Thursday, February 18

Book Review: Speak (Guilt) by Laurie Halse Anderson


Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Title: Speak (Guilt)
Genre: YA Fiction
Pages: 198
First Published: October 1999
Where I Got It: Borrowed from friend



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.




Another recommendation from my friend Reece. J I instantly was curious to check this out because of the summary and especially the cover. The cover was the most intriguing to me.

Poor Melinda. I did feel bad for her, but then a part of me was really, really annoyed at her, because she would NOT tell anyone what happened to her. She lost all her middle school friend, her parents are mad at her, her grades are slipping (except for Art), she keeps getting in trouble, and letting people bully her all because she won’t talk about what happened to her at that party. Granted – I blame the parents. They were never helpful with trying to get her to open up. They just yelled and yelled. Dumb oblivious parents…

The beginning was good. The middle lost me for a few, but then the ending had me anxious to find out what happens next. The last paragraph angered me. I wanted justice! I wanted more! GAH.

This was written like a diary, but the secret of the book was WHAT happened to her even though it was very apparent at one point. I liked the writing style, I felt closer to the character, but I felt like it wasn’t a true diary, because I feel like Melinda would have at least mentioned what happened to her in a little more detail OR something.

Even though this was a shorter book, it still took me an eon to finish it. Why? Well – it’s not a book you can read all at once. I needed to step away and maul over what I just read. Sometimes I like when books make you think that much.

In the end, this was pretty good. I was annoyed at Melinda, but I did feel bad for her and understand her. The middle was a drag, but the beginning and end were good. The ending left me wanting me more!! Well, I do recommend this for those looking for a darker book with some funny moments. Out of 5 stars, I stamp this with…..mmmm…3.  







5 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

Maybe one day

Melliane said...

AH I don't like to be long when I read a book but I understand the feeling

Carole Rae said...

B, it is not as sad as I expected which is good.

Melliane, :) Sometimes it doesn't bug me that much. Some books are like wine and you need to take sips.

vvb32 reads said...

It ended well though. The movie version was pretty good.

Carole Rae said...

The ending wasn't too bad. There is a movie version??????