This book spoke to me

I don't remember how I stumbled across Speak, but I did, and I'm very glad of it. I think I may have first become interested in it because the author's (Laurie Halse Anderson's) name is very similar to mine (Laura Anderson). Now that you know that interesting tid-bit of information, I'll continue on with the real subject... the beauty of Speak.

Melinda is our heroine in Speak. Melinda attended a party during the summer, a party where something bad happened; IT happened. All her peers know is that she called the police, ruining their party, and (as dramatic teenagers often believe,) their lives. Melinda only meant to protect herself, but now she has lost all her friends and become the focus of ridicule for the entire school. Melinda attempts talking to her friends, but they ignore or taunt her. Her old circle of friends seems to have fallen apart... one of them is a sports fanatic, one of them is an exchange-student wannabee, and so on. Melinda's enrolled herself in an art class, and as many people find for themselves, art becomes her outlet.

As the school year progresses, Melinda's grades deteriorate, as does her desire and ability to speak. With no friends to talk to, and her only form of communication between her and her parents being post-it notes, Melinda has no reason to open her mouth. So she doesn't. One day at school, Melinda finds an old abandoned janitor's closet, where she makes her hideout. She decorates it with a Maya Angelou poster among other things, and there she stays when she needs to escape.

One day Melinda sees one of her old friends hanging out with IT. While her friends may not like her anymore, she still cares for them. Her ongoing art project has been to use a tree artistically to express herself. Her "ex friends," a new "friend," her artsy trees, the art teacher, the closet, and seeing IT all help Melinda to get over what happened to her.

This book was interesting and definitely different. Melinda was a different kind of heroine. I could really feel for her, even though her thoughts seemed kind of jumbled sometimes. The odd thing was that I could recognize some of her thought processes, and I could really relate to what she was going through, though it hasn't happened to me.

This book is beautifully written through Melinda's point of view. She expresses her feelings not just through her thoughts, but through her actions, and its so easy to get wrapped up in her life. This book was written in a sort of detached way, which may be hard to understand, but I think its beautiful, and very expressive of the situation.

Speak helps the reader understand what being an outcast really is. You may not be as quick to judge people's actions after reading this book, especially when you realize that people don't always intend to do things the way they happen. Teenagers especially will enjoy this book as it deals with issues many of us go through: losing friends, being outcast, and searching for oneself.

This is an easy read with a lot of depth to it. You can take as much or as little from Speak as you want, but Melinda may just inspire you to speak up next time you need to.