Speak

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Synopsis

I am clanless. I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with.

From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops-a major infraction in high-school society-so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her.

She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute.

But it's not so comfortable in her head, either-there's something banging around in there that she doesn't want to think about. Try as she might to it won't go away, until there is a particular confrontation.

Once that happens, she can't be silent-she must speak the truth. In this powerful novel, an utterly believable, bitterly ironic heroine speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while learning that, although it's hard to speak up for yourself, keeping your mouth shut is worse.

Copyright:
1999

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
198 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780374371524
Publisher:
N/A
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Laurie Halse Anderson
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Children's Books, Literature and Fiction, Education
Submitted By:
Mayrie ReNae
Proofread By:
Allison Hilliker
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

5 out of 5

By on

Speak is about as far away as a book can get from being a superficial teen novel. It's beautifully written, extremely funny in parts, and devastatingly emotional in others. One of the best words I can use to describe this story is chilling. I don't mean in a scary horror novel sort of way, but in the way that arises when a young girl experiences something terrible that no person should have to endure. The serious issues covered in this book are counter-balanced by Melinda's amusing running commentary on high school life. Her ironic and sarcastic observations seem to ring with a lot of truth. Even if you haven't been in high school yourself for years, it's likely that much of what Melinda says about teen life will make sense to you. The book follows Melinda through her freshman year, as she copes with issues like not having many friends, a strained relationship with her parents, teachers who don’t attempt to understand her, and a lack of motivation to do school work. All the while we are given glimpses into Melinda's past and the reasons for her depression. Anderson does an incredible job with getting into the head of a high school student and demonstrating her emotions and thought patterns accurately. It's fascinating to see Melinda grow, change, and... eventually... speak.