Reviews - Speak | The StoryGraph

7.6k reviews for:

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson

4.02 AVERAGE

janeym's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ananyanoni's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

laurenmidna's review against another edition

5.0

Speak is a raw, powerful little novel that hit me way harder than I was prepared for. It captures many of the nuances of high school, the dread, the exhaustion, the feeling of “none of this even matters why am I here”. The feeling of not quite belonging but there’s nowhere else to go. The setting was absolutely real.
Melinda, the main character, was real too. Seeing the world through her was a punch in the gut. The trauma she goes through drives much of the story, even though it isn’t named until halfway through the book. I found myself crying at the end and I wasn’t quite sure why. I think I’m going to wait a couple months and then read it again.

areticentreader's review against another edition

4.0

I have had this book on my to-read list since middle school, and I've finally read it. I'm glad I did.

cw: rape

For me, getting through the beginning was very rough, but as I kept reading, I grew to love Melinda's voice. I feel a little bad for being almost as annoyed with her in the first quarter of the book as her parents were because of how apathetic she seemed (especially because I already knew what happened to her that summer). The pacing of the writing in the opening was difficult for me to get into as well, because being thrown into tons of short scenes for the length of an entire book is not usually what I want to do. However, by the end of the book, I had really grown attached to her character and invested in the story. I think the afterword by Jason Reynolds was a really great addition, especially for cis-male readers who may not recognize rape culture for what it is.

denverhami16's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

thejoymcd's review against another edition

5.0

If you’ve scratched your head about the #metoo movement, wondering why these women and girls didn’t speak up sooner, this book can give you some perspective, as it did for me.