Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published on October 22, 1999

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, and Realistic Fiction

Page Count: 197

Source: Purchased

Format: Hardback

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Description: The first ten lies they tell you in high school.

"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 this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. 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. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. 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. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Hello.

This book was one in a lot that I purchased and I wasn't sure what do think of it. The subject matter is so intense. High school is hard enough. Add in the trauma inflicted upon the main character and the way that the world treats her. Well executed approach to a difficult subject matter. Horrifying to think about something like this impacting anyone much less someone so young. 

I am rating this book Four Red Books. It was well written but there were times where it drug. I would recommend it.

InkedBookDragon