Reader response to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Back cover reads:
"Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. The best place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth."
My Rxn:
I am flipping speechless. Anderson has some awesome writing here. i practically recorded the entire book by quoting it... and as i did that, i wrote a few notes:
Who is IT and WHAT did he do to her? nice foreshadowing.
I feel special because Melinda is telling her story to me and no one else.
Wow. it's just so amazing to see inside her head. some boy definitely tried something not nice with her. i really relate to this character. I love her. By page 133 she's revealed enough info to us to trust us. she knows that the reader won't squeal on her. We are her connection (whatever the hell that means). I'm scared to keep reading. I might start bawling. I feel like she's who I used to be. I know her so well. If only there were a band nerd part in it. I don't feel like sharing it. I feel like she's trusted me with something special.
SO. this one certainly wins the Word Nerd Seal of Approval. It hits the High school scene head on, and makes a marvelous depiction. I also love Melinda's tone. she's very reminiscent of Daisy in how i live now. very sarcastic. very dry. i love that... reminded me of my friend Amber at times. a quick read. i started/finished it today. took about 3 hours total. kept my interest piqued. didn't want to stop reading.
there's awesome imagery and excellent quotes:
THE FIRST 10 LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
(5). HEH. the dress code was strictly adhered to by everyone in my school BUT me. ask me to tell you what i wore to school sometimes. HEH
10 MORE LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
(148)
This 8-foot senior in front of me somehow gets 3 cheesburgers, french fries, and two ho-hos without saying a word [...] I follow the Basketball Pole into the cafeteria" (8).
"Her enthusiasm makes me itch, but sarcasm would go right over her head" (27).
"The same boys who got detention in elementary school for beating the crap out of people are now rewarded for it" (28).
"When the pep rally ends, I am accidentally knocked down three rows of bleachers. If I ever form my own clan, we'll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem" (30).
"Ms. Keen is our teacher [...] she has a gelatinous figure, usually encased in orange polyester[...] That was the day Ms. Keen wore a purple dress with bright blue roses. Baffling. They shouldn't let teachers change like that without some kind of Early Warning Alert. It shakes up the students. That dress was all anyone talked about for days. She hasn't worn it since" (37).
"I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way" (39).
"Good thing my lips are stitched together or I'd throw up" (46).
"They herd us into an assembly that is supposed to be a democratic forum to come up with a new school mascot. Who are we? We can't be the Buccaneers because pirates supported violence and discrimination against women. The kid who suggests the Shoemakers in honor of the old moccasin factory is laughed out of the auditorium. Warriors insults Native Americans. I think Overbearing Eurocentric Patriarchs would be perfect, but I don't suggest it" (49).
"I know my head isn't screwed on straight. I want to lave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no on can hear them" (51).
"This is like when my father complains about his boss. The best thing to do is to stay awake and blink sympathetically" (54).
"Cooking Thanksgiving dinner means something to her. It's like a holy obligation, part of what makes her a wife and mother. My family doesn't talk much and we have nothing in common, but if my mother cooks a proper Thanksgiving dinner, it says we;ll be a family for one more year. Kodak logic. Only in film commercials does stuff like that work" (58).
"Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner" (61).
"There is something about Christmas that requires a rug rat [...] I still wish we could borrow a kid for a few days"(70-71).
"Pickled frogs have a way of disappearing from the storage closet" (81).
"The room does not smell like apple It smells like frog juice, a cross between a nursing home and potato salad. The Back Row pays attention. Cutting dead frogs is cool" (81).
"I don't buy the gold eyeshadow, but I do pick up a bottle of Black Death nail polish" (83).
"Hairwoman is torturing us with essays. Do English teachers spend their vacations dreaming up these things?" (84).
"She has a warped sense of humor as well as a demented beautician. The next essay was supposed to be fictional: 'The Best Lost Homework Excuse Ever' in 500 words. We had one night. No one was late" (84-85).
"She even tried to teach us the difference between active voice--'I snarfed the Oreos'--and passive voice--'The Oreos got snarfed'"(85).
snarfPronunciation: 'snärf Function: transitive verb Etymology: perhaps blend of snack and scarf:
"Words are hard work" (85).
"I can smell him over the noise of the metal shop" (86).
"I wake up for 4 days in a row, get on the bus 4 days in a row, ride home after school. I want to scream. I think I'll need to take a day off every once in a while" (99).
psst. it's a small miracle i didn't receive an Incomplete in any classes my Sophomore year. I missed more than the acceptable amount of school days. Good ol' Dad always called me in "sick" when i needed a day off.
"It's Nathaniel Hawthorne Month in English. Poor Nathaniel. Does he know what they've done to him? We are reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones" (100).
"It's all about SYMBOLISM, says Hairwoman [...] Some of it is fun. It's like a code, breaking into his head and finding the key to his secrets [...] so the code-breaking was fun for the first lesson, but a little of it goes a long way. Hairwoman is hammering it to death" (101).
"Nothing good ever happens at lunch. The cafeteria is a giant sound stage where they film daily segments of Teenage Humiliation Rituals. And it smells gross" (104).
"It's easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school" (108).
I am Bunny Rabbit again, hiding in the open. I sit like I have an egg in my mouth. One move, one word, and the egg will shatter and blow up the world" (117).
"Art without emotion is like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag" (122).
"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside--walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know" (122).
"I try to read while eating alone, but the noise gets between my eyes and the page and I can't see through it" (127).
"They could mail snowballs to the weather-deprived children in Texas" (128).
"Hawthorne wanted snow to symbolize cold, that's what I think. Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart" (130).
"Unbefreakinglievable!" (131). I SAY THAT ALL THE TIME.
"I made hard-boiled eggs for lunch and drew little faces on them with a black pen" (143).
"It's impossible to listen to Ms. Keen. Her voice sounds like a cold engine that won't turn over" (146).
"The foreign kids are always there, like they need to breathe air scented with their native language a couple times a day or they'll choke to death on too much American" (149).
"Cold air is easier to breathe, slipping like silver mercury down my lungs and out again. April is humid, with slush evaporating or rain drizzling. A warm, moldy washcloth of a month" (151).
"It isn't art; it's an excuse not to take sewing class" (152).
"I smell him. Have to find out where he gets that cologne. I think its called Fear" (160).
"i rake a mountain [of leaves] into the front yard and there are still more, like the earth pukes up leaf gunk when I'm not looking" (166).
"I'm thinking she found a good shrink, or maybe she published that novel she's been writing since the earth cooled" (172).
"The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up" (198).
phew! lots of good stuff here! the protagonist is 14... but i think anyone from age 12-18 will like it. i think girls would enjoy it more than boys... but who knows?! i like it a lot! yay for the Word Nerd Seal of Approval!
Back cover reads:
"Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. The best place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth."
My Rxn:
I am flipping speechless. Anderson has some awesome writing here. i practically recorded the entire book by quoting it... and as i did that, i wrote a few notes:
Who is IT and WHAT did he do to her? nice foreshadowing.
I feel special because Melinda is telling her story to me and no one else.
Wow. it's just so amazing to see inside her head. some boy definitely tried something not nice with her. i really relate to this character. I love her. By page 133 she's revealed enough info to us to trust us. she knows that the reader won't squeal on her. We are her connection (whatever the hell that means). I'm scared to keep reading. I might start bawling. I feel like she's who I used to be. I know her so well. If only there were a band nerd part in it. I don't feel like sharing it. I feel like she's trusted me with something special.
SO. this one certainly wins the Word Nerd Seal of Approval. It hits the High school scene head on, and makes a marvelous depiction. I also love Melinda's tone. she's very reminiscent of Daisy in how i live now. very sarcastic. very dry. i love that... reminded me of my friend Amber at times. a quick read. i started/finished it today. took about 3 hours total. kept my interest piqued. didn't want to stop reading.
there's awesome imagery and excellent quotes:
THE FIRST 10 LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
- We are here to help you.
- You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.
- The dress code will be enforced.
- No smoking is allowed on school grounds.
- Our football team will win the championship this year.
- We expect more of you here.
- Guidance counselors are always available to listen.
- Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.
- Your locker combination is private.
- These will be the years you look back on fondly.
(5). HEH. the dress code was strictly adhered to by everyone in my school BUT me. ask me to tell you what i wore to school sometimes. HEH
10 MORE LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
- You will use algebra in your adult lives.
- Driving to school is a privilege that can be taken away.
- Students must stay on campus for lunch.
- The new textbooks will arrive any day now.
- Colleges care about more than your SAT scores.
- We are enforcing the dress code.
- We will figure out how to turn off the heat soon.
- Our bus drivers are highly trained professionals.
- There is nothing wrong with summer school.
- We want to hear what you have to say.
(148)
This 8-foot senior in front of me somehow gets 3 cheesburgers, french fries, and two ho-hos without saying a word [...] I follow the Basketball Pole into the cafeteria" (8).
"Her enthusiasm makes me itch, but sarcasm would go right over her head" (27).
"The same boys who got detention in elementary school for beating the crap out of people are now rewarded for it" (28).
"When the pep rally ends, I am accidentally knocked down three rows of bleachers. If I ever form my own clan, we'll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem" (30).
"Ms. Keen is our teacher [...] she has a gelatinous figure, usually encased in orange polyester[...] That was the day Ms. Keen wore a purple dress with bright blue roses. Baffling. They shouldn't let teachers change like that without some kind of Early Warning Alert. It shakes up the students. That dress was all anyone talked about for days. She hasn't worn it since" (37).
"I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way" (39).
"Good thing my lips are stitched together or I'd throw up" (46).
"They herd us into an assembly that is supposed to be a democratic forum to come up with a new school mascot. Who are we? We can't be the Buccaneers because pirates supported violence and discrimination against women. The kid who suggests the Shoemakers in honor of the old moccasin factory is laughed out of the auditorium. Warriors insults Native Americans. I think Overbearing Eurocentric Patriarchs would be perfect, but I don't suggest it" (49).
"I know my head isn't screwed on straight. I want to lave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no on can hear them" (51).
"This is like when my father complains about his boss. The best thing to do is to stay awake and blink sympathetically" (54).
"Cooking Thanksgiving dinner means something to her. It's like a holy obligation, part of what makes her a wife and mother. My family doesn't talk much and we have nothing in common, but if my mother cooks a proper Thanksgiving dinner, it says we;ll be a family for one more year. Kodak logic. Only in film commercials does stuff like that work" (58).
"Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner" (61).
"There is something about Christmas that requires a rug rat [...] I still wish we could borrow a kid for a few days"(70-71).
"Pickled frogs have a way of disappearing from the storage closet" (81).
"The room does not smell like apple It smells like frog juice, a cross between a nursing home and potato salad. The Back Row pays attention. Cutting dead frogs is cool" (81).
"I don't buy the gold eyeshadow, but I do pick up a bottle of Black Death nail polish" (83).
"Hairwoman is torturing us with essays. Do English teachers spend their vacations dreaming up these things?" (84).
"She has a warped sense of humor as well as a demented beautician. The next essay was supposed to be fictional: 'The Best Lost Homework Excuse Ever' in 500 words. We had one night. No one was late" (84-85).
"She even tried to teach us the difference between active voice--'I snarfed the Oreos'--and passive voice--'The Oreos got snarfed'"(85).
snarfPronunciation: 'snärf Function: transitive verb Etymology: perhaps blend of snack and scarf:
"Words are hard work" (85).
"I can smell him over the noise of the metal shop" (86).
"I wake up for 4 days in a row, get on the bus 4 days in a row, ride home after school. I want to scream. I think I'll need to take a day off every once in a while" (99).
psst. it's a small miracle i didn't receive an Incomplete in any classes my Sophomore year. I missed more than the acceptable amount of school days. Good ol' Dad always called me in "sick" when i needed a day off.
"It's Nathaniel Hawthorne Month in English. Poor Nathaniel. Does he know what they've done to him? We are reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones" (100).
"It's all about SYMBOLISM, says Hairwoman [...] Some of it is fun. It's like a code, breaking into his head and finding the key to his secrets [...] so the code-breaking was fun for the first lesson, but a little of it goes a long way. Hairwoman is hammering it to death" (101).
"Nothing good ever happens at lunch. The cafeteria is a giant sound stage where they film daily segments of Teenage Humiliation Rituals. And it smells gross" (104).
"It's easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school" (108).
I am Bunny Rabbit again, hiding in the open. I sit like I have an egg in my mouth. One move, one word, and the egg will shatter and blow up the world" (117).
"Art without emotion is like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag" (122).
"When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside--walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know" (122).
"I try to read while eating alone, but the noise gets between my eyes and the page and I can't see through it" (127).
"They could mail snowballs to the weather-deprived children in Texas" (128).
"Hawthorne wanted snow to symbolize cold, that's what I think. Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart" (130).
"Unbefreakinglievable!" (131). I SAY THAT ALL THE TIME.
"I made hard-boiled eggs for lunch and drew little faces on them with a black pen" (143).
"It's impossible to listen to Ms. Keen. Her voice sounds like a cold engine that won't turn over" (146).
"The foreign kids are always there, like they need to breathe air scented with their native language a couple times a day or they'll choke to death on too much American" (149).
"Cold air is easier to breathe, slipping like silver mercury down my lungs and out again. April is humid, with slush evaporating or rain drizzling. A warm, moldy washcloth of a month" (151).
"It isn't art; it's an excuse not to take sewing class" (152).
"I smell him. Have to find out where he gets that cologne. I think its called Fear" (160).
"i rake a mountain [of leaves] into the front yard and there are still more, like the earth pukes up leaf gunk when I'm not looking" (166).
"I'm thinking she found a good shrink, or maybe she published that novel she's been writing since the earth cooled" (172).
"The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up" (198).
phew! lots of good stuff here! the protagonist is 14... but i think anyone from age 12-18 will like it. i think girls would enjoy it more than boys... but who knows?! i like it a lot! yay for the Word Nerd Seal of Approval!
2 comments:
I stumbled upon this rather randomly, Google-ing one of the quotes that you've mentioned. I wanted to see, if I used it as my away message, would anyone be able to find the source. I just wanted to say that I agree, largely, with your assessment of "Speak". It was a truly amazing read.
wow.. i read this last year.. i definitely agree with you... i LOVED it!
meg
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