“When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.”
-Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak
Melinda starts out high school as an outcast; she was the one who called the police at the summer’s biggest party, and no one is going to forget that. But she’s afraid to speak up about the reason why. Her art is the only way she’s able to express herself and finally get her story told.
Speak was first published in 1999 and has long been considered a classic of young adult literature. Laurie Halse Anderson wrote about rape before the time of the #MeToo movement, and she did so effectively and accurately. Reading this story, you feel immense empathy for Melinda–you just want her to be able to get the help she so desperately needs. You want her to find friends; you want her to fit in. Anderson creates such emotion with this story, and it’s important that everyone reads it.
The graphic novel version just came out this year, and the images compliment the text beautifully. Emily Carroll does an excellent job with her artwork and does justice to the love Melinda has for art in the book. One of the things I liked the most about the art is the way that Carroll plays with shadow throughout. Melinda is haunted by what happened to her at that party, and this is portrayed through the shadow of her attacker. Everything works together really well in order to bring this story to another level.
After reading the graphic novel, I definitely want to revisit the book. I’m interested how close the text is between the both of them. Overall, I absolutely loved this and believe it’s a great adaptation of a great book.
5/5 stars