Speak

1. Book review:

“Speak” is written by Laurie Halse Anderson. It’s one of the four award-winning novels and was published in 1999 by the penguin group, USA.
Laurie Anderson lives with her family in central New York. She says that the character of Melinda, the main character, came to her in a nightmare and so she decided to write the book Speak.

The novel is about a 14 year old girl, who got raped at a school party.
Now she is an outcast at her high-school because she called the police, who busted everyone on the party. Her friends hate her even pupils who don’t know her hate her too. But nobody knows what really happened at the party and nobody wants to speak with her except Heather, a new girl at the school but it isn’t a real friendship. All pupils of the high school belong to groups only Melinda didn’t.
She really needs a help, but nobody can see that because she doesn’t speak. So she starts to skip school and gets into a lot of trouble.
In the first time when she speaks to Rachel, her ex-best friend, about what really happened at the party, and why she called the police, she doesn’t believe her, because she is in love with the guy, who raped Melinda. Telling it, she is afraid because she thinks that Rachel will probably tell the boy about the rape and so he might try to rape her again.
Melinda had a difficult time to go through. She felt bulled from live as well.
Mr. Freeman, her art teacher is the only one who believes in her and who notices that something is wrong with her.
But quite at the end of the book she tells Mr. Freeman all things, which she experiences.

I very liked the book although I hate reading. But this book attracted me very. This novel is written in a modern way and the topic, which she chooses is topical.
I also liked that Melinda finally overcame her fears and started to speak again. Until the end of the book she was alive but also dead, after all she was back in live again.


2. Description of the main character:

Not only the others see Melinda as an outcast, she sees herself as one too. She hasn’t got any friends to talk to and she doesn’t really know how to express herself.
In contrast to the other girls in her school she doesn’t dress herself as well.
Somehow she wants to bring out everything what happens, but she thinks that it’s easier to say nothing, to keep her shut. Nobody wants to her what she has to say. She also thinks that nobody likes her, but she thinks wrong, because over the story it puts out that one of her ex-best friends namely Ivy still likes her and her art teacher likes her too. And her biology partner David likes her a lot

Melinda hasn’t really a relationship to anyone. She is lonely and she is suffering. She has got just 3 or 4 people to talk with.
She doesn’t wants really to support with her parents because they are very busy with their selves. Heather and Melinda are very different so a real friendship doesn’t work. Mr. Freeman tries to help her by doing not let her to give up drawing trees and so he reach his aim and at the end of the story she talks about what happens although without speaking to him before.

The others are mean to her; they are bullying her because she called the police at the party. But if they would know why she called the police then nobody would bully her; they would feel sorry for her and would try to help her.
David P. is nice to her; he doesn’t really know what happened at the party. So he tries to get close to her, but Melinda is too afraid because she thinks that it could happen again and doesn’t get close to her though she likes him too.
The teachers except Freeman don’t note her problems. And her family, though they want her to speak again, don’t help her really.

I think Melinda hasn’t really changed until Andy Evens tries to hurt her again. This fore she could defend. So she felt stronger and she has confidence of herself. Finally she was able to speak about the rape.
This was the point where she changed her really I think.
In my opinion it is very difficult to come over if something awful happens.
But where she changed her really is in art.
If you really want changing something you aren’t allowed to give up. You must try it again and again until you have reached your aim.