I read Speak as my choice read this week and I definitely commend Laurie Halse Anderson for delving into the heavy, heavy topic of rape. The protagonist of the story is raped the summer before entering high school at a party and ends up calling the police, not knowing what else to do and, consequently, no one knows why she called them and hates her for it. I think the book captured the suffering and pain and thought process a young girl - or any woman for that matter - would go through on her path to healing and coming to terms with the horrendous experience she survived. Surviving itself after the fact is, I think, probably the worst thing to live through - remembering.
Kaylin
This is very much like Veronica Mars, if you watch the show. It is about the journey and not the actual event itself. That is like another one of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels, Wintergirls. The story is more about how to deal with the tragic event then the event itself. If you were in the character's shoes, which part would be more difficult for you?
ReplyDeleteI have not read the book, but it is definitely on my reading list. If I were in the shoes of someone who experienced something so horrible, I think the fact that you have to remember what you went through everyday would be equally as horrifying and embarrassing as actually going through it. I think time would heal to some degree, but you would have the degrading and dehumanizing event in the back of your mind for the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteI first read Speak when I was 13, and it remains one of my favorite books to this day. One of my best friends is a rape survivor, and I know through her experience that Anderson captured the emotional turmoil that those who suffered such a trauma must experience every day. In class yesterday when I was told that a Missouri teacher called the book "soft porn," I was almost brought to tears from disgust. While her experience in the book was described in graphic detail, it was told in such a way that the reader can feel Melinda's pain and fear. For someone to call that experience sexual simply gives others insight into his ignorance about the topic. Books like Speak are necessary so that society can understand the impact that being sexually assaulted has on a person. So many rapes go unreported because the victim's fear others' lack of understanding, and this teacher is perpetuating the issue. I hope that more people will speak out against this man's ignorance, and I also hope that books about such an "under the rug" issue will continue to capture the attention of the masses.
ReplyDeleteI also have a very good friend who went through this horrible experience. After reading this book, I was shocked as to how well the book captured the thoughts and healing processes which I have seen first hand. Melinda's depression effects her life but also everyone else in her life and this book really shows the large negative impact an incident like this can have on a girl. It really is a salty subject to talk about, but I agree that it is something that needs to be talked about so that other girls can speak up about something that has happened in their past if they have been hiding it.
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