By Katherine Furlong
I feel exhausted and exhilarated and so emotional… I should not have picked such a powerhouse of a book. Reading steadily for a prolonged block of time is a gift I rarely give to myself. I selected Shout because I plan to read from it at next week’s Banned Book Readout – and the memoir written as poetry was an anguishing read. I’m happy that the Challenge forced me to power through to the end – otherwise I may have put it aside as too raw and difficult in its frank discussion of rape and sexual assault. I had to pause several times to cry… and my brain is still reeling.
Title: Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hours read: 2.5