The Reading Nook

Speak (I can’t figure out how to underline it), by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a 198-page novel told by an isolated, lonely and depressingly funny girl named Melinda Sordino. At first, this book revealed itself to be about a girl who was physically inable to speak, which was a little bit confusing. As the pages were being turned it occured to me that it was about a girl who refused to speak, which then immediately called out “YA BOOK YA BOOK”. Although the writing gives the idea that it is a journal, it is more like Melinda’s innermost thoughts as she navigates through Merryweather High, alone and friendless. Her narraration is filled with typical teenage slang. Speak is a typical YA book because it is about a girl with more problems than the average girl making her way through high school. Melinda has a dark secret lurking in her past that makes her more troubled than an average girl. Her narraration gets the reader to feel uncomfortable and awkward for Melinda, but it also keeps you hooked on reading the book. Like many other YA books, Melinda learns how to overcome her fears and come out of her protective shell, therefore becoming more mature.

I enjoyed this book for many different reasons. Since Melinda is so dark, her humor is more vicious and biting, which is a type of humor I like a lot. I learned from this book how powerful silence can be. Melinda’s silence and darkness not only pushes her only friend away but it also drives her parents to the edge. Melinda’s writing makes it feel like she was telling her own story, no author was behind it. This is something that Meg Cabot can also achieve, which makes it so intriguing and interesting. The best part of Speak was that the plot kept me captured even days after I finished the book and really made you think about Melinda’s troubled life.

-Alex Mayer