Ebook Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss
Ebook Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss
Download As PDF : Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss
High school freshman Roman Santi has everything -- good looks, great friends, a mansion with an infinity swimming pool -- except the one thing he really wants. A relationship with his father.
When Roman’s life gets turned upside down, (thanks, Mom!?), he is forced to leave his pampered Hollywood lifestyle and move into his grandparents’ Midwestern home. Sleeping on a lumpy pullout sofa and starting at a new high school is the worst, but Roman’s life starts to look up when his pink-haired friend, Zuzu, and his crush, a classmate named Claire, introduce him to performance poetry through the high school's Spoken Word Club. While his mom is flying back and forth to L.A., trying to return them to the life they had, Roman becomes part of a diverse group of characters who challenge his rather privileged view of the world. Through Spoken Word, Roman recognizes the hole in his own life he needs to fill and discovers his voice. Spoken Word leads Roman on a journey of new friendships, first love, and finding the dad he never knew.
“Spoken” is an uplifting, funny, and heartfelt coming-of-age story that captures how the honesty of performance poetry binds together students from all different walks of life and forever changes Roman’s life.
Melanie Weiss lives and works in Oak Park, Illinois.
www.melanie-weiss.com
Ebook Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss
"Great first novel. Well developed story and characters. Appropriate for 12 - 112."
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Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss Reviews :
Spoken A Novel eBook Melanie Weiss Reviews
- I was drawn into "Spoken" from the very start. The characters that make up the story are realistic and sympathetic
and their interaction is an up beat commentary on today's generation of teenagers.
Most importantly, I believe that "Spoken" sends a positive message showing how teens are able to work through
issues in their lives provided they have support and love from their families, their peers and their teachers. The
"Spoken Word Club" proves itself to be a valuable tool for enabling teens to grow and confirm their self worth.
In sum, a highly recommended read for all ages!
Michael K. - From the first sentence to the last, I cared about Roman and wanted to know what happened next. The vivid details were offered in just the right amounts and flavors of words to make each of the moments come alive. I loved feeling the flow of his thoughts and feelings that allowed him to ride the waves of his life - to be resilient. Great book to gift to yourself and young adults you know!
- Loved this book! I couldn’t put it down. This author was great. Can’t wait to read what she writes next!
- I was immediately pulled in and hooked with Spoken. The characters are relatable and I kept forgeting I was reading a book- just felt like I was in the story! So refreshing to read a book with characters that are honest, driven and funny. I absolutely reccomend this book for all ages! Can’t wait for the next one!
- Great read. Roman captures the reader from the very beginning. The beautiful poetry is an added gift that the writer brings to this wonderful first book
- Great first novel. Well developed story and characters. Appropriate for 12 - 112.
- Weiss’s debut young adult fiction captures the angst and inner workings of a teenager, Roman Santi, whose life is turned from mansion with a housekeeper in LA to sleeping on grandma’s sofa bed with a statue of the Buddha staring at him. The novel is a lovely, refreshingly sweet and poignant story about a kid not warped by society whose goal is to simply live happily ever after, be a friend, find friends, but also to find the father he’s never known. One of my favorite lines is from Roman’s first day at his new school, when he’s challenged by his mother’s over-the-top appearance as a minor movie star in exile “Welcome to my world, where I’m happy my hippie grandma is the one taking me to school today.â€
Everybody knows about being fifteen. Teens suffer amid the transcending moments. Roman finds his transcending moment when a poem and a girl spark his interest and he joins an after-school poetry club. Weiss, a trained journalist, writes what she knows about Midwestern living and the experiences of the Spoken Word movement in high school. She shares about her inspiration for the novel. During the late nineties, when the character Roman was born, Spoken Word was incorporated into the English classroom in Oak Park. Weiss credits this performance writing as a means for students to share their struggles and triumphs. Her character. Roman, found his niche in his program, although he decides not to share his poetry with his family. “The only way I can be real about what I write is if I know I won’t have to explain myself to them,†Roman says. Participating in Spoken Word allows him to uncork his bottle of stuffed feelings about his place in life, his environment, and his upbringing.
When an opportunity to go to Europe arises from a Spoken Word competition, Roman, with the encouragement of his friend Zuzu, takes a step on a journey to find his father. Roman knows only that his father is a French cruise ship entertainer his mother met the summer they both worked on board. But first he has to earn the right to be part of the poetry team to compete against their London counterparts.
Roman shares his story through first-person present tense narrative, an effective method of bonding the reader to him. Spoken is not one of those in-your-face epic hero journeys. It’s a rare school year peek into contemporary high school freshman year, where the onus to grab life and make meaningful memories in on us. It’s difficult to find comparisons to today’s contemporary YA. Spoken is a finely-tuned story about coming to grips with identity without needing to kill, die, have sex, or do drugs. The cover is an evocative rendering of experiencing not only what you learn, but how you can share it. - This is a rewarding book in the Young Adult Genre, but with almost universal appeal to any age. I was immediately drawn into the life of young Roman , the 15 year old protagonist. His voice comes across to the reader so authentically and with great nuance, humor and sensitivity. This is a very talented writer. There was a real message here about life's upending tendencies when what teenagers want is things to go just their way. I liked the author's facility with language - very strong dialogue, seemingly easy and accurate use of vernacular without overdoing it. Her depiction of the mother is classic Hollywood bling, but still manages to evoke the reader's sympathy. And the Midwestern aging hippie grandparents are hysterical and touching.
The transition to Chicago and Oak Park from LA is a wonderful sequence in the novel, as the reader becomes aware, far before Roman does, that this move just might not be as bad as it first seems. In fact, the reader becomes quickly engrossed in the life of the new high school, new friends, and of course, Spoken Word, the brilliant, inspirational Poetry Club that becomes a central force in the lives of Roman and his peers. It's a beautiful story made all the more so for the angst and longing that pervade the character of Roman from the very first page a boy looking for his father, -a boy looking to belong. I found myself thoroughly engrossed in Roman's story and read the whole novel in one sitting. It's touching and moving, yet avoids the saccharine.
Bottom line this is a very good story, beautifully, honestly told, and a pleasure to read. What more do we want from a novel?
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