Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Imagine walking through the hallways all alone on the first day of high school. No one is friendly anymore. Old friends reject. People look and whisper. They say “Remember that girl who ruined the party? There she is.” 

But they don’t understand. That is the everyday life of one unfortunate teenage girl. Speak is a realistic fictional novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson. This story takes place in Syracuse, New York during a school year. It is about a thirteen year old girl named Melinda Sordino. She and her friends were invited to a high school end of summer party. The bash was filled with senior boys, inappropriate dancing, and tons of beer kegs. As a naive incoming ninth grader, Melinda drank one cup of beer from the keg. Later on, she wanted more and then she felt nauseous. As she went away from the hectic scene to calm herself down, a popular incoming twelfth grade boy named Andy Evans gave Melinda a gentle kiss. What was meant to be an innocent gesture turned out to be an attack that left Melinda helplessly under Andy’s heavy body. Once he left she called the police. People thought she called to report the underage drinking. Once the officers came, they broke up the party, arrested people, and disappointed party going teenagers. With the students knowing that Melinda caused the end of the party, she was shunned by everyone. She was abandoned by her “best friends.” They didn’t want anything to do with the girl the ruined the best party of the summer. The problem was that Melinda wasn’t brave enough to speak up about what Andy did to her.   So much fear was bottled up inside that she barely talked and always got in trouble. During the school year, she figured that if she couldn’t tell anyone about her problem, she could easily forget about the incident. She met a new girl named Heather who later rejected her because she felt that Melinda was too much of a bummer to be around. She had no friends once again. Although she didn’t have friends, she still managed to hear her fair share of gossip. Her old middle school best friend, Rachel, started dating the boy Melinda feared the most, Andy Evans.  Melinda saw that she wasn’t close to Rachel anymore but still felt like it was her duty to watch out for her. Melinda told Rachel about the calamity between her and Andy. Rachel refused to believe her. Rachel was positive that Andy was too perfect to do such a thing. Andy later invited Rachel to the prom and he tried to force her to do things she didn't want. After his ruthless actions, Rachel finally believed Melinda. Then, Andy came to Melinda and told her she had a big mouth and that she was ruining everything. He again tried to attack her but this time, she screamed NO and caught the lacrosse team’s attention. She finally spoke up. 

      When I was initially reading this book, I felt that it was random and all over the place. Then as I got closer to the end, everything started to make sense. Everything tied together.  I liked this novel because it was realistic. It was something people my age could understand. I think this book is suitable for readers ages thirteen and up. Overall, the book was fantastically written with specific details that made the visual picture of this piece of writing extremely vivid.  For this reason, it is not suitable for younger readers.    

Reviewed by Adaora

This Youtube video is for a trailer for a movie based on the novel.  It stars Kristen Stewart before her Twilight days.

Speak is often a controversial book because of the subject  matter that it covers.