Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Speak

I've been meaning to watch the movie for some time now, however, I wanted to read the book first. That's why I read it and it was good.

I like David a lot because he's not afraid to say what he thinks, he's fearless. He's got a brilliant mind and is kind too, however, he's not mentioned frequently enough for him to be my favourite character. I suppose my favourite character is Melinda. She's strong, relatable and I admire her. She's been through it and I can't even imagine what it's like to experience what she had experienced. I loved to see her character development and I hope she'll now live a better life.

The theme is also a big reason why I chose this book. The idea of barely speaking is captivating. The elaboration is done well. I suppose, even less advanced readers will understand the book, which is great.

I liked the part in which Nicole and Mel had the tennis match because it was exciting. My favourite part though is from page 175 and it pictures Mel defending herself, using her voice and everything she can. That was powerful and gripping.
The lines are:

Spoiler

No. A sound explodes from me. "NNNOOO!!!" Shards of glass slip down
the wall and into the sink. IT pulls
away from me, puzzled. I reach in and wrap my fingers around a triangle of
glass. I hold it to Andy Evans's neck. He freezes. I push just hard enough to
raise one drop of blood. He raises his arms over his head. My hand quivers.
I want to insert the glass all the way through his throat, I want to hear him
scream. I look up. I see the stubble on his chin, a fleck of white in the
corner of his mouth. His lips are paralyzed. He cannot speak. That's good
enough.
I follow the sound, pushing off the wall, pushing Andy Evans off-balance,
stumbling into the broken sink. He curses and turns, his fist coming,
coming. An explosion in my head and blood in my mouth. He hit me. I
scream, scream. Why aren't the walls falling? I'm screaming loud enough to
make the whole school crumble. I grab for anything, my potpourri Me: "I
said no."

The ending was satisfying enough. In my opinion, it was well suited and I liked it, however, it didn't make me feel anything really, which is disappointing. Overall the book didn't really have an emotional impact on me, however, it did make me reconsider a few things.

The rating is 3.5 because it didn't make me emotional, it wasn't thrilling enough and I wish things were more detailed. Despite this the book was amazing and I did enjoy it. I especially liked how Melinda's mind was portrayed and how Mr. Freedman's classroom was described. I'm curious about what will the movie be like.

Content Warnings

vivikasweiven's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

readsandrants's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I started off hating this book. And I do mean hating, I think at one point I even called the main character a passionless dull main character with questionable opinions. I was so ready to hate this book, not that I had wanted to, I had originally been excited for this book because someone who has very similar reading taste to mine absolutely raves about it and when I saw my teacher assigned it for summer reading I was thrilled. The first couple of chapters felt robotic, and the opening line was a bit of a cringe worthy sentence. But I actually grew to really love this book as it went on, though it was nothing I had thought it would be when I first heard about it, it was still a really great book nonetheless and I will be one of those annoying people who do nothing but rave and recommend this book to everyone they meet.

Content Warnings

More...