Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Today I’m going to be reviewing a book I really enjoyed, a book that was actually a banned book.  When Speak was published back in 1999, it received positive reviews from critics and was a bestseller; and the book was made into a movie in 2004, starring Kristen Stewart, but it seems like the movie went unnoticed when it came out.  I hadn’t heard of it at all before I read the book.  However, despite the book’s positive reception, it was banned by many schools/libraries across the U.S.  The reason behind the ban was because of the novel’s inclusion of rape, language, and a supposed bias against male students.  I have been wanting to do a review of a banned book for a while and I’m very excited to do so now.

Dedication: To/for my former teacher and now media/technology mentor and dear friend (you know who you are)

Melinda Sordino’s not off to a great start with high school, as she called the cops at an end-of-summer party without telling anyone why and now all of her “friends” have turned off of her.  So, Melinda retreats to her head and stops speaking for the most part; but Melinda is lonely, her grades are going downhill, and she’s very depressed.  She wants to speak up about what really happened to her at that end-of-summer party but she’s afraid someone won’t believe her.  This powerful novel, told in a journal “entry-ish” fashion, it is beautifully written.  While it’s a little slow at first, I enjoyed watching Melinda’s character develop and I loved Mr. Freeman’s character as well.  Also, even though this book deals with a very hard topic (rape), there are actually some funny moments throughout the book.  I could actually relate to Melinda some on a personal level, as I had a hard time in school but loved art class; and I frequently find common ground with fictional characters/historical figures just like Melinda did.  However, this book does deal with the topic of rape/sexual assault, and this part of the book is very hard to read and could be triggering to those who have been through what Melinda went through.  There’s also some language too, and I noticed that in the last part of the book the “R-word” is used once; while this word was not used towards a person, it’s still a very hurtful word used toward people with disabilities and I’m surprised that Anderson put this word in here.  So, I would caution parents due to the rape and the language (and the R word for those who are triggered by that as well), and I would recommend it for teens only.  Another thing I noticed about the book is that one of the reasons it was banned is that people thought it was biased against male students, probably because of the book’s storyline.  However, this was most definitely not the case.  The main message I picked up from this book is that you have to use your voice to speak up when things aren’t fair.  Some people like Melinda are scared to speak up, and sometimes they find their courage and sometimes they don’t.  That’s why we need to speak up whether it’s speaking up about violence against women, mental health awareness, racism, ableism, etc.  I hope that after reading this review you will try to use your voice to speak up about injustice in your own life and in the lives of those around you.

“When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.”

A quote from Mr. Freeman Melinda’s art teacher