Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

"Mr. Freeman thinks I need to find my feelings. How can I not find them? They are chewing me alive like an infestation of thoughts, shame, mistakes. I squeeze my eyes shut... I will make myself normal. Forget the rest of it."

-Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson

 

       Wow. Wow. Wow. This book is incredibly moving. I am seriously at a loss for words, but I will do my best to write out my thoughts.

 

The first thing I can tell you is that you're definitely in a high-schooler's mind. You can see and interpret the world precisely like the main character Melinda does, even after reading it. The book talks about a serious, and difficult, subject. Rape. We see the world through a hurting teenagers eyes. We know exactly how she feels and oh my, the depth of sadness we feel for her. She is so real. So relatable. She is like many other hurting teens who just haven't found their voice yet. She speaks for every grieving person, and not only teenagers.

 

This book is full of emotion.  A tear-jerker, with sarcastic humor and a great victory. This is not just a sad story. It's also a very victorious one.

 

It's written in a way that Melinda's life is pretty much average. The whole book isn't some soap opera where we're always quickly flipping through the pages. She goes through her normal life, and there are parts where we feel for her more than others. But also, the damage that's been done to her - the violation she feels - is evident in her everyday life.

 

The ending was the most satisfying to me. It is not entirely expected, however it is far from being cheesy. The ending was natural and very, very, pleasing. It's like a deep breath, or the sunrise after a dark night. Truly wonderful.

 

The way that the story was created is particularly interesting to me. The author, Laurie, literally had a nightmare of a girl crying. After seeing that her own girls were alright, she started to describe what she heard. She said she wasn't even sure what the girl in her dream was crying about, but as the story went on, she found out. We see this naturalness throughout the entire book. Everything Melinda does seems natural to her personality. She is unique. Nothing seems forced at all. The story literally flows, which is another strange thing that makes Melinda seem so life-like.

 

I am absolutely in love with this book. There is nothing more to say than wow. I did my best to write out my thoughts, but to truly know what I'm feeling... you'll just have to read it.