Speak

Speak

By Laurie Halse Anderson
Unabridged
100% overall 1 rating. Go to reviews
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“In a stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager…Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers’ empathy…But the book’s overall gritty realism and Melinda’s hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Winner of Printz Honors, 2000

From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops — a major infraction in high-school society — so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute. But it's not so comfortable in her head, either — there's something banging around in there that she doesn't want to think about. Try as she might to avoid it, it won't go away, until there is a painful confrontation. Once that happens, she can't be silent — she must speak the truth.
In this powerful audiobook, an utterly believable, bitterly ironic heroine speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while learning that, although it's hard to speak up for yourself, keeping your mouth shut is worse.

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  1. Holly
    Overall Liked it

    Touchingly real

    I read this book when I was in college, after taking a class on young adult novels. While this book was written for young adults, I think older audiences can appreciate it as well. Melinda’s voice is so real that you can’t help but get sucked in, and narrator Mandy Siegfried portrays her perfectly: the sadness, the loneliness, the humor, the sarcastic wit…all of it. The pain and turmoil are deeply felt but not overdone. The writing is natural, easy, carrying you along on Melinda’s journey as she struggles with the truth of what happened at an end of the summer party prior to the story’s start. I would highly recommend this book to all teens, and I believe even many adults would enjoy this story. Melinda is a memorable character, and her story will stay with you long after the book is through.

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