Drama Without Depth: 'Speech Team’ Fell Short
A complimentary copy of the book has been provided by Fully Booked in exchange for an honest review.
“We showed that with unstinting practice and shrewd guidance, students from your average Massachusetts public school can talk circles around the state’s top-ranked teams, bringing home a bevy of ribbons to grace MHS’ elegantly refurbished trophy cases in the main hall.”
Speech Team follows the stories of five individuals; Tip, Nat, Jennifer, Anthony, and Pete. Pete being the catalyst of the story, with his suicide serving as the drive of the narrative. The story starts with the revelation of a social media post that leads to the reunification of the characters as they scramble together the information to reunite and identify the cause of their individual and eventual shared grief. The post then prompted Tip, the character from whose perspective we find grounding in, to re-live the experience he had with Mr. Gold (the antagonist) and his eventual reaching out to the other members of the speech team. And this is where the narrative starts unfolding.
I started reading this novel with very little preconceived ideal, I was hoping for the reprieve found in Young Adult Fiction. I did somehow convince myself that this might lead itself to play into the tropes of Dark Academia, but I was deeply disappointed. The pacing of the book was definitely engaging, an attribute to the authors ability to control dialogue and world building, and this enticed me enough to continue forward with the story, the setup was enticing enough to pique my interest in what the other students’ experiences were going to reveal themselves to have been. Their plan to confront their old speech team coach lent itself to evolve into an intriguing story. Unfortunately, at many points, it felt as though the reunited groups reasons were if not only weak but that they happened so far in the past, that the attachment was not relatable at all. Trauma is undeniably something that burrows into your skin, but often that trauma can die there. This felt like the characters wanted their friends to live those experiences again, for no reason other than basic progression in the story. I know firsthand the effects of bullying, especially bullying that impacts people by those who are charged with caring for them. But without the presence of the instigator to drive the narrative, and the length of time that passed since the events, I could not understand that need or desired outcome of confronting the perpetrator. It was quite a ridiculous moment when when we reached the climax of the story only for the author to have used the most attainable of copouts, rather than finish the narratives of each character.
In its entirety, I find the book to have a plot that is trying hard to reach an audience, leaning heavily on the notions of what social media tells us is good self-help. It felt like it was not original, it was simply reviling in the dramatics of the situation, because of the fact that it was putting elements into it that is there for the sake of audience connection, but not real understanding. There was nothing to give real purpose to the reveal, the protagonist or even the stories of the supporting cast. Creating an entire story about not being able to move on, is not only limiting but refuses the reader the opportunity to acknowledge growth. It was, in the end, too confusing to connect with anyone as each character tried to out do their friends with a story of suffering and struggle. A book without a resolution, without an ending. It was not easy to connect and I personally can’t see myself reaching for anything in this genre, whatever that is, again.