Cover Image: Speak

Speak

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Member Reviews

I recently read the graphic novel version of this story rather than the novel. I think the visual imagery of the graphic novel is tragically perfect for this story. It’s an emotional and heartbreaking read that will resonate with many due to the high school themes of friendships and peer pressure.

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Wow - I completely understand why this is known as a modern YA classic at this point - such a gripping and realistic read, that I feel like the current trend of YA books have learned a lot from. Obviously set in a time period before phones/internet, the bullying at school cuts hard, and Melinda's character was incredibly honest and believeable. Tough but necessary!

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I thought this book was decent enough, and I understand why it is considered such a powerful book, the story and themes are timely even twenty years later. I can't necessarily say I really enjoyed this book though, I felt the story was somewhat flat, I had a hard time connecting to Melinda until the very end and I didn't like the journal/diary type style that the book was written in.

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This could be a very important book, it deals with subjects such as rape and depression that should be shared but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Something happens to Melinda at a party one night that understandably changes her, amongst other things she stops speaking. My main issue with this is that no one cares why she has changed so much in such a short time. Her teachers don’t question why her grades are dropping, none of her old friends want to know her and her parents think she’s doing it for attention. I just struggle with the idea that not one single person would bother to find out why.

I also felt the ending was a little rushed, especially in comparison to the rest of the story. I would have liked more; more detail, more reactions.. just more I guess.

Overall it was a well written book dealing with some serious topics but it could have been better and that’s why I’ve only given it 3 stars.

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Warning for this covers lots of issues that may trigger some people like sexual assault and coping with its aftermath. This is a an easy to read book as it’s so well written, but covers so much that’s hard, it’s worth it, but it isn’t a light or easy YA book, it’s gritty, real, depressing at times but also full of hope and the journey to heal and move on. A book that makes you think and question, should be recommended reading in schools.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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Speak does cover topics which some readers may find triggering. It is a story of sexual assault, the trauma associated with it and healing. It's dark,in parts terrifying but we think it's a novel that everyone should read at some point in their lives as it's as relevant to society today as it was 20 years ago when it was first published.

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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 it'll get to you), but you must read it. I can't believe it first came out 20 years ago as it is still so relevant in today's world. Speak was very well paced and I never found the story to be dragging or boring. I loved the character development and Melinda's voice throughout the story. Five stars.

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In this now classic YA, Laurie Halse Anderson tackles sexual abuse with honesty and the rawness that has come to define her books. Although not as personal or stylistically complex as Wintergirls, which depicts eating disorders, Speak is nonetheless a powerful account of rape, healing and trauma.

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I’ve been a big fan of Anderson for many years now but I’d never read speak (I know, weird). Despite its subject matter it was so easy to read, and realistic too. I think it should be on every schools reading list.

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When we first meet Melinda she’s starting high school and is regarded as a social outcast as she called the police at a party, getting a lot of kids in trouble. Throughout the year we see her ostracised, visibly struggling to do the day-to-day thing expected of her and there’s many references to how different she is. Obviously something happened, but nothing is explicitly said.
Showing Melinda’s year in this way is hard to read. It’s painful, and the distress I felt on her behalf was palpable. It frustrated me that nobody dug deeper and tried to work out why the change.
As the year progresses Melinda reveals some details. We learn she was raped at the party and that he goes to her new school. The actions and behaviours she exhibits make a lot more sense at this point.
Towards the end of the year she finds the strength to start to speak about her experience. When her attacked tries again, she’s ready for him and we’re applauding her every step of the way.
Perhaps this won’t ring true for every person who experiences such behaviour, but the message is clear. It would be nice to think that people who can do something about it would listen, but I suppose that’s another story.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my thoughts. I can't quite get my head around the fact this is 20 years old, and still nothing has really moved on.

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This is one of those books that everyone has heard about. It first came out in 1999 and I was aware of it as a child but it is only now that I have got round to it. I found that it didn't live up to the hype for me. The protagonist felt a bit shallow and whingy and for a large portion of the book - which isn't very long - nothing of substance happened. It didn't pack the punch I was expecting.

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Amazing book. Raw, honest and genuinely moving.

I never read Speak when it was first released, though I would have been the perfect age for it at the time. It was only much later that I heard of it, and somehow I never got round to reading it. So I was very glad of the chance to do so now.

I can honestly say I would recommend this book to all teens, and all adults as well. It captures perfectly the ordinary struggles of being a teen at school, then layers with that the altogether more harrowing struggle of living through something awful, whilst at the same time being ostracised as a result of that awfulness. Melinda is a wonderful character. She's depressed – that much is obvious – and drowning under the weight of what suddenly seem like trivial expectations as she tries to heal from a fundamental wound. Yet she never loses her dark sense of humour or her interest in the world around her. I could relate to her on so many levels.

The book is also brilliantly written. Laurie Halse Anderson has the ability to say a lot with very few words. She captures a realistic teenage voice, one that feels natural yet also describes everything perfectly. Nothing is overwritten. As much is said by the silences as by the words.

I can see why this book is considered to be a modern classic.

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I don’t really know where to start in reviewing this book, because honestly it just took my breath away. The raw emotion, the deep depressive hole that Melinda feels throughout the book, feels so real. Even at twenty years old, this still feels incredibly relevant in the post #metoo era.

I felt every emotion Melinda feels throughout the novel, from her numbness and inability to speak to trying to hide in baggy clothes and turning a janitor’s closet into a ‘safe’ place. It’s honest in its portrayal of Melinda’s ordeals, never shying away from showing everything ugly about high school life and the awful horrors beyond it. Melinda is a wonderful, multi faceted and deeply fascinating character and at times you wonder how, and if, she’s ever going to surface above what’s happened to her.

A large part of this attachment to Melinda is down to the wonderful writing. It manages to deliver so much in just over 200 pages, from a main character deeply broken and alone gasping for help, to secondary characters such as Melinda’s art teacher Mr Freeman who shows her the way to self expression through art. In particular, trees. It’s this imagery with trees, as Melinda struggles to cope, that reflects and runs parallels to Melinda’s trauma - and was brilliantly done.

Other secondary characters include new girl Heather, who doesn’t know Melinda’s recent past and her current status as school outcast. Melinda sees her as someone similar to who she use to be, eager to please and join groups to be popular and ‘fit in’. In many ways, the two of them use each other - Heather uses Melinda as a stepping stone to better friends, while Mel uses her as someone to soak up her abject loneliness. Someone who won’t ask questions about why she’s an outcast, and what happened at the summer party.

Another important character is Rachel, Mel’s ex-best friend, who although initially on the fringes of Melinda’s new world, doesn’t come into her direct path until near the end of the novel. <spoiler>This turning point forces Melinda to confront and admit what really happened at the party in order to protect her former friend from a similar fate.</spoiler> It’s this event that finally leads to Melinda regaining her voice, and her identity, and demonstrates that she’s a survivor. A tree with new branches.

Heartbreaking, inspiring, wonderful.

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I liked this, I thought it was funny and I liked Mel as a character. I wish there'd been a bit more resolution in the end

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Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. However, I hadn't realized this was just a re-release of the original novel... Perhaps, it would be better if in the blurb, one could state that this is a re-release of the original novel?

I never thought that I would complain about language being too simple, but that's what I felt about the language used in the novel, but thinking about it further, it sort of adds to the rhythm and effect of the story. It drives the plot forward and keeps the momentum going because at no point did I feel like I should stop reading because I was tired due to the way the language was formulated. Plot wise; good plot, although my only complaint would be that they would have explored the ending it a bit more, the climax of the novel didn't allow for a resolution for the readers. But fairly well written YA novel, no wonder it's so spoken about (see what I did there???).

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There is a silence in this novel. With declarative conscious communication fear, hurt and how a simple action can fracture a universe. Speak, will radiate with a reader. It will speak to you. Melinda’s journey to find herself and her voice comes through creativity and most of all love. This powerful novel is narrative like no other in its voice construction. Well worth a read!

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Told in an almost diarised style this book tells us about one school year told through the eyes of Melinda, a ninth grader (I’m not familiar with the American school system but I think this is the first year at high school?) At middle school she had a small group of friends but after a party gone wrong in the holidays she is now an outsider, she doesn’t care about school, dislikes most the teachers and is just a different person to how she was in middle school.

This isn’t a difficult book to read however it’s hard to comprehend that even her parents don’t notice how much she has transformed beyond her grades and what school tell them. It’s easy to feel sympathy towards Melinda despite her spiky attitude as it does reflect well on the impact of a victims life after an assault that they are scared to discuss and the style of the book and the quick chapters make it easy to digest.

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