Just Listen by Sarah DessenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STORY ARE IN MY REVIEW!
"Just Listen" is the story of Annabel Greene, a girl who appears to have it all. She is pretty, works as a model, lives in a nice house & has a best friend named Sophie that she seems drawn to the moment she meets her. It doesn't take long for the reader to discover that Sophie is toxic and you can't help but wonder why Annabel would ever want to be her friend, especially when she chooses Sophie over her longtime friend of Clarke. But something happens one night at an end of the school year party that breaks not only her friendship with Sophie, but with everyone else at the school as well. During her solitary lunchtime meals, she meets Owen Armstrong who is pretty much a mystery to everyone at the school besides everyone knowing about his issues with anger management. Soon Annabel and Owen get to know each other and realize that they have someone out there that actually connects with them. But Annabel is still stuggling with what happened to her that night at the party, not being able to tell her mother she doesn't want to model anymore and all the issues her family is dealing with with her sister Whitney and her eatting disorder. Finally, Annabel is forced to face the trauma of her past and ends up losing Owen along the way because she can't bring herself to admit it to anyone. Finally, in the end she is able to finally open up to not only herself but to her family & Owen as well. Bridges are finally being mended within her family, with Owen, with Clarke and within her school community.
I had heard some comparisons of this book to "Speak" which also dealt with the main charcter being sexually assaulted and how she pretty much closed in on herself. Even though the two stories are a bit similar in theme, I didn't find it similar in tone. I guess I still saw this as a bit of a love story with Annabel and Owen getting to know each other and help each other through their struggles. I didn't like how it seemed to backtrack from time to time to tell the story of past events (when Annabel's grandma died, when her sister's moved to NY and Whitney sunk into her eatting disorder and the family dealing with it, when she met Sophie). When they finally got to the flashback of what actually happened the night of the party, I was actually pretty tired of all the flashbacks.
I had a hard time understanding why Annabel just shut herself away from everyone after the party and why she could not open up to Owen since she finally had someone she was connecting with. I bought this book for my 13 year old daughther at her school book fair since I had heard wonderful reviews of Sarah Dessen and I did enjoy her writing and have already checked out 2 more of her books from the library. I guess I can use Annabel with my daughter as a way of describing how I hope she never feels like she has no where to turn and no one to talk to.
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