SPEAK

review

This certainly deserves all the accolades it has gotten. I was totally transfixed by Melinda's inner voice, and thought she was extremely well portrayed. I read this in a day and even though there are slower areas I still didn't want to stop. The things that made this story so good were: 1) Melinda's thoughts, her sarcastic but vulnerable way at looking at things. You could see how depressed she was, but no one truly looked at her, with maybe the exception of the art teacher who recognised pain in her sculpture. 2) Melinda's actions and her unwillingness to talk was spot on. There was nothing outrageous or unrealistic about her behaviour, she was a normal girl who'd been put through a harrowing experience. She went through daily life trying to cope with what had happened to her and doing things that one would expect from a girl in her situation. 3) As said above, it was realistic. I think this type of book is also good for teenagers to read as they are at their most vulnerable at this age and what Melinda went through is a lesson or warning in what not to do, eg. the party scenario where she put herself in danger without realising it. Although it wasn't her fault as to what happened, kids need to be taught situation awareness just as much as lessons like English and Maths. Additionally, this book also encourages people to speak out, the title in this case so appropriate. 4) This is the type of book that should be in schools, not the unrealistic old fantasy stories or books that put students asleep. Kids would learn from this book. I think girls more, but in cases boys would also. They should be taught that this is how girls are affected, not the objectifying way girls/women are depicted on TV. After reading this book I gave it to my daughter, and we are both watching the film together now. 5) The topic is gutsy and well handled. I'll stop here. Again, I think females will appreciated this more than guys, but still it's a very good book and thoroughly deserving of 5stars.