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Feb 20, 2012

Cara rated it:

Once I finished reading the last word I knew I was going to reread it. Yes that profound.

Honest. Authentic. Real. Use all those words and their synonyms and you have this book. I literally wanted to hop into the sea of words and tell Melinda Sordino " I'll be your friend! Don't despair !" Alas I couldn't do that though. I had to see her struggle. It's painful but since I watched the movie (which was done well by the way) first before reading the book I knew where she was More...

6 comments like (48 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2008

Alex rated it:

I'm a teen (a stupid freshman)so this book is supposed to be for me. Ah-heh.

I was assigned this book in my English class, the majority of which had read it before and endlessly praise it for it's brilliance and resonating and talented beauty. The first warning that dropped my expectations a little about this book was that my peers liked it.

This book annoyed me. I find it weird that the my fellow teens say they can relate to this book so well. They must have had horrible l More...

69 comments like (132 people liked it)

May 13, 2010

Madeline rated it:

"THE FIRST TEN LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
1. We are here to help you.
2. You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.
3. The dress code will be enforced.
4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.
5. Our football team will win the championship this year.
6. We expect more of you here.
7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen.
8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.
9. Your locker combina More...

24 comments like (154 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2008

Jessica rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (47 people liked it)

May 04, 2011

Kwesi 章英狮 rated it:

Before everything else, I don't have any idea that this award winning book really exist in the realm of books and another reason, is that I am a big fan of reading award winning literature for children and young adult that I never heard of Speak or Lauri Halse Anderson. But after I met a group of YA fanatic and a not-really-a-hater reader of this book, they discussed it while I'm listening to their reactions, good and bad comments and different interpretation of the book while I'm trying to focu More...

63 comments like (15 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2011

Thomas rated it:

"Speak" is about Melinda Sordino, an angst-filled freshman who is hated by all of her "best friends" because she called the cops during the end of the summer senior party. Everyone got busted. Her parents aren't much help either, always fighting about what's best for Melinda and communicating through post-it notes on the refrigerator wall. These are only a few of the things that have Melinda depressed. When what really happened at the senior party is revealed, it will be easy More...

9 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2011

Louize rated it:

"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time."

Silence dominates Melinda Sordino’s freshman year in Merryweather High School. A recent traumatic experience that led to a very complicated misunderstanding sent a sudden collapse on her being. Aside from being completely mute in public, Melinda’s private and social life is in ruins. Slowly, she began to lose interest in everything, including her family and school. If possible, she wants also to lose t More...

9 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Mary rated it:

Wow. I started reading this to entertain myself on a long subway ride home at 2 am, thinking I'd skim a bit and start reading it the next day. The next time I looked at the clock it was five in the morning and I was devouring the last lines of the novel. It is dangerously, fantastically gripping, not necessarily because the plot is so amazing, but because Anderson gets Melinda's voice so very, very right. Melinda is such a thoughtfully rendered portrait of a smart, funny, terribly depressed More...

1 comment like (27 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Heather rated it:

I honestly don't know how to do this book justice. I can certainly see how Anderson earned her stellar reputation. Speak is truly extraordinary and expertly done.

At the start of her Freshman year, Melinda finds herself a social pariah, having been dumped by all of her friends after attending a summer bash gone wrong, resulting in Melinda calling the cops and earning herself a leper status. While the events that occurred at the party remain a mystery until nearly the end of the st More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2008

Erin rated it:

Possibly the worst piece of literature that has ever disgraced the human race with it's presence.

The character is whiney, unsensible, and totally a trumped up stereotype of an angsty teenage girl. There is nothing remotely touching about the story. In fact, in the end, you might find that you wish that she had been punched in the face. The character is a depressed bimbo that has all of the answers but refuses them all. She is also completly self-absorbed and complains about everythin More...

67 comments like (35 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2012

Veronica added it

Much has been said about how important this book is for teens, particularly those who have experienced what Melinda experiences, and I agree with that. But what I was surprised to discover as I read it was that I really enjoyed it, apart from its "message". It did not beat me over the head with its depressing-ness--it was understated, not unbearable. Likewise, even the message wasn't heavy-handed. Melinda's voice is rich, authentic, and often funny. Despite its tendency toward descript More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2010

jzhunagev rated it:

"Don't expect to make a difference unless you speak up for yourself."

Dare to Speak Up!
(A Book Review by Laurie Halse Andersen’s Speak)

"Where can you run to escape from yourself?"

That line taken from the song Dare You to Move by the band Switchfoot come to mind while I was reading Speak by Laurie Halse Andersen, more so when I completely got to know Melinda Sordino from its pages and the traumatic experience she’s been through.

More...

22 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Michael rated it:

Just before the start of her freshman year, Melinda attended a party and ended up having to call the police. The police showed up, broke up the party and everyone there is mad at Melinda. She becomes an outcast, retreating into herself and becoming a shadow of her former self. The only connection she feels to the outside world is in her art class, where she's given the year-long project of creating art work around the theme of trees.

Of course, it's easy to figure out early on that More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2011

Amelia rated it:

Originally posted on The Authoress: Book Review and More.

It’s reads true: “…darkly funny story of a teenage outcast.” If this were an upbeat story about something completely different, I would have greatly enjoyed Melinda’s sense of humor and wit and her skill for imagination. But combining it with her ordeal and suddenly, it sings a sinister tune. I think her wit made her real and made us more connected with her character. So, even if we can’t identify with her on a personal More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Maureen rated it:

Since the beginning of her freshman year, Melinda has been speaking less and less, to her parents, teachers, and to the friends who have abandoned her because she called the police at a party during the preceding summer. The silence represents the emotional paralysis she is suffering because of an unspeakable trauma she endured at that infamous party.This is an honest and real depiction of teen-age suffering, not only the physical pain caused by the trauma of a sexual molestation, but the emotio More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2008

Alicia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2008

Laurie rated it:

Just ok. I was disappointed with the ending, and felt that there was an element of glorification in this book that I didn't appreciate.

Although I loved the fact that she finally started speaking up, I felt like it got wrapped up a little too quickly and that the ending was a little unrealistic. Having been through this myself I can say that 9 times out of 10 you don't get closure or retribution, and usually there is no one swooping in to save you either. I think it potentially put More...

3 comments like (14 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2012

Blake rated it:

There is always a danger in books that deal with "social issues" that the author will fall into commonly didactic phrasing and drain the blood of a book, rather than infuse it. This is probably even more common in books aimed at younger readers where such a practice is less likely to be picked up on or criticised, but Halse Anderson's Speak is a good example of how to let the material breathe a bit and "speak" for itself.

The themes are common ones and some readers More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2009

Tinsley rated it:

This book was uniquely written and an easy read. In a way it was kind of a mystery, because you never knew why the main character (Melinda), would not speak until Andy Evans was mentioned. The beginning was a bit boring but it got better towards the end. My favorite part was when Melinda finally decided to speak up and share her story. With a bit of suspense you will surely enjoy it.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 20, 2008

June rated it:

I read this book in a day. I agree with Elissa that it should be on every middleschoolers' list. I also think that it would be a good parent-child list, to get parents and children talking about issues that need to be discussed. We need to prepare our children for the not so nice broader world.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2011

Mon rated it:

Maybe I'm being too cynical, and that the protagonist (I forgot her name already, so I'm just going to call her Jane) did go through something worth lamenting for 200 pages. But for God's sake just because your character is a silent withdrawn introvert doesn't mean your plot has to be the same, it's 150 pages of nothing then BAM! she speaks up! finds courage! The end!!!! LOOK MY HEART IS BLEEDING AND YOU CAN HEAR MY SCREAMS BECAUSE IM LITERALLY TALKING LIKE THIS!!!!! This has to be the worst ps More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

Bleak YA novel that tries to be a cautionary tale. Worse, it was assigned reading for our #1 in her Language Arts class. Students were asked to read this book for a bullying unit.

?

Um, this is not a story about bullying. It is about the injustice of RAPE (though it never addresses the particular damage of rape). Instead it is the story of a young girl who is so disconnected from everyone that she is unable to speak after being assaulted until her rapist targets her ex best fr More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2011

Joyzi rated it:

I'm warning you now, this review contains major spoilers

Our frog lies on her back. Waiting for a prince to come and princessify her with a smooch? I stand over her with my knife. Ms. Keen's voice fades to a mosquito whine. My throat closes off. It is hard to breathe. I put out my hand to steady myself against the table. David pins her froggy hands to the dissetion tray. He spreads her froggy legs and pins her froggy feet. I have to slice open her belly. She doesn't say a word. She is

More...

19 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Kelly rated it:

Postscript prior-
First YA author I read whose name was longer than her novels title who also wasted seven full hours of my life. Sort of. I liked reading about fictional b***ches too much to stop.

I am beginning to think that there was something in what my mother told me years ago, amongst other issues like boys, romance, sex, and unmentionables. I'm going to leave the postscript prior, but only in effort to remember what I used to be like when I was young. I thought Laurie was More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2008

Rosemarie rated it:

Speak was one of the greatest book that i actually understood that I have read recently. This book was very detailed and didn't make me fall asleep. At no moment did I think this book was boring because many young girls can relate to Melinda Sordino, the main character in the book.

Melinda Sordino got raped at a young age by someone way older than her and she tried to call the cops, but it just turned chaotic. Melinda came to a party during the summer and she decided to talk to a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2008

Chris rated it:

Speak is another book that I dove into knowing virtually nothing about it from the start. I knew it was in the "adolescent lit" category and that the narrator spent some time doing some artwork trying to express herself. I was not at all ready for the deeply emotional and heart wrenching story of the novel. This isn't by any means a piece of adolescent "fluff" like the flood of teen books flooding the market in recent years. Rather it is an intense exploration of a teenag More...

7 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2008

Rachel rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2008

Jennie rated it:

Plot: Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High, has begun the year by being a social outcast. She won't speak and spends hours alone or working on her art project. The reason why she is in this predicament is because she was raped at a summer party. She called the police, which broke up the party, but she did not report her rape. The narrative revolves around Melinda's refusal to speak and the torture that is going on inside her head until she finally decides to confess what has happened More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

Osho rated it:

This was okay for its genre, and certainly better than some of its ilk. The initiating event, and thus the outcome, was obvious early on, so my reading interest was less a matter of what would happen and more one of how Hulse would get there. I suppose I would have liked the protagonist to have more insight about how she also engages in stereotyping and writing people off; while she resolved the plot by addressing the problem, this could have been an opportunity for more maturational self-reflec More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

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