Wedding Day

Wedding Day
Enjoy EVERY moment in your wedding gown. You can't stay in it forever...SO UNFAIR!!!!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

My Paperback Swap Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson -- Review

PaperBackSwap.com - Our online book club offers free books when you swap, trade, or exchange your used books with other book club members for free.







I decided to start reviewing books I have received from Paperback Swap which, by the way, I totally adore. I have read several, but I am starting with a read that I just finished. That would be Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I am now a TOTAL fan. :)



From the back cover:

I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I hae entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attidtude. And I don't hagve anyone to sit with.

I am Outcast.
The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing about me. I can't help myself. I turn around. It's Rachel, surrounded by a bunch of kids wearing clothes that most definitely did not come from the EastSide Mall. Rachel Bruin, my ex-best friend. She stares at somehting above my lfeft ear. Words climb up my throat. This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood about my parents, who didn't make fun of my bvedroom. If there is anyone in the entire galaxy I am dying to tell what really happened, it's Rachel. My throat burns.
Her eyes meet mine for a second. "I Hate you," she mouths silently.

My Review: This book was a refreshing reminder of everything I love about reading. The story moved so well and with such ease. I'd say in the manner of Go Ask Alice, it is timeless in message with a character so real that you believe every detail as if you are reading about a friend. I think that many of us have been in situations where we have felt like an outcast. I could relate to Melinda on two levels. Level one being the child in me who dealt with her own issues of feeling outside the circle and had her own secrets to keep. Level two being the mom in me who simply just wanted to grasp Melinda and hold her.

The story was fresh with feeling and a plot that was entirely believable. Each character seemed to be someone you just might know. The student body was compiled of types we all knew. I was transported from page one to another time and another place that somehow I knew as well as my own. To say I loved it is an understatement.

Lastly...the book moved me to emotion. You can't ask for better than that. If you have not read Speak, I highly recommend it.

2 comments:

Staci said...

Yeah, another fan of Anderson. She absolutely rocks doesn't she. I've bought this book for a couple of nieces and always recommend it to my more serious and mature girls at school. Read all of her books..you won't be disappointed!!

Alyce said...

This one's on my list and I can't wait to read it. I've read such wonderful reviews of it!