I think she should have stretched out the end and made it more surprising for the reader. I thought Speak was a good book throughout the beginning and middle, but I felt that Laurie Halse Anderson rushed the end and the explanations towards the end of the book. In Speak there is a very strong theme and lesson that in taught, that you always need to speak up and be heard. At first, it's a big mystery why Melinda is mute, but then as the story goes on the mystery unravels and you understand. The book is about a girl, Melinda, who stops speaking at school. I would recommend this book to the age group of 12-16, because the theme, (to my surprise) is a little bit more mature, yet it's at an easier reading level. I read Speak as part of a school literature circle book and I enjoyed it. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.īook Review for 'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson In this powerful novel, an utterly believeable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. 'Speak up for yourself - we want to know what you have to say.' From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows that this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school.

Laurie Halse Andersons award-winning, highly acclaimed, and controversial novel about a teenager who chooses not to speak rather than to give voice to what really happened to her.

Speak anderson novel