, even though the consequences are really dangerous. Brittany Ellis is one of the protagonist, or main character, of the novel. She lives on the north side of Chicago.
She is known as the richest girl in the school. She looks like every popular girl in books or movies; blonde hair, blue eyes, is a cheerleader, and has a perfect body according to all the boys. But she is also kind, caring, down to earth, and a strong person. Alejandro Fuentes, or Alex, is the other protagonist of the novel. He lives on the south side of Chicago. He is the opposite of Brittany. He has many tattoos, black hair, beautiful eyes, and is really attractive. Alex is a bad boy that people are scared to mess with. Alex is part of a gang named the Latino Bloods. But behind all that, he has a kind heart. Hector is the main antagonist, or enemy, of the novel. He is the leader of the Latino Bloods.
Collin is another antagonist. He is Brittany´s boyfriend. Collin is trying to convince Brittany to have sex with him, and is also cheating on her behind her back. Darlene is also an antagonist. She is Brittany´s very good friend in the beginning. But Darlene wants to steal Brittany´s popularity and her boyfriend. The mood in this novel is love, and also kind of fear. The two main characters are scared to be together because of the family and friends. The people are stereotypes, and think that the “perfect” Brittany has to be with the perfect guy, not Alex. People are really judgemental in this story.
So the mood is also a bit tense between the people from the north and south side. The point of view is first person. There are two different perspectives. One of the two main characters has one chapter, then it changes to the other main character. It starts and ends with Brittany. The author uses this kind of perspective and point of view to create a relationship between the two main characters and the reader. The narrator is reliable, because it is more personal when it is two characters that describes what they see and go through.
