Speak (novel)

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Speak
First edition cover
Book cover of the first edition
Author Laurie Halse Anderson
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Realistic Fiction
Publisher Farrar Straus Giroux
Publication date October 1999
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 197 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0374371520 (first edition, hardback)

Speak is a 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a teenager named Melinda Sordino. It was made into a film in 2004 (see Speak (film)). It was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

In the summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino calls the police and they break up a local party, resulting in arrests. But during the party, Melinda and Andy Evans ditch the party and decide to take a drive. When getting into, Andy begins kissing Melinda. This results to Andy assaulting and then raping Melinda. In her freshman year of high school, Mr. Freeman, the art teacher helps her and she begins to express her pain through art. She builds confidence and regains her former friendships. When her former best friend, Rachel, begins dating Andy, Melinda feels obligated to reveal her story about Andy raping her.. The response is intense hostility, but eventually Rachel acknowledges the truth and dumps Andy.

As the school year comes to a close, Melinda returns to the supply closet to gather some things she left inside it. Andy confronts her, telling her that she lied about the assault, saying that he did not hurt her and that she asked for it. He suggests that jealousy of his relationship with Rachel was her motivation for "lying" about the rape, and he attempts to assault her again, despite her physical attempt to stop him. She breaks a mirror and holds a shard of glass up to his neck. "I SAID NO!" she yells. This is a major turning point for Melinda because she has been reluctant to speak following the rape—and because while telling Andy "no" before the first assault she was too intoxicated for it to come out forcefully. The field hockey team, including Melinda's former friend Nicole, hears her scream in the closet and comes to her aid.

As the student body hears the story and realizes the truth about what happened at the party, Melinda goes from social pariah to something of a hero. Mr. Freeman lives up to his name by prompting her to tell her story and freeing her from its grasp.

[edit] Awards and nominations

  • A National Book Award Finalist
  • An ALA Quick Pick
  • An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
  • Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award
  • An ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
  • A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
  • A Horn Book Fanfare Title
  • A 2000 Printz Honor Book
  • Silver Book Award Nominee.

[edit] Censorship

Due to its controversial subject matter, Speak has often been challenged. In the Platinum Edition of Speak, released 2006, Anderson spoke out against censorship. At the end of the novel, after an interview regarding the content of the book, Anderson wrote: “But censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.”[1]

[edit] Film adaptations

The story was adapted for film in 2004 and stars Kristen Stewart as Melinda Sordino and was directed by Jessica Sharzer.

[edit] Translations

The book has been translated into a Chinese version and sold in Taiwan, under the title of I No Longer Keep Quiet (我不再沉默),[2][3][4] and into Dutch by Hans Heesen with the name "Zwijg als het graf" as in English: "Silent as a Grave".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Quote was copied verbatim from the platinum edition of the book
  2. ^ Educational listing Taiwan ?. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
  3. ^ Findbook Taiwan. Findbook.tw. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
  4. ^ Books.com Taiwan. Books.com.tw. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.

[edit] Major source