Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Morgan Cap.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel about Melinda Sordino, a freshman student. She is seemingly normal on the outside, but hides a dark secret that she cannot tell anyone. If I told you what exactly happened to her, it would ruin the twist ending. Her situation is relatable to lots of teens, so that's one of the reasons that I loved this book. I could empathize with Melinda's feelings at many points, which made it a fast paced read that I finished in about two days because I just couldn't put it down. From the moment she begins high school, she's strange, an outcast. The art room is the only place where she feels safe and she pours her feelings out into her artwork. Melinda is such a complicated character- it seems for me that whenever I thought I had her figured out, something would happen in the book and I would have to rethink everything again. Laurie Halse Anderson's complex storytelling style and abrupt, short chapters lend a feeling of a narrator who doesn't quite have all her priorities straight in life, and it suits Melinda's character perfectly. One of my favorite parts was when rebellious Melinda decides to cut Spanish class, and literally, the chapter is 'I didn't go to Spanish today, so conjugate this: I cut class, you cut class, he, she, it cuts class, we cut class, they cut class, you all cut class.' Speak is wry, complex, thought provoking and just plain awesome. Read it, you'll be glad you did.