Thursday 14 March 2019

Review: Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson


I was sent an audio copy of this book for review from Penguin Random House. 

A searing poetic memoir and call to action from the bestselling and award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson!


Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speakwas first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice-- and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.





Review: This was an amazing book which I already feel like listening to again. I think I will have to get myself the hardback edition of this book just so I can mark out some of my favourite verses and prose because there were so many memorable moments. 

I did this book on audio and it is read by the author Laurie Halse Anderson who wrote Speak amongst many others. I was lucky enough to hear this writer speak at my local library in Denver and so I knew that this audio was going to be amazing and it was. In a memoir like this which contains so many personal moments as well as calls to action and is written in verse, I think it is so valuable to have the author read their own work. She injects such feeling and so much passion into what she says and how she says it, the audio was fantastic. 

Even if you don;t know this writer I think this is still a very valuable read an something you will be able to enjoy with no prior knowledge of her work. This book deals with many tough issues and so definitely comes with car warnings for sexual violence and domestic abuse, amongst other things. But this book deals with hard hitting issues in such a personal and relatable way. One of my favourite sections was the one concerning consent, it was just so true and so beautiful. The verse called Yes just begged to be listened to or read again and again and again. 

I definitely recommend this book and recommend the audiobook. I will, however, be purchasing the physical book so that I can go back and flag some of my favourite verses and re-read some of the stories that this writer has. I am excited about enjoying it all over again!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

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