Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Almost two decades after the publication of her Printz Honor Book and National Book Award finalist debut Speak (1999), Anderson offers up a memoir in verse that covers her difficult early childhood, her own rape at the age of 13, her trauma and slow recovery through her high-school days, and the experiences surrounding her publication of Speak. With a veteran father whose PTSD steered the family directionally, and a mother who didn't deal with things head-on, Anderson began life with the inherited, / trauma-fed ability / to stay silent in every situation. In blunt and biting verse that builds consistently in strength and assurance, she relates her story and her growing awareness that shame / turned / inside out / is rage. In the final section, Anderson's focused, first-person narrative becomes more of a chorus as she recounts the stories that readers, female and male, adults but especially teenagers, have shared with her about their own experiences with sexual assault and harassment. The classroom benefit of this book is undeniable—it's a primer on writing and on living, and both Speak and Anderson's effect on teens has never waned. But more than that, it is a captivating, powerful read about clawing your way out of trauma, reclaiming your body, and undoing lifetimes of lessons in order to use your voice as the weapon it is. Fervent and deafening. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Anderson's won just about every award there is, and this deeply personal account, a return to her roots, will have wide appeal. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
SHOUT
Laurie Halse Anderson's groundbreaking 1999 novel, Speak, drastically changed the ways in which authors wrote about teenage characters, helping to usher in the modern young adult genre as we know it today. After Anderson's story of a high school student reckoning with the rage and pain of her rape became a bestseller, the dark and painful parts of adolescent life were up for exploring, and the coming-of-age experience was worth writing about.
Now, Anderson is breaking ground again with a memoir-in-verse that challenges categorization and the ways we've thought about the YA genre for the past 20 years.
Anderson, now 57, begins with short glimpses into her tumultuous early childhood in upstate New York, and we quickly learn about her veteran father's PTSD and ensuing domestic violence, which informed her 2014 novel, The Impossible Knife of Memory. But the ferociously raw, burning heart of this memoir is the recounting of her rape at the age of 13. In searing free verse, Anderson unloads decades of trauma on these pages. Although younger teens will benefit from being able to unpack and discuss many passages with an emotionally available adult, there's good reason to believe that SHOUT will become popular assigned reading in classrooms around the country—especially in light of our atrocious cultural problem with rape, sexual abuse and consent.
Longtime Anderson fans will appreciate this deeply personal look into how the author channeled her pain into the writing of Speak, and readers new to her work will be swept up in her singular style, which melds bold honesty with fluttering moments of lyrical beauty.
Copyright 2019 BookPage Reviews.Horn Book Guide Reviews
Anderson's three-part autobiographical collection of dynamic, mostly free-verse poems serves as a potent postlude for [cf2]Speak[cf1]. The first third takes us from Anderson's difficult childhood to [cf2]Speak[cf1]'s publication. Next is a series of impassioned poems about sexual assault, censorship, consent, etc. She concludes with a quiet set of reflective family poems. By turns angry, commanding, raw, and wistful, this is a praise song to survivors and a blistering rebuke to predators. Reading list. Copyright 2019 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
"This is the story of a girl who lost her voice and wrote herself a new one." So opens Anderson's three-part autobiographical collection of dynamic, mostly free-verse poems that serves as a potent poetic endnote for her landmark novel Speak (rev. 9/99). In the first third, she recounts the painful origin story of her alcoholic parents ("two ships ripped from their moorings"), a confusing childhood full of frequent moves, and the harrowing rape, when she was thirteen, that was the basis for Speak. Suffering silently through ninth grade, Anderson eventually finds her words again through the kind attention of teachers, a robust sports schedule, and a student-exchange program that places her with a nurturing family in Denmark. She follows this section (which takes her into adulthood and Speak's publication) with a series of impassioned poems about sexual assault, censorship, menstruation, sex and love, and consent, born of the hundreds of personal stories confided to her at author visits, book festivals, and conferences. These poems address topics ranging from the #MeToo movement to clergy sexual abuse, in muscular stanzas that both heal and hit back. Anderson concludes with a quiet set of reflective family poems that makes peace with her now-deceased parents. By turns angry, commanding, raw, and wistful, this collection is a praise song to survivors, a blistering rebuke to predators, and a testament to the healing power of shared stories. jennifer hubert swan March/April 2019 p 96 Copyright 2019 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
"This is the story of a girl who lost her voice and wrote herself a new one." The award-winning author, who is also a rape survivor, opens up in this powerful free-verse memoir, holding nothing back. Part 1 begins with her father's lifelong struggle as a World War II veteran, her childhood and rape at 13 by a boy she liked, the resulting downward spiral, her recovery during a year as an exchange student in Denmark, and the dream that gave her Melinda, Speak's (1999) protagonist. Part 2 takes readers through her journey as a published author and National Book Award finalist. She recalls some of the many stories she's heard during school visits from boys and girls who survived rape and sexual abuse and calls out censorship that has prevented some speaking engagements. In Part 3, she wraps up with poems about her family roots. The verse flows like powerful music, and Anderson's narrative voice is steady and direct: "We should teach our girls / that snapping is OK, / instead of w aiting / for someone else to break them." The poems range in length from a pair of two-line stanzas to several pages. Readers new to Anderson will find this accessible. It's a strong example of how lived experience shapes art and an important book for the #MeToo movement. Necessary for every home, school, and public library. (resources) (Verse memoir. 13-adult) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
In this powerful memoir told in free verse, Anderson delves into her past and that of her parents, sharing experiences at the root of novels such as
School Library Journal Reviews
Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews
In this gut-wrenching autobiography, Anderson continues her campaign to speak for victims of sexual abuse. Through personal comments teens have shared at conferences, book signings, and speeches, Anderson's free verse bleeds tears, frustration, and terror. Boys and men remain the enemy: the uncaring, the insensitive, the brutal hands that bind their wrists, tape their mouths, and do unspeakable things to their bodies—sometimes their brutality is visited on their own gender with as just as much violence. It is Anderson's senior year as an exchange student to Denmark that finally turns her life around. There she unexpectedly finds peace, love, and happiness. Shout exceeds Speak (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999/VOYA December 1999). It is time for this violence to stop. Blend in Anderson's own life story of her dysfunctional family: an alcoholic father (an ordained minister) who sometimes physically abused her mother. Her mother bore it silently and expected Anderson not to mention what she saw. No wonder Anderson's personal life spiraled out of control, because she could not tell the people who loved her most that she had been raped. She grasps the "Me Too" movement and drags it forward, waving it like a standard for everyone to see. This book belongs in every high school library and the young adult department of every public library. While the author shows incredible courage and vulnerability, this book is not for everyone. There are some teens who have not been exposed to the violence of rape; choose very thoughtfully before using Shout for a book discussion group.—Nancy K. Wallace. Shout held this reader's interest with the intense plot and the freeing message of hope for those fearful and struggling of all ages. Anderson used her powerful writing to bring to light a very sensitive topic, all the while keeping the inspiring atmosphere light and comedic with tales of her own experiences. This book is extremely worthwhile and something that both young and older audiences can read, enjoy, and learn from. 5Q, 4P.—Harley Leasure, Teen Reviewer. 5Q 4P J S NA Copyright 2018 Voya Reviews.