Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a compelling YA novella that opens on Melinda’s first day of high school.  That’s typically an anxiety filled day for anybody, but it’s excruciating for the girl who called the cops at an end of summer party, getting a lot of kids in trouble.  Shunned by her friends and taunted by everyone, Melinda goes through the day and the entire school year mostly alone inside her own head.  

Something has happened that has traumatized Melinda and transformed her from a good student with close friends into a withdrawn selective mute- she speaks only when absolutely necessary. Melinda keeps everything inside and it eats her alive.  Harassed and tormented by her classmates and mostly ignored by her busy parents, she falls deeper into a depression; cutting class, forgetting to wash her hair, spacing out, gnawing on her lips until they are cracked and bleeding.  Even her one friend, a cheery transplant from another school who is desperate to fit in somewhere, finally gives up on her, saying she is always negative and calling her a freak.  But no one knows the torment Melinda is going through.  As her grades slip and her social status plummets, she finds solace in art class.  Her year-long art project is something she can get lost in and ultimately something that helps her heal. 

Speak is an excellent portrayal of high school alienation - nothing is sugar coated here.  This is an intimate look into teenage depression; emotional, painful, honest, raw.  I’d heard the book was great and yet I wasn’t prepared for all the emotions I would go through while reading it. The mom in me was so frustrated with Melinda’s situation and just wanted to hold her and help her.  I worried that the book would end with a suicide (it did not) and was grateful when Melinda began to show signs of getting better, becoming empowered through a confrontation with another classmate, and ultimately finding her voice.  

The subject matter is dark but it isn’t graphic in any way.  Speak came out in 1999 and it is my understanding that it is taught in high schools throughout the country, which I think is great.  Laurie Halse Anderson got Melinda’s voice just right- it does not sound like an adult trying to write like a kid.  It’s a powerful read; one I would strongly recommend for teens, parents, and teachers alike. 

I was fortunate enough to see Laurie Halse Anderson speak on a panel last weekend at the Festival of Books, and she said that many critics are calling her latest book, Wintergirls, her best novel since Speak, or better than Speak.  She said it’s a challenge for an author when your first book is your best known work, and she said she was “Miss Crankypants” about that for a long time, but now she is grateful and feels so fortunate to be able to wake up and listen to the voices in her head each day and write down what they say.   She is frequently asked what impact Speak has had on her life, and she said it changed everything- in writing Speak she found her voice and she found her “people”. 

Thanks to Jill at Fizzy Thoughts for sharing this book with me!  I loved it.