Title: Speak
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Narrator: Mandy Siegfried
Publisher: Listening Library
Duration: 5 hours, 1 minute
Copyright: 2000
Genres: trauma, young adult
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, a major infraction in high-school society, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute. But it's not so comfortable in her head, either; there's something banging around in there that she doesn't want to think about. Try as she might to avoid it, it won't go away, until there is a painful confrontation. Once that happens, she can't be silent, she must speak the truth.
In this powerful audiobook, an utterly believable, bitterly ironic heroine speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while learning that, although it's hard to speak up for yourself, keeping your mouth shut is worse.
©1999 Laurie Halse Anderson; (P)2000 Random House, Inc.
MY TAKE ON IT: I gotta tell ya, once I started this audiobook, I had a pretty hard time putting it down. Needless to say, it grabbed me right from the start and never let go.
The main character, Melanie, seems like an ordinary teenager at first. She’s just starting the 9th grade, which means a new school full of new people. She has all the usual concerns: “Will I fit in, will I make a fool of myself, will I be popular?” but it doesn’t take long to realize that there is something much deeper going on here. Through Melanie’s internal dialogue, we learn that something happened during summer break, and she’s not sure if her old friends are still mad at her or not. She doesn’t have to wonder very long; during the opening day assembly, the girl who was Melanie’s best friend mouths the words, “I hate you.” at her.
Little by little, we learn that over the summer there was a party. Melanie called the police from the party, and several kids got busted. A little later, we finally learn that Melanie called the police because she was raped in the back yard of the farm house. I don’t mind revealing that here, because it becomes evident less than half way through the book that that is what happened. No one knows about the rape though, all they know is that the party got raided, and it was Melanie’s fault.
That was what began Melanie’s decline, which is the real point of this audiobook. It’s such a sad story that I don’t know if I even have the words to adequately describe it. Melanie finds herself unable to speak to anyone, hence the title of the book. She never told anyone what happened at the party because she thinks no one will believe her. Laurie Anderson summed up Melanie’s isolation perfectly in one lunchroom scene where Melanie is sitting alone thinking, “Are they talking about me? They’re certainly laughing enough.” That line broke my heart. Completely friendless, Melanie gains weight, and slowly cuts herself off from the rest of the world.
Once a B student, Melanie’s grades slowly fall to C’s, then D’s, and finally to F’s, with the exception of her art class, where she consistently earns A’s. One of her art projects was made almost entirely of a dessicated Thanksgiving turkey carcass, and included a severed Barbie head with Scotch tape over its mouth; a cry for help that went largely unanswered.
Melanie’s relationship with her parents suffers as well, as you might expect. I’m not sure how good this relationship was before all this happened, but now Melanie only communicates with them through notes left on the counter. There was one scene in particular that was incredibly touching. At Christmas, Melanie’s parents give her an art set because they noticed she was drawing a lot. Melanie is literally moved to tears over this, for the simple reason that her parents actually noticed something about her. She finds herself on the verge of telling them everything, but once again is unable to speak. Later on she muses, “Maybe I should start talking to them. A little. But what if I say the wrong thing?”
“Speak” is not without its humor, however. Most of the humor is sarcastic, but will still make you chuckle. Throughout the course of the audiobook, Melanie’s introspection tells about her school’s problems deciding on a mascot. The original mascot is “Trojans”, but fearing this may be sending the wrong message, the school board changes it to the “Blue Devils.” They decide to keep the colors of purple and grey, however, because they don’t want to spring for new uniforms. The local Christian groups don’t like “Blue Devils” though, so the mascot is then changed to Tigers. The animal rights groups swing into action at this, getting lots of help from local groups and three Hollywood actors, and the mascot becomes Wombats. The students didn’t care for that, so they took a vote and became the Hornets. That lasted a while until at a basketball game the cheerleaders start chanting, “We are the Hornets, the horny horny Hornets!” I enjoyed Anderson’s humor quite a bit and it helped lighten the overall tone of the audiobook. She made me feel compassion for Melanie without depressing the crap out of me.
All things considered, it is really Laurie Halse Anderson’s narrative that makes “Speak” work. It is just so believable. Melanie’s thoughts and actions are so completely realistic that you cannot help but feel for her. It’s like one of those goofy movies where you’re screaming “Don’t go into the dark basement you idiot!”, but in this case you’re saying “Speak, darn you, speak!”
NARRATOR: Mandy Siegfried narrated “Speak” perfectly. She actually sounded like a 9th grade girl. You could hear the sarcasm in her voice whenever the story called for it, and she sounded sad in all the right places. I was completely sold; Mandy Siegfried really became Melanie Sordino for me.
FINAL WORD: I read a lot of audiobooks this year, but I have to say that “Speak” would probably rank in the top five. This was Laurie Halse Anderson’s very first novel which is kind of amazing. I’m definitely going to look for more of her work.
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
“Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld
“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” by James Patterson
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If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson (Unabridged Audiobook) from Amazon.com.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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