[This title has been removed due to being inapropriate]

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

        As to how I came upon this book and the controversy

      Welcome to banned book week.  I actually may never have heard of this novel if it hadn't been for the recent attempted banning of this book and the unusual triumvirate of an apparently ultra-ultra-conservative college professor who has a particular view on things like government, history, R-rated movies, war, the United States Constitution, the definition of the terms "pornography" or "softcore pornography," adolescence, evolution, science-fiction, society, or life and two really good and entertaining bloggers I follow, Carolina Bookbinder and Liz at Consumed By Books.

       In short, the controversy began when an associated professor of business or management in the great and proper state of Missouri wrote an article complaining about three books he thought should be banned from the local school curriculum and launched what appears to be a public complaint  and newspaper oped piece with a whole host of various and sundry issues ranging from his belief that "separation of church and state is a myth" to the removal of "all teaching of sex education from the [school] district" and that evolution shouldn't be taught either* and three specific books.

       What "immoral, offensive, and vulgar" books did he mention in particular should be, for lack of better word, banned?    Three books I've actually not read yet: the classic Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, Susan Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer, and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson**.  I actually own an unread copy of the Vonnegut and I've seen enough reviews of Twenty Boy Summer (plus the title) to intrest me; however, had it not been for the aforementioned bloggers impassioned outrages at the attempted banning of Speak, I probably never would  have even had it on my radar since I normally don't read YA literature.  

        As to the actual review of the book....

       It's the beginning of her freshman year of high school outside Syracuse, New York and everybody hates Melinda Sordino.  Her friends from middle school don't talk to her and are hostile.  People she doesn't know at school know who she is as if she's attained some level of infamy.  Her only friend seems to be Heather, a transfer student from Ohio who she meets the first day of classes.


       If you're wondering what happened and why there is such animosity towards Melinda...I'm not telling you since that's an important part of the story.  This book is essentially one of in medias res, or, a story that begins in the middle, or at least elsewhere than the beginning.  And this book does that very well.  There are answers to be had, but you have to read along to find them out.  Even if going into the story you know the subject matter that the book covers (which, having seen the impassioned reviews, I did), you still feel like you don't know everything.
 
        If I had to nitpick to find something I disliked about the book, it would be that the book contains a bunch of stereotypes typical of a high school setting (and some, like the "Martha's" which I didn't get until way late in the story).  Yes, these are helpful, but I don't recall most people fitting in those groups when I was in high school.  And, sometimes, the actions of some of the minor students and teachers seemed a bit over the top.  However, as I remember once discussing with a friend, films (and books) never seem to create a great idea of what high school is really like.  Speak comes closer to it than most in some respects, especially with it's alienated and depressed main character. 

      This is actually not at all a vulgar or obscene or offensive book.  In fact, it's a very well done, serious, and very memorable book about a few very serious topics.  Even if you don't read YA, it's worth your time.   Apparently there's a film version, which I may just have to check out.

Rating:  4.5 of 5.

* Public Complaint Presented to the Republic Score Board, pg. 4, 6 (June 21, 2010).
** And, also specifically the films The Breakfast Club and Saving Private Ryan and other R-rated films because they have "offensive (and violent) content."