The other night my hubby and I met with some of my best friends (and their partners) for our annual Christmas dinner. I couldn't think of anything I wanted more for Christmas off them than books, so I put my requests in a while ago. About 3 months ago I was contemplating writing a novel about depression as I have suffered from it on and off since I was 15, and in my research I discovered a book that screamed at me to be read. It was called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and I asked Rach to get it for me for Christmas. She did. I have since moved away from the idea of depression as a theme for a novel, but that's not relevant. I may revisit it at another time.
Anyway, I had to take my husband to hospital 2 nights ago (he's fine now) and while we waited the agonising eight hours in emergency, I dug out Speak and started to read it.
Here is the blurb off the cover of the book:
'Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-school party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. It's no use explaining it to her parents; they've never known what her life is really like. The safest place for Melinda 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 admitted it and let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have no choice. She would have to speak the truth.'
Oh. My. Goodness.
I haven't read a book this good in a very long time. I know what it's like to have a tough time at school and this touched me deeply. The way Anderson captured the internal and external voices of high school students (especially Melinda) was phenomenal and the way she wrote the book was superb. I love books that are written a little differently.
This novel covers some very important issues that plague children at school and have done so for a long time. It's even being studied at schools now I think, which is wonderful. Speak was sad, dark, funny, and witty and had me captivated from the first word, to the last. It was amazing.
I won't be posting many reviews over the next 4 weeks or so due to Christmas/New Years festivities, but I am still reading and will post my reviews when the holiday season comes to a close.
Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!
Sam I Am
Have just found your blog, and love it! This book is definitely on my reading list now!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cindy! It's great to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the book, but I saw the movie a few years ago. It stars Kristen Stewart as Melinda...before she was Bella/famous. A much better role for her.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the book is better than the movie though, they always are.
This is the story of Melinda Sordino starting high school as an outcast. Why is she an outcast? She called the police at a party, her friends freaked out, and now nobody talks to her. She had a reason why she called. Something happened to her. Something she doesn't tell anyone about. Something she keeps bottled up inside of her. She stops talking. To everyone. Why should she speak? Her old friends have their own cliques now, and the new girl doesn't stick around too long before getting a clique of her own. Melinda finds solace in art, where she is given the project of creating art from the word "tree". As the school year progresses, she progresses slowly, learning to deal with school and her classmates and trying to deal with what happened to her.
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