Speak by Laurie Anderson
Melinda Sordino is a freshmen at Merryweather High and an outcast with no friends. Everybody in school including her middle school friends hate her because of an incident at a party where Melinda was raped by Andy Evans. Melinda called the police at the party but didn’t report the rape incident so everyone thought she was just a snitch. Nobody knew Melinda was raped and Melinda didn’t tell anybody. Since that day, she always kept to herself, didn’t try to make new friends, always avoided people, and barely spoke. In school, Melinda’s grades are dropping and she’s having a hard time doing her project of a tree for art class but continues to make changes to it as the book progresses. She meets a new girl named Heather but they didn’t actually have much in common and she was always with Heather just because she didn’t want to appear so lonely. Unfortunately later on, Heather “defriends’ Melinda and Melinda is once again alone. Occasionally, her old friend Ivy (whose in her art class) would talk to her and sometimes her science lab partner, David Petrakis would as well. Although Melinda doesn’t have any friends, she still pays attention to her ex-best friend, Rachel Bruin and she notices that Rachel started going out with Andy Evans (the one she was raped by). She tries to warn Rachel and tells her that she was raped by him but Rachel doesn’t listen. Towards the end, Andy Evans finds out that Melinda told Rachel so he tries to rape Melinda at an abandoned janitor closet. Luckily, Melinda escapes with only a few scratches and she finishes her art project of a tree and gets an A+. The tree symbolizes Melinda’s growth throughout the book and that you don’t have to be perfect.
“Let me tell you about it.” (Anderson 198)
At the end when Melinda shows Mr. Freeman her final tree project, he gives her an A+ and can sense her struggle through her artwork. He asks her “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?” and Melinda replies “Let me tell you about it.” Melinda is finally speaking up and telling someone her struggle which contradicts the beginning where Melinda closed herself from everyone else. I think it ended the book very powerfully because it shows how much Melinda has changed. This book is great because of its verisimilitude and it addresses serious issues such as rape and depression. I can see why this book has been so popular and why many people liked it.
