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This one spoke to me. I went through something similar in my first year of undergrad. I couldn’t talk about being raped because I thought I had deserved it. I went through an entire personality and image change though and this book drove home how important speaking out is when healing from trauma. But speaking can be dangerous to, if the person you choose to speak to won’t listen or doesn’t believe you. I am glad this book exist and I bet it has been a comfort and a savior to many people who feel like they are alone in their pain.

Russell wrote: "This one spoke to me. I went through something similar in my first year of undergrad. I couldn’t talk about being raped because I thought I had deserved it. I went through an entire personality and..."

Oh, Russell, I am so sorry you went through that.

I'm glad they adapted this story into GN form because it brought the story to people who otherwise wouldn't have read it, either because it was old (the original novel came out 20+ years ago) or because they prefer GNs to prose novels. As you mention, it's an important story that has been a comfort to many people.

That is absolutely awful what you went through Russell. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I read this book as a young teen, probably around the age of Melinda and I remember being baffled at first about why she felt as though she could not speak. I couldn't quite comprehend the complexity of emotions that type of trauma can cause. I'm so grateful that stories like this exist to teach me and help others learn to find their voice.

I don't think I would like the book if I read it now. I'm not a huge fan of prose or books with "flowery" language and I remember this having a lot of poetic chapters. It worked really well in GN format though.

I also didn't know until I was finally reading the GN that this was illustrated by Emily Carroll, a Canadian author/illustrator who's style I very much enjoy! This was an excellent pairing. Her drawings are so eerie and intense and they never fail to suck me into a story. I felt like her illustrations in Speak, especially relating to IT were perfect in capturing the horror of him. If you haven't read her anthology Through the Woods, you should definitely check it out (maybe not before bed if you're not into horror).

I also liked the movie version of this that came out - holy shit so long ago, I feel old now.

SuperKimbit wrote: "That is absolutely awful what you went through Russell. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I read this book as a young teen, probably around the age of Melinda and I remember being baffled at..."

I also read it as a teen and am not sure I would enjoy reading the text version now. I didn't love it at the time, anyway. I didn't remember there was a movie, though; I definitely never saw it.

Re. Emily Carroll, I agree her style is intense. I also read Through the Woods and have recommended it to a few teens looking for a spooky read.

Thank you both for your kind words. I had no idea this was a film. I will have to check it out.