Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Review

Back in the Fall of 2011, while I was taking first Early Child Development Class we were given an assignment...pick a movie from a list and discuss it.  Among that list was Speak.
I'm going to be honest here...I had honestly never heard of the book before, let alone a movie!  But when I saw it featured Kristen Stewart (the star of one of my favorite book movie adaptations) I knew it was the movie I wanted to see.
And dang, let me just say how GLAD I am that I did!

It was almost a year later, when in July I was talking to Kody Keplinger (the author of The DUFF) when she mentioned she LOVED this book called Speak.  At the time, I honestly hadn't been thinking about the movie, but after the video chat I went on Goodreads and looked it up and that was when I found out!

As soon as I knew Speak (the movie) was based on a book, I KNEW I had to read that book!

A few weeks ago I found Speak (the book) sitting on one of my friend's bookshelves, and pretty much hijacked it!

Goodreads Description:

Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.

My thoughts:

An utterly beautiful novel, that Laurie Halse Anderson made a character in Melinda that was so realistic, you felt every single moment of her depression, pain, and dealing with what happened!  

It's a bit difficult to explain, but Laurie did it in a way where the novel was still able to stay light in a way, with Melinda's sarcastic witty humor; especially with quotes like this, "We need more holidays to keep the social studies teachers on track." (pg. 7, of paperback edition).  

Along the way, she also adds some things that I personally have thought for years, and shared the same feelings as Melinda! Such as "How else could they sleep with the football team on Saturday night and be reincarnated as virginal goddesses on Monday?" (pg. 29, Melinda's description on the religious cheerleaders at her school).  I mean, I am not saying all cheerleaders are like that, I personally girls in general can be like that!  And it has bothered me for years!

Another quote I absolutely loved was "All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie.  Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say." (pg. 9)  Why?: Well, who hasn't felt like that?  I know I have...plenty of times!  I mean, I have always been EXTREMELY lucky in that I have my mom to talk to, but sometimes everyone has their moments!  

I felt Melinda was very relate able to, in how she thought.  She was a true teenager, the only difference between her and I is that she went through something utterly traumatic that most people can't get past.  

Now I like to read reviews on Goodreads, and while I run across people who don't always like the same books I like, I completely respect their opinions!  However, today I read one that absolutely disturbed me!  I swear,  I would never rant on someone else's review of a book, because I respect opinions, 100%.  However, I ran across a 1-star review that caused me to scoff with disgust!  First off this person described this novel as "Possibly the worst piece of literature that has ever disgraced the human race with it's presence." (which was not backed up with why this person thought so! Something I never take serious, to be honest, when reading a review), but then she goes on to say,  (and this is the part that absolutely disgusted me) "She is also completly self-absorbed and complains about everything but does nothing to either A: get over the entire event by sucking it up, or B: fix it by doing what she knows needs to be done to resolve the situation."  

On top of that disgraceful comment, this person even called Melinda a BIMBO!

First off, I want to discuss this "Bimbo" comment.  According to Google, the definition of Bimbo is:
"An attractive but empty-headed young woman, esp. one perceived as a willing sex object."

Melinda was NOT "willing" to get raped!  That is disgusting!

Second, now to the "get over" it comment!  Wow, I don't even know where to begin on this...so I'll just leave it at this...if you had been in Melinda's situation would you have been able to get over the fact you were RAPED??

That is pretty much fighting against everything us women have been fighting for generations for! Completely unbelievable!

I am so sorry to be ranting about someone else's review, I PROMISE I don't normally do that...like I said I normally completely and 100% respect everyone's opinions, but sometimes there are those that just absolutely get to me! 

I promise!! No disrespect intended!!

Overall Rating of Speak:

 This book is incredible and I recommend it to everyone and anyone! Especially teenage girls! Great book to read as you grow up!

Thanks everyone!

The Romance Bookie :)