"THE FIRST TEN LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL1. We are here to help you.2. You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.3. The dress code will be enforced.4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.5. Our football team will win the championship this year.6. We expect more of you here.7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen.8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.9. Your locker combination is private.10. These will be the years you will look back on fondly."I'm trying to think of ways to go about describing this book, and I'm not really sure how to start. It's dark, depressing, terrifying, and amazing. Everyone should read it. You might hate it (and I'll get to you), but you must read it. The story starts with Melinda, the narrator, starting 9th grade. Everyone, even her old friends, won't talk to her. It's revealed that during the summer Melinda called the cops on a party and it got busted - a few people got arrested, and now everyone hates her. Something happened to Melinda at that party, something she hasn't told anyone about. She retreats into herself, withdrawing from school, her family, and any possibility of friendship. It isn't until the middle of the story that we learn what really happened at the party, but Anderson gives us a big fat hint in this scene where Melinda and her lab partner dissect a frog in biology class:"Our frog lies on her back. Waiting for a prince to come and princessify her with a smooch? I stand over her with my knife. Ms. Keen's voice fades to a mosquito whine. My throat closes off. It's hard to breathe. I put out my hand to steady myself against the table. David pins her froggy hands to the dissection tray. He spreads her froggy legs and pins her froggy feet. I have to slice open her belly. She doesn't say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut - I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, leaves in my hair."Holy god. Remember what I said about the terrifying stuff? The main reason I loved this book is because I was very, very similar to Melinda in high school. Her attitude about school, her cynicism towards the whole "high school is the best time of your life" crap, her opinions about classes and teachers and the uselessness of guidance counselors...that was me. I kind of wished I could transport myself into the story, so Melinda and I could sneer at pep rallies together. And then I felt bad, because nothing bad happened to me in high school. Nothing like the stuff Melinda went through. She had a reason for being so withdrawn and unhappy and angry about everything. I didn't. It's sort of an unpleasant realization - wow, I was a total snot for absolutely no reason. I was okay with this eventually, but some people might not be. I can imagine someone criticizing this story for being too emo, or saying that Melinda was too much of a downer. (Okay, I didn't want to give away spoilers, but I can't talk about my next point without revealing some stuff. So, just to be clear...HERE BE SPOILERS, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED:)Then again, they could be like a certain reviewer YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE who wrote, and I quote, "I'm so sick of this [sic:] stories about girls who got raped and spend the entire book pitying themselves."*takes breath, counts to ten.*Apparently Laurie Halse Anderson gets this a lot. My edition of the book has an interview with her, and she said, "I have gotten one question repeatedly from young men. These are guys who liked the book, but they are honestly confused. They ask me why Melinda was so upset about being raped." I'm...they...why...what the fuck. I think I need to go sit in a corner and do some yoga breaths, be back later. Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature
Maybe I'm being too cynical, and that the protagonist (I forgot her name already, so I'm just going to call her Jane) did go through something worth lamenting for 200 pages. But for God's sake just because your character is a silent withdrawn introvert doesn't mean your plot has to be the same, it's 150 pages of nothing then BAM! she speaks up! finds courage! The end!!!! LOOK MY HEART IS BLEEDING AND YOU CAN HEAR MY SCREAMS BECAUSE IM LITERALLY TALKING LIKE THIS!!!!! This has to be the worst psychological portrayal of selective mute I've ever read. Ms. Anderson, please don't ever consider a career in counseling. Also, if you're writing about contemporary art, please have the decency to at least read about postmodernism. Look, I'm not saying sketches, oil and print making can't be cutting edge, but Jane's A+ art works make me want to throw up. Her art teacher is meant to be a bohemian liberal artist, but I can see why he ended up teaching high school. To be fair you can't judge a work by reading vague descriptions of its visual composition, but drawing a depressed tree is not conceptual art, and whining about corporate fascism doesn't make you an artist either. Jane is utterly talentless. I wish my current art critic tutor is as forgiving as her art class. The snail pace monologues are full of anguish, you half expect it to boil down to some psycho sadistic plot twist but your common sense tells you this is a book marketed towards teenagers. And yes the ending is disappointing, but I'm so glad Jane is done with her anger management issue.
What do You think about Speak (2001)?
Once I finished reading the last word I knew I was going to reread it. Yes that profound.Honest. Authentic. Real. Use all those words and their synonyms and you have this book. I literally wanted to hop into the sea of words and tell Melinda Sordino " I'll be your friend! Don't despair !" Alas I couldn't do that though. I had to see her struggle. It's painful but since I watched the movie (which was done well by the way) first before reading the book I knew where she was coming from. Melinda's voice was so...normal. She wasn't there to make you like her or hate her. She just who she really was. I liked her immensely though and in real life think would have been friends with her. Her whole take on high school was hilarious and kind of scarily accurate. I totally love the character of David Petrakis. He would have been my hero in ninth grade. No joke. The cover fits the story like a glove. Not all book jackets can boast that, so let's give the jacket cover artist a round of applause!!! Ok I need stop raving about the cover so much but I couldn't help it. The visual person inside of me had to let it out.Melinda is never really described in detail of how she look likes, so you get the sense the author wanted to make her as relatable as possible, and that she is. We all might not have had to go through the same demons she has, but I know we all have felt alone and without help and that is what makes her the perfect narrator. The ending was done so utterly well I'm not sure I can say anything about it. I'd probably give it away if I try. Let's just say getting back at people is very rewarding.It is getting added to my all time favorites. If you like this book read You Don't Know Me. Not quite the same style but definitely the same feel.
—Cara
"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time."Silence dominates Melinda Sordino’s freshman year in Merryweather High School. A recent traumatic experience that led to a very complicated misunderstanding sent a sudden collapse on her being. Aside from being completely mute in public, Melinda’s private and social life is in ruins. Slowly, she began to lose interest in everything, including her family and school. If possible, she also wants to lose the memory of that traumatic night. Abandoned and confused, Melinda longs for someone to comfort her. And so, since no one seems to care and listen, she privately engages in these heartbreaking monologues. "My face becomes a Picasso sketch, my body slicing into pieces."Social stigmatization is not just cultural. It happens everywhere. It is most difficult when uninformed perceptions push a person into self-ostracism. Secrets and stigma are the most prominent theme on Melinda’s account of her freshman year. The first person narration of Speak is its best character. And Melinda’s monologues drove a great impact, making it very personal for every reader. "You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against."Strongly, this book stressed how important family relationship is. Harmony within our home is the best comfort and security for our children, they become more open. Encouraging our children to speak up boldly (but respectful) without fear of being punished or humiliated may be their best way to survive and lead a healthy life.
—Louize
Wow. I started reading this to entertain myself on a long subway ride home at 2 am, thinking I'd skim a bit and start reading it the next day. The next time I looked at the clock it was five in the morning and I was devouring the last lines of the novel. It is dangerously, fantastically gripping, not necessarily because the plot is so amazing, but because Anderson gets Melinda's voice so very, very right. Melinda is such a thoughtfully rendered portrait of a smart, funny, terribly depressed teenager that I was hooked from her very first lines. To me, the actual story was almost extraneous—the plot itself is a bit unwieldy—but Melinda's anxiety, isolation, and desperate attempts to cope with the horrors of adolescence were so real it was spooky.
—Mary
