Rough Start
Siella Agostino
Book: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
All of us have experienced the day to day problems of being a teenager during their freshman year of high school.
From what I have read of the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, that has mostly been all that this book is about. The story centers around a teenage girl Melinda who had just started her freshman year in high school. She is an outcast, who unfortunately has drifted away from her group of friends that she had in middle school. She is a girl who doesn’t belong anywhere in a place where everyone else belongs to one group or another.
She eventually makes a new friend, Heather, who soon becomes a new member of the Martha’s - one of the main friend groups in the school, and tries to include Melinda, who feels very left out.
Melinda then encounters a boy who she knows from a previous encounter. He makes her nervous and knows something she doesn’t want him to. She then sees him while skipping school for the first time. She goes home to find out that the guidance counselor has called her parents about her slipping grades and ends up harming herself in her closet which her mom calls an act of cowardice.
Suddenly at lunch, Heather tells Melinda that they can’t be friends anymore because she is too depressed and unlikable. On Valentine’s Day the next day, Melinda finds a note taped to her locker that is from Heather returning her friendship necklace and wishing her the best. This causes Melinda to have a panic attack.
As you can see, this book has not really spoken of anything out of the ordinary for a teenager in high school. In my opinion, her problems are every day and mundane. She has boring classes, difficult assignments, feels left out, loses friends, and just goes through the normal ups and downs of high school. Though the book starts to mention some mysterious and deep topics that begin to draw your attention, such as the boy who makes Melinda nervous and her unsolved depression; they just really haven’t developed those far enough or fast enough. Though they may center more on those topics in the second half of the book, after reading more than half of the book, I have yet to read something intriguing enough to make me want to keep reading.
It focuses on unimportant topics to the undeveloped storyline such as the constant change of the school mascot, the things she is learning in class, and her Thanksgiving traditions. The long, drawn-out filler sections could have included more content about the theme of the book.
It is not a horrible book and touches on a few important topics for teens today, but it just doesn’t make me want to keep reading. I will say, however, that the problems that Melinda's faces to make it easier to connect to her because almost every teenager goes through these things, at least, I know I have. I have grown apart from my friends, felt lonely, endured humiliation just as many other teens have.
I would certainly not recommend this book to any reader who is impatient, easily bored or discouraged, someone who likes a lot of action, or to anyone who enjoys lots of big events and drama since the storyline of the first half of the book is slow and quite dull. If you are someone who is extremely patient, enjoys a slowly building story, or just wants to read something that they can read without having to focus too hard, then you may enjoy this book. To me, it is just a bit too underwhelming of a book so far.
All of us have experienced the day to day problems of being a teenager during their freshman year of high school.
From what I have read of the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, that has mostly been all that this book is about. The story centers around a teenage girl Melinda who had just started her freshman year in high school. She is an outcast, who unfortunately has drifted away from her group of friends that she had in middle school. She is a girl who doesn’t belong anywhere in a place where everyone else belongs to one group or another.
She eventually makes a new friend, Heather, who soon becomes a new member of the Martha’s - one of the main friend groups in the school, and tries to include Melinda, who feels very left out.
Melinda then encounters a boy who she knows from a previous encounter. He makes her nervous and knows something she doesn’t want him to. She then sees him while skipping school for the first time. She goes home to find out that the guidance counselor has called her parents about her slipping grades and ends up harming herself in her closet which her mom calls an act of cowardice.
Suddenly at lunch, Heather tells Melinda that they can’t be friends anymore because she is too depressed and unlikable. On Valentine’s Day the next day, Melinda finds a note taped to her locker that is from Heather returning her friendship necklace and wishing her the best. This causes Melinda to have a panic attack.
As you can see, this book has not really spoken of anything out of the ordinary for a teenager in high school. In my opinion, her problems are every day and mundane. She has boring classes, difficult assignments, feels left out, loses friends, and just goes through the normal ups and downs of high school. Though the book starts to mention some mysterious and deep topics that begin to draw your attention, such as the boy who makes Melinda nervous and her unsolved depression; they just really haven’t developed those far enough or fast enough. Though they may center more on those topics in the second half of the book, after reading more than half of the book, I have yet to read something intriguing enough to make me want to keep reading.
It focuses on unimportant topics to the undeveloped storyline such as the constant change of the school mascot, the things she is learning in class, and her Thanksgiving traditions. The long, drawn-out filler sections could have included more content about the theme of the book.
It is not a horrible book and touches on a few important topics for teens today, but it just doesn’t make me want to keep reading. I will say, however, that the problems that Melinda's faces to make it easier to connect to her because almost every teenager goes through these things, at least, I know I have. I have grown apart from my friends, felt lonely, endured humiliation just as many other teens have.
I would certainly not recommend this book to any reader who is impatient, easily bored or discouraged, someone who likes a lot of action, or to anyone who enjoys lots of big events and drama since the storyline of the first half of the book is slow and quite dull. If you are someone who is extremely patient, enjoys a slowly building story, or just wants to read something that they can read without having to focus too hard, then you may enjoy this book. To me, it is just a bit too underwhelming of a book so far.
Siella, I enjoyed your review, and I think you bring up a lot of valid points. I will say though, I think this book is worth it if you stick with it. Good luck!
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