Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 2006. Speak. Platinum Ed. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0142407321

Plot Summary

As Melinda’s freshman year begins she is snubbed by her former friends, and most of the school, because she called 911 at an end-of-summer party. No one asks why she called the cops, and Melinda is no longer speaking much at all. Melinda slips into a deep depression and only begins to come out of it when she realizes her former best friend is going out with the “beast”, the boy who raped Melinda at the ill fated party. Melinda finds a way to let her former friend know what happened, but she does not truly regain her voice until after she fends off a second attack by the boy.

Critical Analysis

“An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last.” (Horn Book Magazine)

Speak chronicles Melinda’s first year in high school using short first person narratives that read like journal entries. The story is broken into four parts, four marking periods. Melinda’s descent into depression is shown in her falling grades at the end of each marking period, and through her descriptions of her bloody lip that she has been chewing on all year. The final marking period, in the spring, reveals a gradual change in Melinda’s outlook that culminates in her being able to speak out against her rapist.

Melinda’s internal dialogue is scathingly witty and provides a sharp contrast to her sullen outward silence. “The teen's struggle to find acceptance and her voice is compelling and illustrates the cruelty of peer pressure and high school cliques.” (School Library Journal) The story of what happened at the end-of-summer party is revealed bit by bit, with jarring interruptions to the flow of Melinda’s dialogue whenever she encounters her rapist. “I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather. IT is walking with Aubrey Cheerleader. IT is my nightmare and I can’t wake up. IT sees me. IT smiles and winks.”

Melinda’s parents are worried and upset about her grades and attitude, but they never try to figure out why she is silent. Melinda’s friends are too angry to find out why she called the cops. Speak shows the devastation wrought by rape and the need for people to listen that much harder when someone stops speaking.

Review Citations

Ralston, Jennifer. 2003. "Speak (Book)." School Library Journal 49, no. 10: 99.

Adams, Lauren. 1999. "Speak." Horn Book Magazine 75, no. 5: 605-606.