Time to Speak Up!

Warning: I Read Banned Books.


In honor of Banned Books Week (yep, this week!) and this shocking article I'm going to speak up and review a book that some think should be banned or censored:

Speak

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: Fiction

My Rating: 5 stars!

"Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute..." 

Summary taken from Amazon.com

Oh. My. Goodness.  I absolutely loved this book.  Melinda is such an intriguing character who as the story progresses slowly speaks less and less.  The way Anderson portrays this is stunning.  The imagery is awesome.  And you can't help but feel for poor Melinda as she becomes a social outcast, her family falls apart, and as we slowly see snippets of what went on that made Melinda stop talking.

This book was eye opening, because it helps you realize that every person is carrying their own little secrets that are easy to keep hidden.  This book preaches the importance of speaking up.  

Warning: The remainder of this review includes spoilers.

The article that bothers me states basically that Speak is soft porn.  Um, excuse me?  We find out in the story that Melinda has stopped speaking because she was raped.  Yes, some of the rape is included in the book.  And I guess some people might be sexually excited by rape.  But he is totally misrepresenting the book.  And I'm a little disgusted he would view (or feel others would view) rape as soft porn.

When Melinda finally does speak up at the end, you can't help but cheer for her.  Such a triumphant ending.  :)

Go Melinda!  Don't let that guy who wrote the article make you feel what you went through is porn.  You've grown stronger because of this!  And you've touched my heart. :)

And Laurie Halse Anderson, don't let this guy get you down.  (You can find her blog post about the article here).  You write books that speak truth.  Some people just can't handle it.  


That's why I appreciate Banned Book Week.  We must treasure our right to read.  And we also must speak up!