Speak in Penguin's Point of View Books

Jul 07, 2010 Realteenreviews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dream-catchers-list, north-stars-list, favorites

The Gist

Melinda Sordino is an outcast. The summer before ninth grade was the beginning of the end. After calling the police at a party, no one trusts her and no one wants to talk to her. Her friends Rachel, Ivy and Nicole abandon her for new groups and the school year starts with her alone and unanimously hated. Though Melinda knows the school has no right to hate her, and that she had a valid reason to call the police, she can’t help feeling like she’s completely worthless to everyone. Her pare The Gist

Melinda Sordino is an outcast. The summer before ninth grade was the beginning of the end. After calling the police at a party, no one trusts her and no one wants to talk to her. Her friends Rachel, Ivy and Nicole abandon her for new groups and the school year starts with her alone and unanimously hated. Though Melinda knows the school has no right to hate her, and that she had a valid reason to call the police, she can’t help feeling like she’s completely worthless to everyone. Her parents can’t find the time to be concerned about her new and depressing state. They work constantly and communicate solely through post-it notes – having no time for their only daughter. Her used-to-be friends refuse to talk to her and look at her like she’s dirt. A new girl to school – Heather – befriends her. But Heather doesn’t want real friendship from Melinda. Heather uses Melinda as a step-ladder to get what she wants – popularity. Melinda tries to survive her first year of high school without speaking and finds it harder then she would have expected. As her grades drop and her popularity plummets she finds herself speaking less and less until she’s hardly speaking at all.

What We Think

Reviewed by Dream Catcher

My gist did not do the book justice. It’s way better than I made it seem. Trust me. So many people have been impacted by this book, first of all. So many. Tons of people have come to me and demanded I read this book because it’s so inspirational and moving and simply fantastic. This is why I was so hesitant to read this book at first. For one, inspirational just isn’t my thing. I dislike huge blaring themes and morals. Sometimes they can really destroy the book. I mean, of course a book needs theme and morals but I just hate when they’re pointed out repeatedly. It makes me want to roll my eyes. What do they think this is? A kid’s TV show? But, thankfully, this book is much better than that. Also (continuing with why I was hesitant) hyped up books hardly ever live up to my expectations. I hate being let down when reading books, because I go to them when I want to be entertained, when I want to laugh and be surprised by the plot and characters. Hype can ruin a book for me, so I’d been distancing myself from this book for so long. But one day my mom bought it at the bookstore and read it in one night. She then proceeded to tell me it was a really great book and that I would really enjoy it. Eh… I’d thought, maybe. If I ever find the time I’ll read it…maybe. But a week later I was rushing to put a beach bag together and knew I needed a book to read while at the beach. It was that or sit in the sun and slowly burn. I’d glanced around my room and found myself staring at Speak, sitting on my bedside table. So I brought it to the beach, and started reading it. And was instantly sucked into the desolate mind of Melinda Sordino. I really loved this book. I’m not saying it spoke to me (pun not intended), because a book has to be extremely intense, make-me-cry, best book of all time to really impact me like that. The book wasn’t quite there, but it was still really great. What I loved about this book was how believable it was. This is the type of thing that happens all the time to teens. As unfortunate as it is, teens are abandoned by their friends, teens don’t feel like they can speak, teens feel alone and worthless. All the time. The way Melinda thinks is totally believable and easy to relate to that it’s a knee-jerk reaction to feel bad for her. And I did. I kept hoping and hoping something good would happen to her. And I constantly had to keep reading to see what happened to her. I’ve heard some people say that Melinda was a whiny and unlikable protagonist. But I totally disagree. I mean, you have to put yourself in her perspective for a second. Everyone treats her like she’s dirt and because of that she has low self-confidence and constantly feels worthless. I thought she was a great protagonist who could open many people’s eyes about teen depression and the way teenagers think about high school, the people in high school, and the things that go on during your high school years. The plot itself was so-so but the characters and rather blunt reality (that is needed for this type of this story) made up for what the plot lacked. I think this is a great book for teenagers and adults. Teenagers will appreciate the reality and depressing quality Laurie Halse Anderson places in the high school. At least I did. I think adults will gain respect for what teenagers have to go through daily at school and maybe understand what really goes on in high school. Truly, its a great book with a heavy topic and uplifting ending that will leave you wanting to read more of her books. Definitely worth the read and lives up to the expectations people set.

Real Teen Rating~ A+ : Why are you still reading this, go buy this book now! ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 17, 2010 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, re-read, y-a, well-structured-characters, very-well-written

This is the book that got me into Y.A. When I was a teenager, books like this didn't seem to be around. Most Y.A books seemed dumbed down, like the genre wasn't supposed to do anything other than provide a bit of mindless entertainment. I remember mostly reading Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club books when I was younger and then when I was still a teenager, I started reading classics and "adult" literature because I needed a bit of substance.

Then when I was 18, I picked up this book after r ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2010 Erin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

The reason I finally picked up this book is because of banned book week. There has been so much recent controversy over this book and a few others that I had to read it in support of this week. And I am very glad that I did.

This is an AMAZING story. I honestly don't have any idea why someone would want to ban this book. Anderson has created a story around the very scary subject of rape, but the story isn't about the rape. It's about the person the victim is in the aftermath.

I felt for Melinda in ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2010 Jen Bigheart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: signed

I just can't believe this is Anderson's first novel. Only one word comes to mind...masterpiece! Melinda is a freshman in high school, and attends a party where things go horribly wrong. For much of the book, we are not sure of the details of that fateful night. All we know is that after that night, Melinda's life has fallen apart. She looses all of her friends, her grades plummet, and she falls silent. Silent to everyone. Speak reads like a memoir to me. I believe every. single. word. All of it. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2010 Tara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I purchased this book a few months ago but it was one of those books that just kind of sat on the shelf waiting for me to get to it. When I signed on to Twitter last week and saw how the topic of potentially banning this book was exploding online, I decided to bump this up on my TBR list and read it immediately.

All I can say is – I really wish I had read it sooner! Melinda is clearly dealing with a serious issue right from the very start of the book. She speaks very, very little, so the reader i ...more

Like · see review

May 19, 2010 Eve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Absolutely amazing. Pieces of it sound very familiar. Other pieces are weird. I can't believe that nobody would talk to her, and then again, I can. I remember there were people like that back in HS. I didn't really talk to them either, I didn't have a reason. One time I did strike up a conversation with one of the "outcasts", and she started telling me how many guys she blew. I backed off. One, TMI, and two, I couldn't believe that an "outcast" had gotten farther sexually than I had. Looking bac ...more

Like · see review

Jun 21, 2010 Kara rated it it was amazing

This is one of the most emotionally gripping stories I've ever read. I read this a couple years ago or so now, but it still sticks with me. I remember how infatuated I became with the writing style, and how I wished the book length was so much longer. The narrative style is also ideal in this sort of novel, reminding me of Ellen Hopkins' style books only minus the prose. I did enjoy this novel, and I think for a lot of people, there are things that everyone can relate to in the novel. ...more

Like · see review