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23rd out of 200 books
—
489 voters
So Much to Tell You (So Much to Tell You #1)
by
John Marsden
Scarred, literally, by her past, Marina has withdrawn into silence. Then, at her new boarding school, she is set the task of writing a diary by her English teacher, and finds a way of expressing her thoughts and feelings and of exploring the traumatic events that have caused her distress. Through Marina's diary we gain an insight into life on her dormitory, and her difficu...more
Paperback, 150 pages
Published
2004
by Walker Books
(first published January 1st 1987)
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Re-read October 1st, 2011 after finding it at the bookswap! And I almost didn't get it because I've read it, but then I had donated 30+ books and could thus take 30+ books home with me, so it wasn't like it was going to cost me anything to add another to the pile, you know? (I ended up with 17, I think.)
Anyway. OMG YOU GUYS I had forgotten how amazing and incredible this book was!! Or, had never really realised just HOW awesome it is, because I was only 11 or 12 the first time I read it, and tho...more
Anyway. OMG YOU GUYS I had forgotten how amazing and incredible this book was!! Or, had never really realised just HOW awesome it is, because I was only 11 or 12 the first time I read it, and tho...more
Jan 07, 2008
Rosianna
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time"
Shelves:
favourite-books
Beautifully written - I'm always admirable of males who write in the shoes of a female and you would never know as the accuracy is remarkable. The concept, the execution, I just loved it all, and was in tears by the end.
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"So much to tell you" is a beautifully written novel, exploring the realms of silence within a girl. She speaks to no one, but after set the task of writing a diary at school she starts expressing her thoughts and emotions through it. As a reader you are pulled into the tragic, sad story and as the book develops later exploring the "traumatic events that have caused her distress." The book is addicting from the first page on, and with its descriptive language and deep entries, the book plunges y...more
Told over six months in the format of a journal kept for English class, a young 14 year old girl struggles to keep her head above water. Acid burns on her face show her as deformed and her silence tells you she's a freak but she's more than that and under her fear and sadness there is a person who is desperate to be free.
Placed into a boarding school by a selfish mother who simply can't stand seeing her daughters deformed face or stand her unwavering silence Marina tries her best to keep from...more
the story of the girl whos life is too complecated to put it in 2oo pages! she is a good (if it posibly be good) example of an outsider - she is always along with her sad thoughts, nobody to share exitment with. she is the girl you won't like to meet in your life full with colours! her mum doesn't pay any attention to daughters' problems, instead she sends her to and a boarding school to learn how to speak again. If anybody wants to stert a relationship with her they won't be happy of her reacti...more
Jun 22, 2011
Td
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Td by:
www.johnmarsden.com.au
Marina is shipped off to a boarding school as a last ditch attempt to get her to talk. The problem is where does she begin? 'So Much To Tell You' is one of those gripping stories that comes along once in a blue moon. Marina was hurt by someone close and since she has not spoken a word. After a stint in a mental hospital the doctors thought it would be a good idea to get her into a school environment. Over the course of the book, as she starts to trust those around her, her past is revealed. The...more
A young girl with trauma in her recent history starts afresh at a new boarding school. Unable to speak to her teachers, doctors or peers, she begins to confide in her journal...
Another week, another John Marsden novel to attach to my person until every page has been devoured. And this is the best one yet. Am I right in thinking this was his debut? If so, my god... In the last year, with all the edgy YA I've been sifting through, I've become used to my heart being broken and my emotions being rip...more
Another week, another John Marsden novel to attach to my person until every page has been devoured. And this is the best one yet. Am I right in thinking this was his debut? If so, my god... In the last year, with all the edgy YA I've been sifting through, I've become used to my heart being broken and my emotions being rip...more
Encore une fois, j'ai été emportée par l'écriture et la sincérité de John Marsden. Ce récit, récompensé en Australie notamment, a été écrit en trois semaines. Trois semaines pour écrire un livre d'une profondeur intense. Nous suivons l'héroine, Marina 14 ans, dans sa vie quotidienne dans un interant. Son cahier lui permet de nous faire part de sa vie, de ses peurs, de ses sentiments mais nous permet surtout d'entendre sa voix, chose que ses camarades, ses professeurs, sa famille, sont privés. Un...more
Jul 14, 2010
P.Sannie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
teenage girls
Recommended to P.Sannie by:
Linda
Shelves:
childrens-ya-books
I don't like fiction that's written in diary-form unless it's done well. So Much to Tell You is definitely in that category of well-written. It is the story of loneliness and the difficulties of being a teenager. Sure, it takes place in an all girls' boarding skill in Australia, but the themes are universal. Anyone who's been a lonely teenager will relate (and let's be honest, who HASN'T been a lonely teenager?). I love how the narrator, Marina, is so observant of the other girls in her class an...more
1 like · like · see review
Well... just like the other two books I read by John Marsden, this one was quite depressing. Marina is in a boarding school, she is fourteen years old, and we don't know what it is, but something is wrong with her face. Everyone either stares at her or does what they can to avoid her. She sees a lot more than people give her credit for, but she says nothing. Literally. Marina hasn't spoken since the incident with her mother and father. In the end, I suppose it is "resolved," but I don't see it...more
Hmmmn. Well, I liked it, but I did find it a little depressing. Not the type of book that I usually read, but it was good for a change. I think that John Marsden wrote it well, but maybe a little more humor or happiness to contradict the sad and depressing bits would have made it better. It does really convey the feelings of loneliness and isolation through Marina's journal though. I enjoyed reading it but I did not enjoy writing an English essay about it though, because I think that I failed th...more
This book packs quite a lot into a rather small package, and I liked every bit of it. I was drawn into Marina's world immediately, as soon as she started writing in her journal. And I found her descriptions of her fellow students and her wonderings about them, herself, and her family to be quite realistic. We're never told exactly what happened to Marina before the story starts, but must piece it together bits at a time as the story progresses. Given what I think I now know about that, I wasn't...more
I have read this book and and reading it again. When I first started this book I thought that it was going to another one of those depressing, negative girls with no family nor any friends to reley on. Though as I futher explored the book I began to see that is not just one of those books. As soon as Marina started to become more positive and less self conscious I started to enjoy the book more and more. I really liked this book also because in the diary not much information was given on her pas...more
After what happened to her face, Marina stopped talking. Completely. Even the people at the hospital couldn't help her find her voice again. In an almost hopeless, last-ditch effort, Marina is shuffled to a boarding school--where she's required to keep a journal. Ugh! Slowly, though, the secrets begin to pour from her spirit onto the paper. The more shape she can give to the nightmare, the more she is released from it. This is one of the most intelligent, realistic novels about post-traumatic st...more
This book was really good. It follows the story of Mariana, a 14 year old girl, while she is at a boarding school. Mariana's one issue is that she doesn't speak. She had some family issues along the way, and even though you never find out exactly what happened, you do connect the dots with the context clues found throughout the story. This book is written as though it is the journal she has to keep for school, so it has a very interesting point of view. Also, this book is set in Australia. I sug...more
So Much to Tell You is a very touching book, it is written in a diary form. I think that the way that it is told is not clear enough, I pieced together many things while reading the book, making it very effective.
The Character telling the story is not does not use many emotive language and is "withdrawn to silence" however, you can not help but to cry when she reunites with her dad and speaks...This story is full of mystery, Marina slowly hints about what her past was like and you do not know h...more
The Character telling the story is not does not use many emotive language and is "withdrawn to silence" however, you can not help but to cry when she reunites with her dad and speaks...This story is full of mystery, Marina slowly hints about what her past was like and you do not know h...more
so much to tell you is about a girl called marina and she is a boarder and what happend was that her parerents had a might and her dad had asid in his hands and he was ment to throw it at the mother but by accisent be threw it at the daughter and now her father was sent to prison and she was sent to boarding school. and so she starts her life as a boarder and she meets lovely people but the problem is that she is a cery quiet girl and she never talks. and so people start taking the miki out of h...more
My second hand edition of this book was signed by the author to someone called Erin. He wrote 'Erin, take risks, John Marsden'. Sound advice John and advice not often given to young women so bravo and thanks.
The story is spun out tantalisingly via the diary entries of a teenage girl who refuses to speak. Gradually we learn what happens to her and watch as she learns ways to communicate and find her voice. I'm really impressed with this book (as I am with Marsden's other work) so thanks again fo...more
The story is spun out tantalisingly via the diary entries of a teenage girl who refuses to speak. Gradually we learn what happens to her and watch as she learns ways to communicate and find her voice. I'm really impressed with this book (as I am with Marsden's other work) so thanks again fo...more
The book So Much to Tell You is about a 14 year old girl named Marina who gets transferred to a boarding school after being in a mental hospital in hopes to regain her speech. She has scars on her face due to her father throwing acid at her, which caused her to go into the mental hospital. She hasn’t spoken a word to anyone, not even herself, since the incident with her father. During her stay in the boarding school, she keeps a private journal that was assigned to her in her English class. At...more
Mar 13, 2013
Michael
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Michael by:
Angela
Life is very complicated for Marina. Shipped off to boarding school, in a world she doesn’t fit in with, trying to understand life. She sets out writing a journal for an assignment but she really takes to it and in the journal we find really what is going on within her head. She is socially awkward dealing with a tragic accident that has left her face scarred; and she hasn’t spoken a word since this incident.
I picked up this book on a couple of peoples recommendation; John Marsden really is a st...more
I picked up this book on a couple of peoples recommendation; John Marsden really is a st...more
So Much To Tell You by John Marsden is an Australian classic and I can’t believe I’ve not read it before now. It’s one of those books that I always thought I had read, but when I sat down with it last week, it wasn’t familiar at all. Which made me feel like a very Bad Australian.
Anyway, I’ve read it now and I can see why it’s such a classic. It’s raw and emotional and so authentic, which is particularly impressive when you consider this female-dominated story, told in diary style from the perspe...more
Anyway, I’ve read it now and I can see why it’s such a classic. It’s raw and emotional and so authentic, which is particularly impressive when you consider this female-dominated story, told in diary style from the perspe...more
12 likes · like · see review
‘So Much To Tell You’ is about a girl trying to understand her feelings after a trauma in her life. She is attending a boarding school as a 14 year old, and has started writing a diary as their English teacher encouraged them to write in them. Marina has had her face disfigured as part of an acid attack and is struggling with her feelings towards her father and mother. She has stopped talking altogether, and expresses herself through the diary. She is very withdrawn and self-conscious, not joini...more
I really only picked up this one because I've had John Marsden's Tomorrow series on my shelf since forever unread. I thought by reading one of Marsden's other non-series books that it would make me excited to read his Tomorrow books sooner than expected.
For me though, So Much To Tell You felt like very heavy reading. It isn't particularly long, but it felt dense. The story is told by Marina through diary entries at a boarding school in Australia. She's gone through some unknown trauma involving...more
For me though, So Much To Tell You felt like very heavy reading. It isn't particularly long, but it felt dense. The story is told by Marina through diary entries at a boarding school in Australia. She's gone through some unknown trauma involving...more
This is truly one of the worst books I have ever read. I have personal experience with a great deal of the topics described, and to be frank I cannot imagine how John Marsden could have screwed it up more. Some of it was downright offensive, in my humble opinion. Furthermore, the actual plot is virtually nonexistent and thus very dull and difficult to understand. I reached the end and was completely blown away that the book had ended. I was catatonic for about an hour. There was no closure to sp...more
“So Much to Tell You” is a Teenage Drama by John Marsden about Marina who lives in Australia with her parents. Her mom and dad don’t get along to well. Her dad attempts to throw a bucket of acid at her mom’s face, but Marina jumps in between trying to save her mom but instead half her face gets destroyed. After this her dad goes to jail, and Marina goes to the hospital. But after that she isn’t who she was before, she won’t speak. Her mom sends her to a boarding school so that she can get better...more
It’s about a girl called Marina who’s had a bad injury in her face caused by her father who accidentally spilled over her face which was supposed to go on her mother because she was having an affair with another man. So she’s going through a very hard time but at the end everything turns out okay.
Marina’s very shy at first and needs to get used to things, and doesn’t like to get into crowded places because of Her face, it’s heavily scarred because, the acid that was spilled over her face. But sh...more
Marina’s very shy at first and needs to get used to things, and doesn’t like to get into crowded places because of Her face, it’s heavily scarred because, the acid that was spilled over her face. But sh...more
The book ‘So Much To Tell You’ starts off with a teenage girl that has been injured by her father and no longer speaks. Her mother and stepfather decide to put her in an all girl boarding school hoping that she will one day speak again. On her first day of school her English teacher gives the class a journal thinking it will help them express themselves. Now the main character whose name is Marina writes in the journal every day but still does not speak. This book is based on a true story and is...more
In this book there is a one girl who can’t talk. Also her parents are not loving each other so that they are living not together. She was very lonely and she was also embarrassed about her face . She didn’t want to face her friends ,but after when she knew that her friends are liking her and notice her she becomes friendly to her friends. Also she is a real human and this book only changed her name.
I learned about my mother and father. They didn't really tell me seriously but they loved me and...more
I learned about my mother and father. They didn't really tell me seriously but they loved me and...more
So Much to Tell You
By John Marsden
“So Much to Tell You”, by John Marsden is a true story about a girl, by the name of Marina, whose face is horribly disfigured when her father mistakenly throws acid on her face during an argument with her mother. Marina is sent to a girls’ boarding school after the accident because her mother is frustrated that Marina stops speaking and she feels that the school will help her to speak again. This book is written in a diary form and tells of Marina’s life in the...more
By John Marsden
“So Much to Tell You”, by John Marsden is a true story about a girl, by the name of Marina, whose face is horribly disfigured when her father mistakenly throws acid on her face during an argument with her mother. Marina is sent to a girls’ boarding school after the accident because her mother is frustrated that Marina stops speaking and she feels that the school will help her to speak again. This book is written in a diary form and tells of Marina’s life in the...more
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His first book, So Much To Tell You, was published in 1987. This was followed by Take My Word For It, a half-sequel written from the point of view of another character. His landmark Tomorrow series is recognized as the most popular book series for young adults ever written in Australia. The first book of this series, Tomorrow When The War Began, has been reprinted 26 times in Australia. The first...more
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“I feel like I'm dropping such a long way down again." "I seem to be dropping into a cold dark wet place, where no one's been before and noone can every follow. There's no future there; just a past that sometimes fools you into thinking it's the future. It's the most alone place you can ever be and, when you go there, you not only cease to exist in real life, you also cease to exist in their consciousness and in their memories.”
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17 people liked it
“I wonder if they realize how much I notice about them They probably haven't a clue because I never look at them or show the slightest interest. But I'm very aware of everything. I remember seeing an old film once where a father says to his son: "Son when your mouth's open you're not learning anything." If that's true then I'm well on the way to becoming the world's wisest woman.”
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9 people liked it
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07. Juni, 11:23 Uhr