By: Laurie Halse
Anderson
Genre: Young Adult,
Drama, Finding yourself
Melinda Sordino used to have a pretty good life. She got
good grades, had a tight-knit group of friends, and was often invited to fun
events. All of that changed the summer between middle school and high school,
and now she enters ninth grade with no friends, a bad case of depression and a
secret she can’t tell anyone. Her friends think she’s a narc, her parents think
she’s grasping for attention, but no one asks her why she’s become this way.
Melinda finds herself slipping into silence, and only her art can help her find
her voice.
Melinda is a great character – I loved her sarcastic,
cynical wit when describing things around her. Her quips are intelligent and
funny, even if they come from a depressed mind. She has lost interest in
school, except in the one subject that she can use as her outlet – art. I could
feel her helplessness – she wants to tell her secret but doesn’t feel like
anyone will believe her. Her friends won’t give her the time of day and her
parents are never around – and when they are, it only seems to be to yell at
her or each other.
I honestly couldn’t stand Melinda’s parents. The only time
her father seemed to talk to her was to bellow about her poor grades.
Occasionally he does something nice like get doughnuts on Thanksgiving or
invite her to the hardware store with him, but for the most part he ignores
her. Her mother isn’t much better – working long hours as a retail store
manager, she doesn’t seem to have time for Melinda’s “cries for attention.” That
is literally what she calls it when she sees that Melinda has self-cut, and
promptly ignores her again. Excuse me, you’re not a bit concerned about why
your daughter is cutting? Do neither of you see this downward spiral as
something out of character for Melinda, someone who only months before was a
solid student with a decent social life? No friends, bad grades, sleeping all the time,
cutting – these are signs she needs help, not to be yelled at by two half-wits
who only seem to worry about how she’s making them look.
Her only friend for the first half of the book is Heather, a
bubbly new girl full of school spirit and longing to belong somewhere. She
tries to get Melinda involved, but mostly just uses her until she finds a
better group of friends. Also, the girl has some anger management issues.
However, I don’t think Melinda should have written off Ivy and Nicole so
quickly. While neither of them hung around her specifically, they were never
mean to her the way Rachel and other students were. I’m glad she and Ivy began
to bond toward the end of the novel, and I think that Nicole would have talked
to Melinda if Melinda had approached her. It is, of course, understandable why
she was afraid to do so.
As far as the rest of the characters go, few stand out.
David Petrakis is her nerdy lab partner who isn’t afraid to stand up to their
bigoted history teacher, Mr. Neck (Melinda’s nickname for the teacher, real
last name unknown.) Mr. Neck is one of those people who never should have ended
up in charge of students. He’s a control freak douche bag who loves to push his
weight around. Yet the school board allows him to get away with his antics
(probably because he’s a coach for one of the sports teams) but harasses Mr.
Freeman for using too much of the budget on art supplies. Mr. Freeman is the
only teacher that seems to respect his students and encourage them to grow and
find themselves. All the others – Mr. Neck and Hairwoman (English) especially –
seem to try and squish the creativity right out of these kids, turning them
into mindless drones like everyone else. It is Mr. Freeman who believes in
Melinda and encourages her transformation as the book wears on. Her struggles
with her art mirror her struggles with herself and the need to find her voice.
Melinda’s secret is revealed about halfway through the
novel, but I had already seen the film, so I knew what it was. Anderson holds
the suspense for a while, but I don’t think it’s hard to figure out with the
hints dropped by Melinda. What happened to her is awful, and the fact that she
had no one to confide in makes this novel heartbreaking in places.
My only real problem with the novel is the ending. We never
find out if her parents learn what really happened to her that summer. I’m sure
they did, but I would have liked to see how that happened and if they felt
guilty at all for not realizing something was very wrong. We never find out if
Andy is punished, and we never really find out if Melinda regains her friends
and a happy social life. I would have liked to know how things ended up for
her.
Overall, it was a quick, interesting read with a strong
heroine and a compelling story. I just wish the ending had been expanded upon.
7/10
