Although the poems are carefully crafted, nearly 300 pages of free verse is taxing to read. The book’s length wore on me a little bit. With unflinching, blunt words, Shout tells a true story that must be listened to and believed. Poem after poem launches missiles of rage at all icons of toxic masculinity and the warped, diseased world they have created. The poem ends this way:Īnderson lends her authorial voice to untold numbers of women who, like the author herself, have been raped, belittled, and silenced by men and the sociopolitical structures they inhabit. As an example, there is a poem called “a boy, priest unholy,” a scathing denunciation of how men in institutionalized religion leverage their power to sexually abuse children. Anderson assumes the role of the prophetic female voice declaring the sins of oppression, abuse, and indifference embedded within the male subculture since time immemorial. The book’s language is forceful and has a tone of anger and indignation. The vignettes woven throughout Shout show Anderson looking for her self-confidence and identity in spite of the fact that men – both at a personal and institutional level – are constantly attempting to undermine her efforts. Shout is a book of free verse poetry that describes the life journey of its author, Laurie Halse Anderson, the bestselling author of the 1999 book Speak. If Viola is a scapegoat, then who really did it? And what are they hiding? To find the truth, Gretchen must enter a void that is not only dark and cold-blooded, but also frighteningly familiar.By Jay Trovato, adult contributor and librarian. But Gretchen might be seeing something in Viola no one else does: herself. Amid stories of childhood horrors and Viola’s cruel manipulations, the bad seed has already been found guilty by a rapt public.

Remorseless teenager Viola Kent is accused of killing her mother. When a high-profile new case lands on Shaughnessy’s desk, it seems open and shut.

Shaughnessy still thinks Gretchen got away with murder. She’s helped solve enough prominent cases for detective Patrick Shaughnessy that her own history is often overlooked: Gretchen is an admitted sociopath once suspected of killing her aunt. Gretchen White is a specialist in antisocial personality disorders and violent crimes. A shocking murder carries echoes of the past for a psychologist in a startling novel of suspense by a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author.

Shout by laurie anderson