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Journal Entry 1 by indygo88 from Lafayette, Indiana USA on Friday, July 31, 2009
 "The first ten lies they tell you in high school"Speak up for yourself - we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows that this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and is is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In this powerful novel, an utterly believeable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself."
Acquired through PaperBackSwap.com (Unabridged on 4 CD's; read by Mandy Siegfried)
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Journal Entry 2 by indygo88 at Lafayette, Indiana USA on Friday, March 11, 2011
Beginning her freshman year of high school, Melinda is already considered an outcast because of a certain incident at a summer party. Having called the police, who then broke up the party, she finds herself literally disowned by all of her friends. Being an early teen is tough enough, but to have to do it without friends is even worse.
So begins Melinda's freshman year at Merryweather High School. Throughout the story, the reader is gradually clued in as to what exactly happened at that party. I thought this was a well-written story of a tough time in a teenager's life. It was fairly realistic for the most part, with some difficult subject matter. I was a little let down by the ending -- I thought it could've maybe been a little more powerful, but still a very good young adult read. I've got a couple more of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels in my stack, and am looking forward to reading those as well.
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Journal Entry 4 by  KateKintail at Burke, Virginia USA on Sunday, November 20, 2011
Taking this out of booklady311's Audio Bookbox. Thank you!
I actually read this book a month or so ago. I really enjoyed it and I'm taking it out for melydia, who recently expressed an interest in the book.
After I read it, this is what I had to say:
I read this book specifically because it made Amazon.com's list of the top 10 books for Young Adults. It occurred to me, about halfway through, that there's a difference between books for Young Adults and Young Adult fiction. This book was powerful and moving and amazing. However, it probably would have spoken to me even more if I'd been a teen when I read this.
This is the story of a girl who, as we slowly find out throughout the book, was taken advantage of during a party right before her freshman year of high school. Not just taken advantage of--she was raped, pure and simple. We get little bits of and pieces throughout. Everyone at school hates her, because she called the cops during a party a friend put on. We know something significant is wrong. But on the surface, she appears to be a typical kid having trouble adjusting to a new school. I can completely relate to that. I had a tough 8th grade with no friends. And I spent many of my years in high school with friends eating in teacher's classrooms, doing homework instead of the lunch room. I probably would have liked a closet like the one Melinda has.
Melinda's way of coping is to to just not talk about being raped. If she doesn't talk about it, it doesn't hurt as much. But the problem is, she sees the guy at school. And one of her friends starts dating him. She has an incredibly tough choice to make. If she speaks, it might hurt her. But she has to decide whether to say something that could keep someone who hates her from getting hurt the way Melinda was hurt... or whether to not say anything, because no one's going to believe her anyway. In fact, the first person she tells about it thinks she's just being jealous and gets angry at her. The more she avoids talking about it, the more it doesn't even seem real to her. But she still feels it. She goes through the motions, tries to do what's of expected of her in school, tries to cope. But it eats away at her. She takes comfort in certain things, and finds her voice through a visual medium and a physical confrontation. When she wrote a warning to girls about the boy on the wall of a restroom at school, it was a powerful moment. And when she uses treasured items in her closet to help her stand up to the boy, it was amazing.
The themes of trees and growing and of creating are beautifully woven throughout the story. The tree is a symbol, yes, but the way it's presented is so integral and important that it doesn't feel forced. In fact, during Melinda's English class's discussion of the Scarlet Letter, symbols and metaphors are thrown right at us. And still it feels like a part of the story, not forced or separate at all. In fact, one of the happiest moments for me was when Melinda asked her father to get some seeds for her at the store so she could grow a garden. It was very A Secret Garden and very cathartic, but it wasn't all she needed.
All the ways The Perks of Being a Wallflower failed for me are beautifully done here. We see inside her head, so we know why she acts the way she does, but we're the only ones who really understand it. It's actually so justified and understandable. I could relate to having so much misery and having completely justified actions but when someone asks you a direct question like "why did you do that?" you can't say a thing. There are some things that are so painful you can't explain them to someone if that person hasn't been through it. Sometimes I wish people could just look into me and know how I feel without having to explain it in words.
But the thing this book succeeds in explaining is that words are needed, that the hardest but most important thing you can do is speak about it. That doesn't just help someone heal, but it helps other people cope with what happened to them (because, sadly, this sort of thing happens WAY too often), and it helps prevent it from happening to other people. I loved that Melinda decided to speak up not because she needed to say it to heal herself, but because she was trying to save someone else (in fact, someone who hated her). That shows such strength of character.
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Journal Entry 6 by  melydia at Centreville, Virginia USA on Saturday, January 21, 2012
After calling the cops at a party full of underaged drinkers, Melinda begins ninth grade as the school pariah, all her former friends having abandoned her. Little do they know Melinda hides a horrible pain. Though I guessed Melinda's secret early on, the gradual revealing of all the details was still just as harrowing. As she deals with being friendless and afraid she begins to find herself through art and gardening. I found Melinda's voice to be quite realistic, quite reminiscent of my own high school experience (minus the trauma and truancy, that is). She's both funny and tragic, detached but still wanting to belong. I was completely engrossed in her journey. Next I need to see the film. I hear Kristen Stewart is actually really good in it, which actually doesn't surprise me, considering I've already nicknamed her Twitchy McStutters. Perfect for someone who barely speaks.
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Journal Entry 7 by melydia at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia USA on Friday, January 27, 2012
Released 4 mos ago (1/28/2012 UTC) at Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia USA WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Bringing this to the BCinDC meetup at Ballston Mall in Arlington, VA. I hope it doesn't come home with me.
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Journal Entry 8 by ln569 at Arlington, Virginia USA on Sunday, January 29, 2012
I read this book several years ago. The unabridged audio edition drives home one of the central points of the book, that the protagonist does not talk or even have a voice at all throughout most of the narrative. Anderson addresses a very uncomfortable subject in a way that is very respectful of and true to the experience of a high school freshman. This should be required reading (or listening) for anyone in high school. I dearly hope many, many others, particularly high school students, get the opportunity to experience this book.
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