Scan barcode
A review by laurenl5876
How to Speak Boy by Tiana Smith
3.0
I'm back to reviewing since I'm in quarantine and my senior year was canceled, so instead of risking infecting others, I'll read books, which is a lovely alternative. Lives are saved, and I take in some cute stories.
As a kid in speech, (and who's state tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus) me reading this book was a little bit of a risk because I knew I would probably nit pick it if it wasn't written accurately. I wouldn't intentionally have done this, but when you are so closely tied with an activity and it's not written realistically or by someone with that similar experience, it's really hard not to gripe. (Maybe I'm just a jerk)
That wasn't an issue with this novel though. Speech and Debate was overall explained very realistically, mostly because the author was in speech and debate, although there were a few things that kind of pissed me off. Here's my short little list.
1) Why the hell are these kids only in one event? Most kids have to do two at most schools, like for me it's Dramatic Interpretation and Impromptu Speaking.
2) I know it is written as abnormal to do, but doing a new speech every week is not how Oratory goes. It takes weeks to perfect one speech, and it is filled with edits, hours of rehearsal. It was painted out to be a lot easier than it actually is.
3) The tournaments weren't really written in, it was more just brushed over.
4) WHERE ARE THE SPEECH AND DEBATE COMPETITORS? Us speech and debate kids are an odd bunch, tournaments are NOT normal at all
5) More interaction with the coach or practices should have been included.
I know those are based upon my experience, but I apologize for the sass. Now to the legitimate review.
The plot was super cute, and the pacing was perfect. It followed a ton of cliches, but this book wasn't looking to be super original, it was written to give speech and debate kids a book where they could see themselves represented, which was really refreshing. Our activity is treated like we are just nerds or like it is super easy, but that is definitely not the case at all! (Well, the nerd part is) The romance had a nice slow build, but everything also moved fast enough to stay interesting.
The characters however were lackluster, which is why I couldn't rate this any higher. The male love interest was basic and the female love interest was irrational a lot of the time which was irritating. Maybe I'm just growing up, but some of their decisions were just really really stupid.
As a kid in speech, (and who's state tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus) me reading this book was a little bit of a risk because I knew I would probably nit pick it if it wasn't written accurately. I wouldn't intentionally have done this, but when you are so closely tied with an activity and it's not written realistically or by someone with that similar experience, it's really hard not to gripe. (Maybe I'm just a jerk)
That wasn't an issue with this novel though. Speech and Debate was overall explained very realistically, mostly because the author was in speech and debate, although there were a few things that kind of pissed me off. Here's my short little list.
1) Why the hell are these kids only in one event? Most kids have to do two at most schools, like for me it's Dramatic Interpretation and Impromptu Speaking.
2) I know it is written as abnormal to do, but doing a new speech every week is not how Oratory goes. It takes weeks to perfect one speech, and it is filled with edits, hours of rehearsal. It was painted out to be a lot easier than it actually is.
3) The tournaments weren't really written in, it was more just brushed over.
4) WHERE ARE THE SPEECH AND DEBATE COMPETITORS? Us speech and debate kids are an odd bunch, tournaments are NOT normal at all
5) More interaction with the coach or practices should have been included.
I know those are based upon my experience, but I apologize for the sass. Now to the legitimate review.
The plot was super cute, and the pacing was perfect. It followed a ton of cliches, but this book wasn't looking to be super original, it was written to give speech and debate kids a book where they could see themselves represented, which was really refreshing. Our activity is treated like we are just nerds or like it is super easy, but that is definitely not the case at all! (Well, the nerd part is) The romance had a nice slow build, but everything also moved fast enough to stay interesting.
The characters however were lackluster, which is why I couldn't rate this any higher. The male love interest was basic and the female love interest was irrational a lot of the time which was irritating. Maybe I'm just growing up, but some of their decisions were just really really stupid.