Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson; illustrated by Emily Carroll

Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson; illustrated by Emily Carroll
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018

I have not read the 1999 novel that this graphic novel is drawn from but, even knowing that this came from a full length novel, I didn’t feel it in any way skimped on the emotional or narrative depth.

Melinda Sordino went to a party in the woods before she started at high school and ended up calling the cops. When she starts high school in the fall she is ostracized by both her friends and students who hardly know her but they all blame her for the breakup of the party and its fallout. It’s initially not clear what has happened to Melinda in the woods but her response to Andy Evans, a senior, leering at her gives us a clue.

Gradually Melinda withdraws into herself, her grades fall, and she becomes isolated, depressed, and virtually mute. The only place she feels she can be herself is in her art class with the quirky teacher who believes in her ability to express herself through her art. Through the project he sets, Melinda is able to explore and open up, gradually realizing what happened to her and as the circle is closed she is able to find her voice and make herself heard this time.

The novel is not without humor. Mel’s narration is caustic as she assesses the other students and the meaningless promises the school makes about being there “to help you” and wanting to “hear what you have to say.” Her bitterness about her situation can be shot through with wit as well, as she re-writes her report cards, grading herself on lunch, friends, and clothes.

Carroll’s illustrations in shades of gray capture Melinda’s experiences both literally and metaphorically. The horror of the assaults on her are conveyed by the transformation of her attacker from person into a fuzzy featured ghoul, and the cinematic cuts sharpen the pace of the action. Being able to actually show Melinda’s artwork, though this is not as heavy handed as you might think, adds another dimension to the novel.

Melinda’s gradual steeling and strengthening is shown symbolically through the solace she finds in gardening and through her writing on the meaning of snow in The Scarlet Letter. It’s maybe a little more overt than you would find in a longer novel but feels rich and persuasive.

Mel gets her own #MeToo and #TimesUp moment, and readers will be cheering for her. Her attacker looks like he will face his comeuppance but who knows what will happen if he is nominated for the Supreme Court when he’s 53.

Best of my 2018 reading

Best of my 2018 reading

Here is my annual list of books I have most enjoyed this year (excluding adult books which are outside the purview of this blog). As ever, they are books that I have given 5 stars to in Goodreads and are in no particular order because that’s too much like hard work.

Enjoy!

Middle grade

Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol (graphic memoir)

The Button War by Avi (historical – review to come)

My Year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver (historical)

 

YA

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (nonfiction)

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (historical speculative)

Lighter than my Shadow by Katie Green (graphic memoir)

Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone (realistic)

Lost Soul, Be at Peace by Maggie Thrash (graphic memoir/fantasy)

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (realistic)

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert (realistic)

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge (speculative)

Speak: A Graphic Novel (graphic realistic fiction – review to come)

Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (speculative)

And there’s still time to nip out to your local bookstore to score a fab present for the teenager or middle grader in your life!

Happy Christmas!

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Katherine Tegen, 2018

Stephanie “Stevie” Bell has been invited to join the elite Ellingham Academy – home to “creative geniuses, radical thinkers, and innovators.” It’s a one of a kind school – completely free and allows the students to focus on their passions. In Stevie’s case that means crime detection. But not only is the school a top place to be educated, it also harbors a mystery: in 1936, the wife and daughter of founder and very rich person Arthur Ellingham are kidnapped. The body of Iris, his wife, and of a pupil from the school are found days later, but his daughter Alice is never found. As Stevie tries to investigate the decades old crime, there is a murder at the school and Stevie gets involved with that too.

The tone of the novel is both sharply modern but also manages to be fashionably retro. The plotting is smart and intriguing and the combination and connections of the old mystery and the new one is well done. As well as straightforward present-day narrative, there are perspectives from 1936 and FBI transcripts of interviews connected to the old mystery.

Stevie is an interesting character – very much at odds with what her parents would like and desperate for friendship from people who get her. Her new friends have a wide range of skin colors, sexualities, and gender expressions and are developed to varying degrees, mainly through the passions that have brought them to the school. Stevie also has a romance that feels completely unlikely and lacking in chemistry.

However, and this makes me so mad, this is the first book in a series and virtually nothing is resolved. You may disagree, but I do feel like a mystery should offer some closure within a book, even if there is an overarching bigger mystery, but that does not happen here – we are left completely hanging. And, while I’m complaining, Stevie manages to find a major clue in a large tin box that the police have somehow completely overlooked while searching a room – feels unlikely and convenient. So all in all, I have to say Truly Devious just felt unsatisfactory.