Speak Has Spoken

By Andrea D.

 

Author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for her young adult novels, children’s books, and historical novels. She was first known for her novel Speak. Speak is about a teenage girl, Melinda, starting her freshman year of high school with no friends. This is unfortunate, because she does not fit into any of the many cliques present at the high school.

 

Melinda lost all of her friends and acquaintances over the summer. This is due to a mysterious secret that happened during a party over the summer. The general school population has the false idea that she called the cops to bust the party, so all of her classmates hate her. She brushes it off though, in aim to keep her secret. The only person Melinda has to distract her from her loneliness is the annoying, ambitious new girl Heather, who intends to find the perfect clique to join. Heather soon too abandons Melinda. The reader later finds out that the secret Melinda is keeping is that the school’s most popular senior raped her at that party. She has to deal with her secret and subsequent seclusion, and decide if she should tell someone.

Anderson’s writing is the epitome of a teenage novel, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. The novel is the typical tale of a high school with many cliques - jocks and cheerleaders are atop the totem pole of course. This is understandable since it is not a modern story, as it reflects the time it was written in: the 90’s. Once the reader gets past the heap of cliché details, an intriguing plot shines through.  Melinda is a relatable character, whom the reader can empathize and connect with. Anderson well conveys Melinda’s loneliness, though she does not necessarily well convey her emotions.  The book is written somewhat bluntly and you never really get into her head. The end also does not live up to the reader’s expectations; it was disappointingly uneventful.

Speak definitely has its pros and cons, as every book does. This being Anderson’s first popular book, I can only imagine her writing improved since then. There are plenty of other novels she wrote afterward which can be explored to prove my assumption. Regardless, Speak is certainly a novel worth reading.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Square Fish, 1999, 198 pages