BOOK REVIEW
"Speak" is one of Laurie Halse Anderson´s four award-winning novels and was initial published in 1999 by the penguin group, USA.
Anderson resides in Mexico with her beloved husband, Scot Larrabee. She has four children and one creature with fangs, her German Shepard. When not writing, Anderson enjoys gardening, knitting and running. Many of her fans and friends read about her experiences in and out of the literature world on her blog.
Speak is a novel about an 14 year old girl, named Melinda Sordino, who got raped at a school party. Laurie Halse Anderson told, that the character of Melinda came to her in nightmare.
In the summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino calls the police and they break up a local party, resulting in arrests. Mr. Freeman helps her and she begins to express her pain through art. When her former best friend, Rachel, begins dating Andy, who raped her, Melinda feels obligated to show her story. The response is intense hostility, but eventually Rachel admit the truth and dumps Andy.
Melinda really needs help, but nobody knows that because she doesn’t speak. Melinda gets in trouble a few times, first when she stats to skip school.
In this story Melinda has a difficult time to go through. All the other high school kids belonged to a club or something, but Melinda didn’t. Melinda became a social outcast and she also felt outcasted in normal life.
As the school year comes to a close, Melinda returns to bring the things she left inside her together. Andy confronts her, telling her that she lied about the assault, saying that he did not hurt her and that she asked for it. He suggests that jealousy of his relationship with Rachel was her motivation for "lying" about the rape, and he attempts to assault her again, despite her physical attempt to stop him. This is a major turning point for Melinda because while telling Andy "no" before the first assault she was too intoxicated for it to come out forcefully. The lacrosse team, including Melinda's former friend Nicole, hears her scream in the closet and comes to her aid.
As the student body hears the story and realizes the truth about what happened at the party, Melinda goes from social pariah to something of a hero.
I really like the fact that Melinda overcomes her fear and that she was able to do that all by herself.
A also like that the book is written really realistic and in modern speak.
DESCRIBING THE MAIN CHARAKTER
Not only the others see Melinda as an outcast, she sees herself as an outcast too. In the book she talks several times about the fact that she hasn’t got anybody to talk with or a friend. She also talks about that the she isn’t well dressed and the others, like the Marthas, which are really special dressed.
Melinda isn’t very self-confident and she doesn’t know how to show the other herself. I think one important sentence in the book is this: “It's easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” I think Anderson wants to express with this sentence that she also thinks that the other doesn’t want to know why she doesn’t speak anymore. In her opinion nobody likes her, but this is definitely wrong. For example it is shown in the story that her art teacher Mr. Freeman really likes her and also Ivy an old friend of her likes her a lot.
In school she has only a few person to talk with. Sometimes she talks with her lab partner or Ivy.
She also hasn’t got a close relationship to her parents, they are really busy. The only way they talk to each other is a piece of paper at the fridge.
At the beginning of the book Melinda meets Heather, but soon she tells her that she doesn’t want to be a friend of Melinda.
Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, helps Melinda by his own way. He wants that she expresses her pain with art.
The others doesn’t like her because she called the cops at the party. But I think o lot of them like Melinda, they don’t talk to Melinda because nobody do it.
I think that there wasn’t any change till the scene when Andy Evans tries to hurt her again, but Melinda was able to defend herself. At this time, I think, she became stronger and finally, because of this situation, she gets strong enough to talk about her rape.
After this scene she changed herself enormous. That’s the only thing which isn’t really realistic, because nobody is able to overcome this from one second to the other.
The best example for changing her is in my opinion art. In the book is shown how her trees develop. She compares herself with Picasso when she thought about all the parts she has to go through till she overcomes.
