Speak

I saw Speak at the library and noticed it was a best-seller by Laurie Halse Anderson, an author whose historical fiction books I love.  Speak is a story about a very sensitive subject--rape.  The story is from Melinda's point of view, and it follows her during her freshman year of high school after a disastrous party that happened the summer before.  The book tells of Melinda's struggle to understand what happened to her and her journey to find courage to speak out.

This was a very powerful story.  In the author's note, the author points out that this topic is one that is often not addressed appropriately for teenagers; I thought this book did a great job of bringing to light the seriousness of this issue in an appropriate way.  (It shares facts at the end that 1 in 6 American women will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape, and half of them are under the age of 18.  And, experts estimate that only about 16% of rapes are actually reported to police.)  The point of view of the book was very strong, and it was easy to relate to the main character.  The book also made me really appreciate good teachers and true friends.  It was quite a depressing book throughout, obviously, so that made it hard to really love the book--but it was a good read with a strong message about overcoming obstacles.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)