Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak

Like I mentioned when I rolled for options for realistic fiction, I have read this book before, but I didn't review it on here. I'm so glad I picked it up again and reread it. I finished this book in one day, it's quick, engaging, and powerful.

Melinda Sordino is an outcast. Her friends have all abandoned her and no one will speak to her. What's worse, Melinda finds herself not caring about anything. Her grades slip, she cuts class, and she almost doesn't care about her complete lack of friends. She also stops speaking, almost entirely. What happened?

This book does deal with sexual violence and rape, however I believe that it's a story that must be told. So many young girls (predominately) will find themselves in a position where they don't consent to what's happening to them (and let's be clear, minors CAN'T consent) but they don't know how to stop it. After it's happened, they also don't know how to talk about it, or how to tell anyone, particularly because sexual violence is often connected with shame. We see this in Melinda's story, and how free she finally is after she's finally able to start talking about what happened to her.

I love Melinda's character, though she's frustrating at times. She often sees the world through a shade of sarcastic, dark humor that seems to be the only thing keeping her going.

The writing of this book is so interesting. I like how Anderson gives small hints throughout the story that let us know that something big happened, but Melinda (as narrator) isn't ready to address them yet. She calls the boy who raped her "IT," and slowly more and more is revealed about what happened. That slow progression is well done and keeps us guessing around what's happened.

In all, this book is one of my favorites, and probably always will be. It's an important conversation to have, especially now that kids have so much access to the internet.

I rate this book

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Comments

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