Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

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     A powerful story of a young girl in finding the courage to overcome her struggle as a victim of rape and bullying is very inspiring. In literary field, many authors try to portray the issue of bullying and sexual abuse in their works. One of them is in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Making her debut with this novel, Anderson marked her name as a best-seller author. Along with following novels which contain young-adult genre, Anderson was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association regarding to her contribution to young-adult literature.   


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_(Anderson_novel)



    Speak begins with the story of a 13-year-old girl, Melinda Sordino as she went to a party with all of her school kids. The party that was fun and delightful turned into a disaster when Melinda met one of her seniors, Andy Evans. Andy described as an attractive and charming boy of the school. He used his charm to flirt the girls, including Melinda. Because of her drunken condition, Melinda can do nothing to fight Andy, and got raped by him. After the tragedy happened, she immediately called 911 for a help. However, when the police came to the scene, Melinda was unable to tell what happened. The police apparently found something else; that their party was illegal and being dismissed. Some of them were also arrested. This incident caused a misunderstanding between Melinda and the other kids of her school. They assumed that Melinda called the police on purpose to snitch the party. Everyone was mad and walk away from her without knowing the terrible event she experienced that night. Melinda continuously received hatred and being bullied. She turned into a quiet and lonely person.    

    I found this book is well-written and giving such a deep impression, especially to the readers who have related experience. The simple writing style and easy-to-understand sentences makes it suitable for young readers. The strengths of this book are; it delivers strong moral values. Bringing the theme of bullying among teenagers in school, this story seems to be relevant to real-life issues around us.  Another interesting fact is the story was inspired by the author’s personal experience when she was young. Being a victim of bullying and rape does not discourage her, Anderson wants to spread the courage for the victims like her not to be oppressed. As I read this novel, I can relate to the main character’s struggle as a woman in voicing her rights. Even though I did not read this book on purpose, but I could not take it off, it leaves such a good impression to me. The development of main character, Melinda from someone who full of fear into someone with courage, as well as the changing of tone from gloomy to bright made it even more interesting to read.

    Meanwhile for the weaknesses, I found that this book is quite short, for only 197 pages, the story-line can be said to be predictable. I also consider it does not answer some of the conflicts in this book, such as the clear explanation about Melinda’s family. There is no detail story of how Melinda’s ignorant parents react to the tragedy she experienced, since they used to ignore Melinda’s change in behavior before. Also how they improve their relationship as parents and children.

    I really recommend book for young and adult readers. To young readers, especially students, this book gives such a motivation to speak out when there is something wrong happen. As well as for adult readers, this book reflects teenagers struggle regarding to bullying and sexual abuse (or rape). I assume adult readers will gain more insight about those issues and they could give more attention to the teenagers who have similar problem.

    With all of its strengths and weaknesses, I think the author successfully conveys the strong message through this book. Despite of its short number of pages and simple plot, this book is able to provide us good story. Overall, I found that this book is absolutely worth to read. There are many inspiring lessons we can take from it.  

 

Speak. Laurie Halse Anderson. Unites States: Farrar Straus Giroux. 1999. 197 p.


Ridha Wahyuni T. 

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