Book Review

Huffman, Hailey

November 3, 2016

English, Period 4

 

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson

Fiction

198 pages

National Book Award Finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist, Los Angeles Time Book Prize Finalist, Winner of eight book awards, Finalist for eleven more

 

 

          The novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Andersdon, is about a girl named Melinda Sordino’s first freshmen year going horribly wrong. She went to a end-of-summer party where something really bad happened to her involving a boy named Andy so she called the cops, causing the party to be busted and also causing everyone to hate her. She was miserable and she always said she was guilty but little do her friends know, she called the cops for a different reason other than calling the cops about the party, which was what her friends thought she did. She’s avoided by everyone and is bullied harshly. She tries telling one of her friends about what happened at the party but she doesn’t believe Melinda, causing everyone to hate her more. But when she not only speaks, but shows the truth, everything changes.

           This book made me feel all of the emotions, like sadness, happiness, and even confidence because when Melinda gained confidence, so did I because it was really inspiring. When she finally told her friends about Andy, they didn’t believe her until Melinda punched Andy in the face and the whole school knew what really happened at the party. This book is very mature so I do not recommend to people who are immature because this book contains a lot of serious topics. The end of the book was amazing, although they did leave a little bit of a cliff hanger, because it gives the readers some time to imagine of what Melinda said to the teacher when her art teacher asked about everything that is going on with her life.

“I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, and ax I can take to my memories and fears?”