Review of Speak

I finally got around to reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson last week. I had never even heard of the book until I read about someone in Missouri trying to ban it (sorry, I don't want to mention his name). But I suppose I should thank this random book-banner, because Speak was incredible.

Here's the official description from Amazon:

Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.

I loved just about everything about this novel. The voice was incredible. I was so jealous throughout reading it. In my dreams I would write this brilliantly. The subject matter is dark, but that makes the story all the more compelling. Even though I'm twelve years away from high school, Anderson's descriptions of the cruelty and loneliness of high school twisted my stomach into knots and made me feel for Melinda.

My favorite scene was probably when Melinda reveals her secret to her former best friend. They write notes back and forth in study hall. The friend is initially sympathetic, but when Melinda speaks (or writes) the truth onto that paper and her friend calls her a liar, it just cut through me. The whole thing was so real and so true to life.

This book should be required reading for every high schooler. I'm embarrassed to think that I went thirty years without reading it. I'm glad that the campaign to ban it brought it to my attention, especially since the book has not been removed from the school in question.

Haven't read Speak yet? Do you yourself and favor and run out and get it now!

-- Lisa