Book Review | Book Chatter

Speak
By Laurie Halse Anderson
(Speak, Paperback, 9780142407325, April 2006, 224pp.)

The Short of It:

Deceptively powerful.

The Rest of It:

Melinda’s first day of high school is even more horrid than she imagined. The friends that she had during the summer, are no longer speaking to her. Her decision to call the police during a summer party has made her the most unpopular person on the planet and no one wants anything to do with her. Once well liked and popular, Melinda finds herself navigating the first year of high school alone. No one knows her true reason for calling the police that night and if they did, would they even care?

Without going into too much detail, Melinda’s situation is not uncommon (unfortunately), but a situation that has the power to destroy and devastate on many levels. Broken and alone, her only option is to become silent. Turning inward, she attempts to make herself invisible and takes to hiding in a janitorial closet at school. As her grades slip, her parents fail her miserably in their poor attempt to understand what she is going through. With no immediate help, she begins to express herself artistically in the only class that she enjoys.

Speak is intensely powerful, yet tastefully done. I’m surprised that so many schools have added it to their banned book lists because it’s a book with an important message and one that deserves to be read. Anderson does a stellar job of conveying Melinda’s pain. There were many times where I found myself thinking about my old high school days, and even though that part of my life took place years ago, not much has changed. Kids can be jerks and “friends” come and go like the tides. The only way to deal with it is to know that you have value and that your voice matters no matter what others think.

Speak has been out for quite some time, but it’s a classic in that it deals with issues that all teens deal with. If you have a teen in your home, I urge you to read it first, share it with them, and then have a discussion about it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Uninvited Guests
By Sadie Jones
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780062116505, May 2012, 262pp.)

The Short of It:

Interesting premise, but poorly executed.

The Rest of It:

An 18-century manor is on the verge of collapse. It’s a house that has lost its shine long ago, but it’s still considered “home” to widow Charlotte, her children and her new husband, Edward. As Edward goes into town to see about a loan to help carry them through, Charlotte plans to host a birthday party for her daughter, Emerald. What promises to be a grand evening, is instead a disaster when a nearby rail accident sends a group of straggly survivors to their home. Trying to host a lavish dinner party while tending to these uninvited guests proves to be too much but makes for some entertaining reading.

I had a strange reaction to this book. I had an expectation for it, based on what so many other readers have said about it and when it didn’t deliver I found myself angry and confused over what I missed. I immediately emailed other bloggers to see if I was off the mark because so many loved this one. It’s gotten four and five stars all over Goodreads and many of the bloggers I respect, have said wonderful things about it. So why didn’t I enjoy it?

The beginning dragged horribly, the middle was better but the end made me feel lukewarm about the whole thing. It was very predictable and I saw the twist right at the beginning so there was little to look forward to, except HOW the twist was going to be executed and that failed to impress me. The characters were well-developed but not likable. I didn’t care to know any of them. I will say that one character, young Smudge… was probably the most interesting of the lot and in my opinion, the entire story could have been written around her and I would have been happy. In fact, there is mention of the “old house” which is attached to the new house and I felt for sure that Smudge would somehow end up exploring that old, creaky house. Maybe because I so wanted it to go that route I set myself up for disappointment.

In the end, it just didn’t work for me.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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