Reviews

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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jess_mango's review against another edition

4.0

Many "must read YA" lists include this book so I finally got around to reading it. I listened to it on audio and it was a pretty quick "read". The story is told from the point of view of Melinda, a high school freshman who is being ostracized by pretty much everyone in her school. They are angry because she called the police from a party the month before school started and many kids got in trouble. But Melinda is traumatized by something other than just he opinions of all her school mates...

Melinda has a bit of a sarcastic take on high school. But under it all is her sadness and confusion from the occurrences at the summer party.

thepetitepunk's review against another edition

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3.0

Hmm. Mixed thoughts.

I've been wanted to read Speak for years but kept putting it off because I knew this was going to be a difficult topic to read about. And it was. Laurie Halse Anderson skillfully captured the voice of a scared, confused, hurt girl. Melinda's character was vulnerable yet stayed strong as she recovered from the event that changed her life.

As much as I liked Speak, there were a lot of parts that I just...found boring. I hate saying that because I understand why a majority of this book was just Melinda's thoughts as she went through school while dealing with a horrible cloud above her heard, but personally, it made it hard for me to stay focused. I also would have liked the ending to be a bit longer; I liked the note that it ended on but I think it would have been a more powerful scene to hear Melinda actually speak. Despite this though, Melinda was a great character and I emphasized with her throughout all her struggles.

rsloss95's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

mimo_'s review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

the book was aight i see it's importance but felt like smn was missing?? maybe because its young adult so it was never going to go super in depth but it was a good read nonetheless

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juliannasiegrist's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have such complicated feelings about this book -- I think it's done really well and such an important story for young readers, but at the same time I feel like there's something about it that just doesn't fully resonate with me