Sign in with Facebook
jessica's Reviews > Speak
Speak
by
by
oh goodness me. i dont even want to begin this review because, even though im sticking to my rating, i feel super guilty for rating this so low. but its been awhile since ive read this and i finally feel like i can articulate why this book just isnt for me.
firstly, i want to say that the topic of this story is extremely important and deserves the representation it gets in this. melindas high school experience is vastly different than my own, but i can empathise that sexual assault is something that happens, even when its something i was never aware of at that age. so i appreciate the visibility of this serious issue and i know this story will help those that are/have gone though something similar.
that being said, THIS BOOK IS SOOOO BORING. which makes me feel guilty because should i expect to find entertainment in a story so heavy? probably not. but i do need my attention to be held, and this just didnt capture it. its slow and melinda is a very difficult person to connect with. not a good combination. maybe if i had read this as a teen, my reaction might be a bit different. but other than the overall message of the story, i just couldnt find anything redeeming about the novel itself. such a shame.
? 2.5 stars
firstly, i want to say that the topic of this story is extremely important and deserves the representation it gets in this. melindas high school experience is vastly different than my own, but i can empathise that sexual assault is something that happens, even when its something i was never aware of at that age. so i appreciate the visibility of this serious issue and i know this story will help those that are/have gone though something similar.
that being said, THIS BOOK IS SOOOO BORING. which makes me feel guilty because should i expect to find entertainment in a story so heavy? probably not. but i do need my attention to be held, and this just didnt capture it. its slow and melinda is a very difficult person to connect with. not a good combination. maybe if i had read this as a teen, my reaction might be a bit different. but other than the overall message of the story, i just couldnt find anything redeeming about the novel itself. such a shame.
? 2.5 stars
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Speak.
Sign In ?
Reading Progress
June 12, 2012
– Shelved
Started Reading
October 15, 2017
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
stella 🍓
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Aug 13, 2019 09:41AM
I definitely see where you¡¯re coming from. I think the reason I connected with it so much was because I was around the same age as the character when I read this. I kept imagining myself and my peers in the situation. Nice review ??
reply
|
flag
You shouldn't feel guilty Jess, I find it good but not great. As long as you acknowledge the importance of the issue, you should be able to say what you thought about this book without feeling bad. There was actually an interesting discussion about giving a bad rating to a book talking about an important issue a few days ago. You have no reason to feel guilty, you did say how important this topic was and that it deserved representation. You dont have to like this book in order to care.
Yes I totally agree! I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not the only one who felt this way. This authors books are a hit or miss for me and I hoped I¡¯d like this one but it just wasn¡¯t very interesting :/
I agree with this too.
stella - im soooo happy to hear that you were able to connect with this as much as you did. what a great reading experience for you!! :)catherine - as always, your comment has seriously made me feel so much better. thank you for easing my guilt and confirming that a reader doesnt have to connect with a book in order to understand its importance! youre the best! <3
kenzie - yeah, i get it. this is the only book ive read by anderson, and im not sure i will pick up another one. :/
savannah - yay! someone else who understands my suffering. :P
I can¡¯t say much because I love this author. I love Speak the movie better than the book but the book was still okay if I remember correctly. I just know the movie was one of those that¡¯s better than the book to me. I¡¯ve watched the movie a million times! ??
Nah, I get it - I rated it three stars because I felt like the novel picked up during the second half but it was kind of boring.
melissa - you now, im not much of a movie person; but since the book didnt quite work for me, i might check out the film adaptation. maybe i will be able to connect more with the story that way! thanks for the recommendation! :)sarah - i agree that the second half was a little better, but im glad to hear that you can understand my underwhelmed feelings. lol.
I totally agree with you Jessica! I found myself so bored but around halfway through, I kinda realized I wasn't going to get anything more so I lowered down my expectation and just bothered on finishing the book. Rated it a 3, ormore like 2.5.
jessica wrote: "melissa - you now, im not much of a movie person; but since the book didnt quite work for me, i might check out the film adaptation. maybe i will be able to connect more with the story that way! th..."Yes, way back when ever, I rated the book 5 stars because of the movie. I need to reread it because I didn¡¯t like it as much. I watched the movie before the book of course and I loved the art teacher in the movie but didn¡¯t like him at all in the book. You would just have to see it to know what I mean!
I'm really glad to hear you say this. I've been trying to get into the novel for a while and it just isn't working out for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about it.
I am about half way through and struggling with my guilt for just not being able to connect with or understand the character so I get it. I actually came to these reviews to see if people had a similar reaction.
Yes! You¡¯re exactly right! Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯m a teen myself and the experience was quite similar. Add your complaints to being forced to read this for school and you have a recipe for disaster.
Ugh I felt the exact same way!
I am about 25% into the book and keep thinking "just get on with it!" as I wait for the important part of the story to unfold. I am much older than the targeted audience, so that might have something to do with it, but even for books about "grown ups" I tire of long drawn out descriptions of mundane day to day things.
I'm a few chapters in. I haven't actually gotten to anything heavy yet but this book feels like the author was out of breath when she wrote it. Maybe that was an intentional metaphor but it just feels choppy and poorly written. Like the story was in the authors head but it didn't make it to paper. I'm 27 so maybe that has something to do with it but I haven't had this issue with other YA books.
