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A review by cornmaven
Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson
5.0
A graphic novel of the highly acclaimed 1999 prose novel by Anderson, which she wrote to deal with her own rape at 13 years old. It has been awhile since I have read the original Speak, but reading this graphic novel felt true to the original as far as I remember.
Anderson wanted to create a graphic novel version, once that genre hit its stride; graphic novels can serve as a partly non-word way to express the emotions and plot of a story. Readers must make inferences from panels that have no dialogue and can match the character expressions/actions in those that have words.
Melinda’s response to her rape at an unchaperoned party over the summer is to retreat, become almost totally silent, not to tell. She is shunned by classmates because she called 9-1-1 (but then ran) and broke up the party as a result, resists parental efforts to draw her out (and characterizes her mother and father as horrible). Her grades in all subjects but art slide to the basement. Her parents know something is wrong, but she will not tell them. She finds an unused janitor’s closet at school and transforms it into a hidey hole in which to work and try to escape her feelings and her daily reality. Her attacker is a senior still at the school. A Maya Angelou poster covers the mirror, intermittently guiding and guarding her. She makes a feeble attempt at cutting, only to realize how stupid it is, and that it does not take away her pain.
She eventually tries to warn girls with a bathroom graffiti note, and a personal unsigned note to a girl who begins to date her rapist. The bathroom note is corroborated by many other girls responding to it; that is a powerful image in this version. The girl ignores the note and experiences, but is able to fend off the senior at the prom.
Melinda finally finds her voice and her power when her attacker physically assaults and tries to rape her again in the closet. What she was unable to say the first time, she screams loudly the second time. And it is then that she finds her ability to complete her art project in a way that shows her heart.
The grayscale illustrations in this version are done by Eisner award winner Emily Carroll (Through the Woods), and are extremely powerful. The reader can experience Melinda’s emotions as she drags herself through life, in a different way than the prose version. Her art classes and art teacher are her salvation and that thread in the book is important, as art is the vehicle for the expression of emotion.
Speak as a prose novel has been challenged multiple times by many groups and individuals in order to be removed from schools and libraries because of its subject matter. It has prevailed as an important work in the YA fiction world, for teens and others who need to understand sexual assault, or deal with the effects of sexual assault. Its whole message is to gather courage to speak the truth. The graphic novel version contains resources in the back for anyone wishing to pursue the subject further, or anyone needing support.
Anderson wanted to create a graphic novel version, once that genre hit its stride; graphic novels can serve as a partly non-word way to express the emotions and plot of a story. Readers must make inferences from panels that have no dialogue and can match the character expressions/actions in those that have words.
Melinda’s response to her rape at an unchaperoned party over the summer is to retreat, become almost totally silent, not to tell. She is shunned by classmates because she called 9-1-1 (but then ran) and broke up the party as a result, resists parental efforts to draw her out (and characterizes her mother and father as horrible). Her grades in all subjects but art slide to the basement. Her parents know something is wrong, but she will not tell them. She finds an unused janitor’s closet at school and transforms it into a hidey hole in which to work and try to escape her feelings and her daily reality. Her attacker is a senior still at the school. A Maya Angelou poster covers the mirror, intermittently guiding and guarding her. She makes a feeble attempt at cutting, only to realize how stupid it is, and that it does not take away her pain.
She eventually tries to warn girls with a bathroom graffiti note, and a personal unsigned note to a girl who begins to date her rapist. The bathroom note is corroborated by many other girls responding to it; that is a powerful image in this version. The girl ignores the note and experiences, but is able to fend off the senior at the prom.
Melinda finally finds her voice and her power when her attacker physically assaults and tries to rape her again in the closet. What she was unable to say the first time, she screams loudly the second time. And it is then that she finds her ability to complete her art project in a way that shows her heart.
The grayscale illustrations in this version are done by Eisner award winner Emily Carroll (Through the Woods), and are extremely powerful. The reader can experience Melinda’s emotions as she drags herself through life, in a different way than the prose version. Her art classes and art teacher are her salvation and that thread in the book is important, as art is the vehicle for the expression of emotion.
Speak as a prose novel has been challenged multiple times by many groups and individuals in order to be removed from schools and libraries because of its subject matter. It has prevailed as an important work in the YA fiction world, for teens and others who need to understand sexual assault, or deal with the effects of sexual assault. Its whole message is to gather courage to speak the truth. The graphic novel version contains resources in the back for anyone wishing to pursue the subject further, or anyone needing support.