the age of enlightenment

BOOK REVIEW: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Posted on by Lian

Blurb:

He hurt me.

I’m stuck in a nightmare, I keep falling, but never hit the floor.

It’s getting harder to talk.

But… I said no.

I said no.

Speak our, speak loudly, speak now. Words are your power.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Side Notes:

  • Genre: Young Adult Fiction
  • Graphic Novel
  • Highly recommend for 16 years and above
  • TW: Rape, sexual abuse, and sexual assault

Book Quotes:

  • “THE FIRST TEN LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
  1. We are here to help you.
  2. You will have time to get to your class before the bell rings.
  3. The dress code will be enforced.
  4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.
  5. Our football team will win the championship this year.
  6. We expect more of you here.
  7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen.
  8. Your schedule was created with you in mind.
  9. Your locker combination is private.
  10. These will be the years you look back on fondly.
  • TEN MORE LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL
  1. You will use algebra in your adult lives.
  2. Driving to school is a privilege that can be taken away.
  3. Students must stay on campus during lunch.
  4. The new text books will arrive any day now.
  5. Colleges care more about you than your SAT scores.
  6. We are enforcing the dress code.
  7. We will figure out how to turn off the heat soon.
  8. Our bus drivers are highly trained professionals.
  9. There is nothing wrong with summer school.
  10. We want to hear what you have to say.”*
  • “When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You’d be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It’s the saddest thing I know.””
  • “You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against.”
  • “I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears?”
  • “Homework is not an option. My bed is sending out serious nap rays. I can’t help myself. The fluffy pillows and warm comforter are more powerful than I am. I have no choice but to snuggle under the covers.”
  • “Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.”
  • “It’s easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.”
  • “It’s easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school.”
  • “I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?”
  • “I wonder how long it would take for anyone to notice if I just stopped talking.”
  • “I am getting better at smiling when people expect it.”
  • “CONJUGATE THIS: I cut class, you cut class, he, she, it cuts class. We cut class, they cut class. We all cut class. I cannot say this in Spanish because I did not go to Spanish today.
  • Gracias a dios. Hasta luego.”
  • “I have never heard a more eloquent silence.”
  • “I know my head isn’t screwed on straight. I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closest is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no one can hear them.”
  • “This is where you can find your soul if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you that you’ve never dared look at before. Do not come here and ask me to show you how to draw a face. Ask me to help you find the wind.”
  • “IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding.”
  • “Sometimes I think high school is one long hazy activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they’ll let you become an adult. I hope it’s worth it.”
  • “If I ever form a clan, we’ll be the anti-cheerleaders and walk under the bleacher forming mild acts of mayhem.”
  • “I need a new friend. I need a friend, period. Not a true friend, nothing close or share clothes or sleepover giggle giggle yak yak. Just a pseudo-friend, disposable friend. Friend as accessory. Just so I don’t feel or look so stupid.”
  • “Why not spend that time on art: painting, sculpting, charcoal, pastel, oils? Are words or numbers more important than images? Who decides this? Does algebra move you to tears? Can plural possessives express the feelings in your heart? If you don’t learn art now, you will never learn to breathe!”
  • “Do they choose to be so dense? Were they born that way? I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing. ”
  • “Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.”
  • “Mr. Freeman sighs. “No imagination. What are you thirteen? Fourteen? You’ve already let them beat your creativity out of you!”
  • “Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart.”
  • “Who cares what the color means? How do you know what he meant to say? I mean, did he leave another book called “Symbolism in My Books?” If he didn’t, then you could just be making all of this up. Does anyone really think this guy sat down and stuck all kinds of hidden meanings into his story? It’s just a story…. But I think you are making all of this symbolism stuff up. I don’t believe any of it.”