Speak | Laurie Halse Anderson | Speak, The Movie and the Book

Speak | Laurie Halse Anderson | Read in 4 hours

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Speak

	Speak Laurie Halse Anderson Puffin, 2001 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 1185 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Speak, The Movie and the Book

Laurie Halse Anderson's Book Speak is filled with issues that are both controversial and significant. The average teenager would read and immediately relate with most of the problems faced by each of the students attending Merryweather High. The school, which in the book is thick with clicks, awkward teachers, and teenagers struggling to fit in, is an atmosphere typical to many high schools in America. Melinda Sordino reveals each of these attributes through her descriptions of her everyday experiences while at school. Anderson's work truly digs into Melinda's soul and presents, in an accurately modern way, the fears, insecurities, and doubts of a young girl who desperately wants to speak up about her problem, yet feels that no one truly cares to listen. Jessica Sharzer, the director of the film Speak, also does a wonderful job of portraying the work in a modern way. It is very interesting to note that after reading Speak the visualized figure of Melinda took on an ugly figure and yet in Sharzer's version the character of Melinda is attractive. This difference is most likely because Anderson allows her audience to view how Melinda viewed herself through her insecurities rather than actually describing her. Another interesting comparison between the book and the film is that in the end of the book Melinda tells her teacher about her problem while in the movie she tells her mother. The film also allows the rape scene to take place in a car rather than where the book places it, in the woods. Over all, the difference between the book and film is based upon obvious time constraints; yet it still accurately depicts the pain and fear of a girl who has been raped the affects it has on her.

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Read in 4 hours

This book is elegent with simplicity. It consists of many accurate teenage life descriptions, and more so, the emotions involved.

I read this book continuously if you don't count work and sleep, until it was finished.

The Movie Compared to the Book, Speak

The movie followed the storyline of the book fairly accurately. Also, most of the characters in the movie fit the description I had imagined of those in the book, except for the main character, Melinda. I had not expected her to be as pretty as she was in the movie. The book's description of Melinda made me see her as a very skinny teenage clothes who always wore clothes that were too big for her and sullen, gaunt facial features. I also saw the art teacher as more of a hippy than he was portrayed in the movie. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I think it is a great tool to help high school girls who may have gone through the same situation as Melinda. Also, I believe teenagers today often relate to movies more than they do books and might be more inclined to watch a movie on this sensitive subject rather than read a book about it.

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Chilling and genuine

Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is a superbly written, evocative and remarkable novel.

The story follows Mellie, a high school freshman who has been rendered virtually mute following a traumatic event. Her silence is not understood by her classmates, who consider her a pariah, her teachers, who consider her a troublemaker, or her parents, who are too busy to care. As the school wear wears on, she struggles to find ways to speak to herself and to others.

The first-person narrator of the story, Mellie has a distinctive, authentic and compelling voice. The writing, which is stream-of-consciousness in some passages and brutally descriptive in others, brings the reader directly into Mellie's heart and mind. Anderson's descriptions of Mellie's post-traumatic stress and flashbacks are sensitive and genuine.

I took off one star for the ending. As others have noted, it seems a little rushed compared to the rest of the story, and seems to tie up plot threads a little too quickly. It doesn't detract from the fact that this is an outstanding book that should be widely read.

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Wouldn't Consider it Amazing

A bunch of people have said this book is AMAZING but I finished it wondering if I had the wrong book. You knew the ending from the very beginning and it just follows through Melinda's life that is falling apart. But I'm not good at summarizing so I won't go there. I mean I'll read anything and I do like books that just follow somebody's life but when you read the whole book knowing the ending it's just not something that I enjoy.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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