| |  | Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Category: Book
Buy New: $19.00
New (3) from $19.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  1180 reviews
Sales Rank: 7165213
Media: Library Binding
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 197
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 143523314X
EAN: 9781435233140
ASIN: 143523314X
Publication Date: April 11, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 ok purchase August 4, 2008
the price was great and the story itself was ok. it's another look at pressures placed on girls during high school
 Juvenile and poorly written July 25, 2008
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
Hmm.... what to say, what to say....
Okay- Speak.
The plot sucked and the character was obnoxiously TYPICAL - or rather, what an adult who doesn't know thinks a teenager is.
I thought that this book would be a real great story about being alone, being solitary, and depression. I was wrong. It was "oh I'm not popular, woe is me" type things, and the whole story about the rape is unreal and just blah.
The main character lacked any real depth no matter how hard the author tried- and so did all the rest of the characters. There was no character development or development of ANY kind - yes, it has a happy ending and all is well - but there wasn't any real journey and there was no plotline to follow along with.
I would only recommend this book to people searching for books featuring two-dimensional stereotypical teenagers at a high school that survives on labels.
The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is because - at least I read the whole thing.
 This has meaning. Pain. July 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My mom found this book on a plane. Someone left it there perhaps accidently as they were gathering up their suitcases, or as I prefer to believe, because they finished reading it and wanted others to read about it. That's why I love books so much they are meant to be read, shared, enjoyed. My mom read it and then gave it to me to read. I may leave the book on a park bench or on the beach.
This book reads easy but that does not at all imply that this is a simple book. On the contrary, Anderson discusses the angst of being a young teenager, high school clicks, the inability to conform, losing friends, and loss of communication within families. In all honesty, I read the book in 4 or 5 hours because I couldn't put it down.
Anderson writes with fluid grace. Her style is quick, fluid, sarcastic, witty, and at times haunting. The protagonist, Melinda, hardly says anything. Her parents think she has become mute. They think she is rebelling, as all teenagers do. Their own relationship is a model of dysfunction and waste. Her only outlet is in her art class. Her assignment is simple: she has the whole year to do a project and recreate a tree that emotionally moves everyone. That would be well and fine, except, Melinda checked out emotionally last year. After a certain party. After she "called the cops" for reasons unknown to her friends. She doesn't tell anyone what happened that night, and since then her walls have come up and she feels like ice blocks her throat.
Every teenage girl should read this novel in my opinion. I think everyone can relate to at least one aspect of the book which is why I enjoyed this. I like novels that speak to me in some way and I can relate to it. Melinda has some powerful memories of certain instances that she remembered as a child - like when she was out in the snow - and recalling how life appeared much easier back then. She could talk to people. Clearly, something tragic shook Melinda to her very core at the party and she was suffering from PTSD.
I highly recommend this book to all young people and adults.
Great Book!! July 16, 2008
Great Service very quick. My daughter already read the book..and we are
ordering more by the same author...great summer reading
Pointless July 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Perhaps the Lifetime Movie was more eventful.
I chose to read this book for a University assignment, the point of the assignment was to find YA fiction to incorporate in the classroom.
Anyhoo, I didn't like the book at all. Thankfully I cheated and rented the book on DVD (it was unabridged) in the car during commute because I would have thrown the book against the wall SEVERAL times. Yes, the sbject matter is awful but it can not carry a novel completely, I guess the pivitol sub-plots was...uh how many scabs she'd pick off her lips. Needless to say the story itself is bad, the characters are characiture stereotypes and not a single on of them was likeable--EVEN read aloud the characters were flat and one dimensional, the heroine had an inkling of likeability but it never shown through and by half way through the book I was screaming "tell someone already!" and praying the last handful of pages were blank filler pages. There was no suspense because by the second chapter you KNEW exactly want happened, nothing was revealed throughout, and I swear it was like the last ten pages where she actually grew as a character and confronted her tormenter. Sadly as an educator, I would not recommend this book, especially not to young adults (the target audience) because there was no point to the book.
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