Book Review: "Speak"

By Nicole Perry
STAFF WRITER

Some people loved their four years of high school and would do anything to go back. Others would rather forget high school existed. High school is hard for anyone because a person is labeled on their first day of freshman year. That’s exactly what happened to Melinda Sordino, the main character in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak.

Speak begins when Melinda calls the police on an end-of-the-summer party. Her ex-best friends won’t talk to her and everyone else hates her. They think she called the police because of the loud party and underage drinking, but in reality, it was for something entirely different.

Refusing to speak to anyone, Melinda’s existence has come down to eating, sleeping and going to school when she feels like it. She finds refuge in her art and skipping school. She runs to her home-away-from-home: an abandoned janitor’s closet where she mostly hides from IT. IT is someone who haunts her nightmares and is the reason why she refuses to speak.

Most of the book takes place inside Melinda’s head as she observes her life during her first year of high school. It’s where she reveals to the readers, “I am Outcast.” Her only friend is Heather, who transferred to the school from a different state and desperately tries to fit in, bringing Melinda along with her.

When Heather finds her clique, she leaves Melinda all alone. Again, Melinda’s grades plummet and she becomes almost mute. The only person who wants her to succeed is her art teacher. He teaches her to express her feelings on paper.

Her glass-half-empty attitude has her brain saying “It’s easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie.

Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” But when she finally does express herself, her voice is finally heard.

Fast forward a couple of marking periods. When she sees that her former best friend may suffer the same fate she did, Melinda decides to tell her the reason why she called the police that night. As the last few pages of the novel unfold, Melinda looks her “beast” in the eyes, finally finds her voice and speaks.

This page turner will have you laughing at some parts, feeling sorry for Melinda as she endures the everyday life of high school and smiling when she speaks.

Halse Anderson sheds light on a touchy subject with some comedic pages as to not depress the reader with such a delicate issue.

The Horn Book stated in its review about Anderson’s book that it’s “an uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.”