Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Review!

  "Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Speak is a haunting, sad story about a girl who survives rape and has no one to trust. I am going to thank my English teacher, Mrs. Mays for giving me this book and telling me that it was a good age for me to read it. I could have read this before and not have gotten the message or what was happening. I have met people who are survivors and I can try to help.

Melinda is a typical teenage girl in how she talks but she has many issues that she has to deal with. No friends, No life, and parents who don't try to understand her. She has to deal with High School but how she even tried is my surprise. Melinda has to deal with seeing her rapist and it hurts to see her go through this. The part where it almost happens again is terrifying to both Melinda and the read but she gets the courage to stop it.
    This book shows how difficult it is for Rape survivors and how we can try to help them.

                                                                     5/5 stars

Peace, Love and Fangirl,
Alex