Speak (Book Review)

I know, I know. I am very late in joining this bandwagon. Speak has been a talked about book for many years now, but hey. Let’s get into this review.

If you don’t already know, Speak is about Melinda Sordino and her freshman year of high school. She’s already starting the year off with a reputation as a party buzzkill. She is known as the girl who called the cops at the end-of-year bash.

Melinda is on her own when it comes to navigating this jungle. Between terrible teachers, an ever changing school mascot, and the real reason she called the police that night, things are not looking up. None of her middle school friends talk to her anymore and Melinda is becoming more withdrawn, to a point of barely speaking.

Speak follows Melinda in her journey of coming to terms with what happened that night. We also see the complexities of her family and social dynamic that seem to threaten any chance Melinda has of speaking up.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading Speak. Despite being published nearly twenty years ago, it still reigns true, and personal, and great.

Author: Rachelle Saint Louis

Rachelle Saint Louis is a Haitian-American writer, born and raised in South Florida. She received a 2018 Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition for her poem “Red Blood Cell.” She is currently a Psychology and English double major at Florida Atlantic University. Her poetry has been published in Rigorous Magazine. Rachelle has been writing poetry since the 7th grade and you can often find her performing Spoken Word at local open mics. View all posts by Rachelle Saint Louis