YA Through the Decades - Speak

Title: Speak (platinum edition)
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780142407325

Book Source:  library

Normally, this is the part of the review where I give the synopsis.  However, the point of a synopsis is to give an idea of what the book's about, and the point of Speak is that neither reader nor characters actually knows.  All we know is that something terrible happened to Melinda the summer before ninth grade, something that has forced her into nearly total silence.  Her friends have abandoned her, her parents and teachers are giving up, and not even she knows whether she'll ever talk about what actually occurred.

From a writer's perspective, this book is a master class in pacing.  Anderson drops a hint here, a detail there, as Melinda descends further into depression and darkness, building almost imperceptibly to the moment she admits to herself and the reader what she actually experienced.  Following that turning point, there are glimpses, suggestions, half-starved seeds of potential recovery, as she prepares to speak the truth to others.  From a reader's perspective, the suspense leading up to the revelation is incredible, and is then replaced by a desperate wish that Melinda will save herself by finding her voice.  By the time I reached the novel's climax, I was so invested in the character I nearly shouted along with her.  Which would have been pretty embarrassing since I was reading in the staff room at the time.

Speak is about dark, hard issues, but it's not depressing.  One of the things that makes Melinda such a compelling character is her voice, which is dry and sarcastic as well as brutally honest.  Her sense of humour gives the reader hope that there's still something in her worth fighting for, a strength that has survived her trauma.  Even though her actions aren't always rational, they're easy to understand and her story is one that a lot of teens will sympathize with.

Anderson's book is suspenseful, emotionally gripping, and beautifully crafted, and I thoroughly recommend it, especially for fans of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why.   I also suggest reading the Platinum Edition, which contains an extensive author interview.  For more information on Laurie Halse Anderson and her books, visit her website.

Book Review: Little Black Lies

Title: Little Black Lies
Author: Tish Cohen
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9781554684618

Book source:  library


Super-elite prep school Anton High is harder to get into than Harvard, but for those who make the cut, it's a guaranteed ticket to the top.  Assuming, of course, you can handle the crippling workload.  And survive your fellow students, a mix of rich kids, child prodigies, and complex neuroses.

For Sara Black, math genius, starting eleventh grade at Anton is like learning how to swim with the sharks.  Especially since she's the daughter of the new school janitor, whose obsessive compulsive disorder has reemerged since Sara's mother left for Paris.  When her classmates mishear her former home town as London England, rather than Lundon, Massachusetts, Sara figures, what's the harm in a few more little black lies?  Especially if they can help her be the person she wishes she was? 

But when her popular new "friends" start to discover the truth, and her father's condition takes a turn for the worse, Sara will have to decide what's more important - a reputation built on lies, or family, and the unvarnished truth.

I really enjoyed this book - which is directly responsible for my getting accidentally locked in the bookstore after hours - and which appeals to my inner geek on several levels.  Because students at Anton are known as Antlings, Cohen opens each chapter with a cool ant fact that fits its theme.   Sara tends to express her experiences in mathematical formulae, and though she may lie to her fellow characters, she's an honest, straightforward narrator whose bad choices are only too easy to understand.

Like all the Antlings, Sara is very intelligent, and the novel's vocabulary is quite advanced.  The book is also structurally complex, interweaving current action with back story through a series of flashbacks.  In addition, some of the content is on the mature side, and I therefore recommend Little Black Lies for older teens.  Fans of Gossip Girl, The Clique, or Eileen Cook's Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood will love this book.

For more information on Tish Cohen and her books for teens and adults, visit her website.