Book Review: Speak

SPEAK: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON & EMILY CARROLL

On the first day of her freshman year at Merryweather High School Melinda already feels like an outcast. Shunned by her newly ex-best friend, tripped, pushed, and bullied by other classmates, and forced to take the late bus home from school all because she was the one who call the police at an end-of-summer party. Unable to speak the truth about what actually happened that night at the party, Melinda tries to forget by suppressing the memories and not telling anyone. Heather, the annoying new girl is the only person who will talk to her. Although she was once “happy” and “driven,” Melinda now feels detached and depressed.

One class that Melinda finds safety in is her art class. all the students are given an object by the art teacher that they must study and draw over and over throughout the year. Melinda’s object was a tree. As the story progressed, the tree became a way for Melinda to speak when she, herself, couldn’t. When Melinda was unable to speak, she often expressed herself and her pain through the medium of art and the tree assignment. One day her bullying teacher Mr. Neck goes on a rant about race and sexual prejudices, Melinda finds heroism in David Petrakis after watching him protest for his own freedom of speech. Later when Melinda protests for her right to silence, David is the one who encourages her later to fight for her right to speak.

Melinda has multiple encounters in the school hallways with a male student she calls IT. After a night of insomnia, Melinda climbs to her roof and flashes back to the night of Kyle Rodger’s party where she snuck in with her group of friends, downing three beers to keep from feeling awkward then wandering off into the trees alone where she met him, Andy. She recalls him kissing her then becoming more aggressive, pushing her down, getting on top of her, covering her mouth with his hands, and raping her. She remembers running away and dialing 911 but not being able to make a sound. Towards the end of the novel Andy Evans corners Melinda and attempts to rape her a second time, calling her ugly and jealous, and saying that she’s lying about her rape. This time Melinda screams “NO” and uses all her strength and anything she can to get him off her. She opens the door to a group of people and says, “call 911”. 

On the last day of school Melinda sits in the art room and at last creates an imperfect but beautiful tree. As she does she admits to herself that her rape happened, but that she will survive it and grow from it. She adds birds to her tree, and begins to cry. The art teacher, Mr. Freeman looks over her art and remarks that she’s been through a lot. Melinda feels as though the ice in her throat is melting, and replies, “Let me tell you all about it.”

Speak is a story of a teen whose voice is ripped from her, the struggles with popularity and depression through high school, and the battles she must go through to find her voice and grow again. Melinda’s journey is about her inability to express herself, to speak up for herself, but in the end Melinda finds a way to express her pain and sadness through art, and in doing so also finds a way to grow and heal from her experience.