Ripping up “Speak”

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Connor George, Reporter

In 1999, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote “Speak,” a book about a girl who deals with high school life after a life-changing incident. For the start of the year, many sophomores read this book with their class. It’s a topic that needs to be talked about; however, this book is horrendous.

First, the “plot twist” was super obvious. The book is divided into marking periods. After reading the first marking period, I could tell what was going to happen. This made the rest of the story predictable and quite boring. 

The timing was also quite confusing. Melinda, from what I can tell, has a flashback to the day of the party; however, it is very difficult to tell when this flashback starts and ends. It doesn’t feel natural and more like it’s shoved in there to keep the story going.

Not only this, but nothing goes on. The only events that happen are during the last 20 pages. This makes the book feel very slow and seemingly endless. 

All of this adds into a sadly terrible book. The topic is important, but the book is terribly written.