Speak

Speak Laurie Halse Anderson

1999 * p. 198 * YA Realistic Contemporary

Speak is about a girl named Melinda who starts high school as an outcast. No one will speak with her, not even her, now ex, best friend. She is totally alone and depressed, and her homelife isn't helping. Something happened over the previous summer before her freshman year that has labeled Melinda as an outcast and a target of rude remarks.

Melinda herself won't talk about what happened that summer. But as the novel goes on, you discover that Melinda had attended an end of the summer party with all of her friends. She has a couple of drinks and ends up being raped by a senior. After it happens, she calls the police but is too shocked to explain exactly what happened. The police come to the party, break it up, and arrest a few of the party-ers. Everyone blames Melinda as a taddle-tale, and never know that she had actually been raped and was trying to call for help.

The context of the novel sounds depressing, and it is. But it really impacted me. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. One of the most terrifying aspects of the story are when Melinda sees, or is near, IT: the boy who raped her. Anderson, the author, portrays her terror and depression so well. It is a very emotional book only because Melinda herself refuses to be emotional about it or even recognize that it happened.

But she is still careful about where she is and with who. She becomes paranoid of everyone and everything. When the only person who is nice to her, a boy, invites her to hang out with him and some friends, she immediately says "no" and makes up excuses. On the way home, she has an argument with herself:

Melinda One: "Get a life. It was just pizza. He wasn't going to try anything. His parents were going to be there! You worry too much. You're never going to let us have any fun, are you? You're going to turn into one of those weird old ladies who has a hundred cats and calls the cops when kids cut across the her back yard. I can't stand you."

Melinda Two waits for One to finish her tantrum. Two carefully watches the bushes along the sidewalk for a lurking bogeyman or worse.

Melinda Two: "The world is a dangerous place. You don't know what would have happened. What if he was just saying his parents were going to be there? He could have been lying. You can never tell when people are lying. Assume the worst. Plan for disaster. Now hurry up and get us home. I don't like it out here. It's too dark." (132)

I truly loved this book. It was impactful and powerful. Anderson's portrayal of high school, the "lingo", scenes, and inner struggles is genius. It is genuine and realistic. This novel has been censored/challenged by a few schools because it deals with rape, but it is so piercing that I think every girl should read it to see an example of the dangers of drinking, rape, and even worse, keeping it to yourself and not seeking help.

-More appropriate for high school age.

-Has a scene of rape, but is not detailed or needlessly graphic.

-A few swear words.

-Themes of dealing with rape, denial, ostracism, unsatisfying home life, finding own identity, and "speaking up."

Laurie Halse Anderson has also written: Fever 1793, Catalyst, and Prom. I plan on reading Fever 1793 next.