Just Listen

This book, read within days of my having read The Truth About Forever, basically solidified my love of Sarah Dessen. It was a quick read, and when everything was said and done, I feel like Dessen made Annabel's struggles and frustrations incredibly believable. One of the things I like about her

Show More

novels is that the ending is sort of open. Not that it would lead to a sequel, but just that the possibilities for her characters are endless. I didn't love this book as much as I loved The Truth About Forever, but I did like it rather a lot.

Show Less

This volume tells the story of Anabell, the youngest of three sisters who through current narration and flashbacks tells the story of how she gained and lost the friendship of Sophie, and the implications of that loss. The story is more involved, including a sexual assault on Annabelle, and I

Show More

compliment the author on the fact that this tragedy isn't revealed in the story, but rather kept under wraps until about 2/3 of the way through, just like it's kept in the background of Anabell's mind. The book tells the story of her growing relationship with Owen, an odd music loving, current anger management program graduate who encourages Anabele just to tell the truth, something she finds difficult, especially since she's trying so hard to keep it from herself. Wrapped around this is the details of Annabelle's family, especially her sister Whitney who suffers from anorexia, and mother who is recovering from a major depression.

I rather like Sarah Dessen's books, but wonder how they are taken by the young girls at whom they are directed. This one seemed to get a little preachy at the end. I could appreciate the wisdom of it all, but am wondering if it's my own wisdom and maturity working there, and that some might be missed by teenaged girls. It touched me -- I cried at certain parts, wanting so much for Annabelle. Perhaps that's the best compliment I can pay to this story. I would definitely recommend it, and other books by Dessen.

One last comment -- I did the audio version, and while I liked the narrator for the female voices, her male voices (especially Owen's) leaved a lot to be desired.

Show Less

OOooo, this book was also good. It was also surprisingly LONG! I was very surprised at how long the book looked, but then you read it, and you read everything that happens, and it doesn't feel that long. The reviews for this book compared it to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I have not read,

Show More

but it gives away a plot point for this one. So then I spent the whole first half of the book reading it with this awful horrible feeling in my stomach, cause even if I hadn't known what happened, you can guess. But it got better, and like Nick & Norah, this one has a lot to do with music too. I really got attached to Annabel in this book, and it had a happy ending, which I always like, so this was also a really good book. I can't explain why just yet, but it makes me think of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler.

Show Less

One of Sarah Dessen's best. Annabel can't seem to speak up for herself, whether it's telling her mom she no longer wants to model or telling her ex-best friend she didn't sleep with her boyfriend. When Annabel meets Owen, resident bad boy and anger management graduate, she finally begins to

Show More

understand the harm in lying by omission and starts to ask people to Just Listen. This book reads like a combination of "Speak" and "High Fidelity". Highly recommended!

Show Less

Annabel appears to have the perfect life. She's a successful model, gets pretty good grades in school, and has a lot of friends. The reader figures out that everything changed one night at a party but doesn't get to find out what significance the party holds until the end of the book. We do know

Show More

that whatever it was completely altered Annabel's perfect life. Her friends stop talking to her, except to call her horrible names, she is losing her sister to an eating disorder, and since she continues to keep everything bottled inside, she slowly breaks down. Owen is a social misfit at school, one known for fighting and anger problems. When he and Annabel slowly become friends, they both seem to change both internally and externally. Their friendship begins to be a bit more. Unfortunately, something happens and Annabel must figure out what parts of her life are truly important.

Show Less

Annabel is nervous about starting the school year because she had a big blow out with her best friend over the summer and now no one is talking to her. She finds herself sitting at a table with a guy named Owen who no one has ever talked to. He doesn't seem to mind though and she becomes interested

Show More

in this guy she's only heard rumors about.

Good story about learning to speak up and stop lying just to be seen as a "nice girl".

Show Less

I really liked this book. It was a very good book. Just Listen is about a girl named Anabell who is starting her Junior year in high school. She has no friends and her ex-best friend is telling every one that Anabell slept with her boyfiend, when in fact her boyfriend raped her. She hasnt told

Show More

anyone about the rape, not even her parents. Until Owen comes along. He is mysterous, scary and kinda cute. Anabell starts to study him, and she starts to like him. And eventually she tells him about the rape, and he convinces her to go to court and put him away so he osnt do this to anymore girls. I would definatly recoment this book to everyone. Once i started reading it i just couldnt put it down.

Show Less

I absolutely loved Just Listen, because this girl went from keeping everything to herself and not being able to trusting anyone to finally finding someone who was worth her time. It showed how judgmental and wrong people can be about other people by just looking at them and thinking they completely

Show More

know them. I think this is a good book for like middle school girls, so they don't get tooo excitted for high school =]

Show Less

"just listen" a story by Sarah Dessen tells the life of a teenage girl trying to overcome her problems that she faces after loseing two of her best friends over mistakes she made in the past. I would recommend this book to a teenage girl who likes teenage drama and young love.

And Sarah Dessen has written another great love story!! This is mainly a love story but with an interesting plot. A must read for teen girls.

I am normally a fan of Dessen's books and this one has not disappointed me at all.

Annabell is a teen model who plays the part of the girl who has everything in her modeling ads; however, her best friend hates her and she begins the new school year eating lunch alone.

Annabell finds an unlikely

Show More

companionship in Owen, who is somewhat of a school outcast.

Dessen tells the story of Annabell and her loving/destructive relationships with various individuals around her.

Show Less

16 year-old Annabel was part of the popular crowd at the end of the school year, but now she’s an outcast after Sophie discovered Annabel and Sophie’s boyfriend together at an end-of-the-year party. Annabel is a model, but she lets everyone else’s problems take center stage while she

Show More

surpresses her own issues. Owen, a legend at the school for his temper and mandatory anger management counseling sessions, becomes Annabel’s only friend. His A.M. mantras help Annabel find herself… “Nice generally involves not telling the truth.” “Don’t think or judge. Just…. Listen.”

Show Less

Unfortunately, I was required to read this book for a Young Adult Lit class, so, even though I really disliked the characters, I had to finish it. I agree that Dessen fills the book with important issues like rape, eating disorders, and self-worth, but I couldn't identify with any of the characters

Show More

or situations (even though I experienced something similar as a child). The dialogue felt false most of the time, and I wanted to yell at the characters for making stupid, selfish decisions throughout -- not only the teens, but the adults of the story as well. Obviously most reviewers enjoyed this book, but I found it pretentious.

Show Less

Just Listen was an outstanding book. I loved how the author of the book put the book together. There were everyday problems inside of this book. The People can relate to and understand what going on. I really like this book because it had my undivided attention. I can relate to how some of the

Show More

people act and where they come from with family issues, friendship drama, girl conflict and, much more. Annabel reminds me a lot of me in so many ways. Just deep down inside she just wants people to listen to her and understand the things that is going on in her life. She (I) just need someone to stop and listen to all the things that has been troubling her. Overall I think this book will be best for a lot of young adults, teenagers, and pre- teens.

Show Less

Just Listen is a true-to-life book that is difficult to put down. This is the first Sarah Dessen book that I've ever read, but I understand why it was chosen as a recipient of the Gateway Readers Award for Missouri in 2008. Ms. Dessen creates incredibly real characters with flaws readers can

Show More

appreciate. The author does a wonderful job of linking seemingly insignificant details to the climax of the story. I definitely knew a "Sophie" character as a kid, and I can truly relate to Annabel's struggles with relationships in this book. Many times, I felt I was looking in a mirror as I read Annabel's confessions. I recommend this book to any teenage girl.

Show Less

For awhile now, I’ve read and heard glowing reviews of Sarah Dessen’s books. Last summer I read This Lullaby, which I really enjoyed. When I asked “which book is your favorite?”, the responses were always Just Listen and The Truth About Forever.

Initially, my intent was to read Just Listen,

Show More

however when I noticed my library owned the audio book, I decided to listen to it instead. In a way, I’m glad that I did. The narrator, Jennifer Ikeda, did a fantastic job of portraying Annabel. As Annabel shared the events that occurred on that fateful night, I forgot I was listening to a book, but felt I was actually hearing Annabel tell her story.

For me, the best part of the story was Annabel’s relationship with Owen. Their friendship started out cautiously and grew to be very supportive. Ms. Dessen did an excellent job with pacing Annabel and Owen getting to know each other.

While listening to the story, I began thinking about how important it is to have someone listen to what you have to say. For Annabel, she didn’t believe anyone would listen, let alone believe her about why she is no longer friends with Sophie. Instead she bottled her secret and kept quiet until she was too afraid to share her story. Annabel likes to keep the peace in her relationships, which causes her to shy away from telling people how she truly feels. As she begins to trust Owen, she sees that being honest doesn’t have to be something she fears or the reason she may lose something. Honesty will lead to acceptance, closure and free her from the box she has been suffocating in.

I highly recommend this book. Ms. Dessen is a great author. Though her targeted audience is young adults, I believe adult readers will be impressed with her ability to bring characters to life.

Show Less

Over the course of just one summer before her junior year of high school, Annabel Greene has managed to lose all her friends. Always the quiet, “nice” one, a misunderstanding at an end-of-school party results in Annabel losing her gregarious best friend, Sophie, a complicated go-getter with

Show More

many mood swings and only two sides to friendship. You’re either her friend, or you’re her enemy. Being Sophie’s friend has caused the nice Annabel to lose several of her old friends as well, including her former best friend, Clarke, whom Sophie indirectly deemed “nerdy” and thus dropped like a hot potato.

Suddenly, Annabel finds herself all alone. She sits on the wall at lunch next to Owen, the loner boy who exudes an aura of intimidation for his gigantic stature and the omnipresence of earphones in his ear. Meanwhile, Annabel’s situation at home is not too great either. The past year was focused mostly on middle sister Whitney’s eating disorder, and Whitney and eldest Kirsten’s constant clashes and subsequent falling-out in the face of Whitney’s anorexia/bulimia.

Now, Whitney’s at home and slowly recovering, but she’s still taking up most of their parents’ attention. Thus, Annabel feels unable to tell her mother that she wants to quit modeling, something that all of her sisters have done and grown out of. Annabel is the last one left, and as a result, she feels pressured to stay on it in order to make her mother happy.

In the middle of Sophie’s attacks, her mother’s inattention, and Whitney’s glowers, Annabel strikes up an unexpected friendship with Owen. Turns out Owen is obsessed with music—and telling the truth all the time. With him, Annabel feels like a different person, one who can say what she wants to say all the time, instead of holding everything back like she usually does.

That is, until her past catches up to her. By trying to suppress all horrible memories of what happened to her that night at the party, Annabel is gradually but steadily ruining her future, including a possible romance with Owen. She must first admit to herself the truth before she can tell others and start on the path to recovery.

Like all of Sarah Dessen’s books, JUST LISTEN is chock full of important lessons. There are parallels between Annabel and Whitney’s predicaments, as well as symbolism in the form of the Greene’s glass house. While I did not find this novel to be as good as her other ones, I nevertheless could not put it down both times I read it. I recommend taking this novel in short breaths, instead of devouring it as you will most likely want to do. Just read…then go back and look for the deeper messages. JUST LISTEN will grow with you.

Show Less

excellent. obviously i have a good obsession with sarah dessen books at the moment.

I hated this book at first; it seemed full of mean girls and high school stereotypes. The writing definately got better as the book progressed.

Deals with topics including anorexia, positive and negative role models, rape, and honesty in a real and poignant manner using language that teens will be

Show More

able to relate to.

Show Less

Excellent writing. Beautiful, but accessible. About a high school girl and her relationships with family and friends. Shows how important honesty is, and how things might not be how they seem. I wouldn't mind reading it again!

Dessen deals with serious issues – eating disorders, attempted rape at a party, being ostracized from one’s peers, as well as the mother’s debilitating grief after her own mother dies. The message is good but I found the pace to be a bit slow, with too much time spent on the musical

Show More

inclinations of the main character’s new friend, Owen. I also found the reader’s voice for Owen to be off-puttingly nasal and whiny. The main character learns to stand up for herself and regain some lost friendships, but I think this could have been accomplished in 8 discs instead of 10.

Show Less

This is one of my favorite YA books. The characters were interesting and well developed. I thought that Annabelle's quiet way was a nice compliment to Owen's more confident style. Dessen's characters are often flawed and have complicated lives but it does not become a burden to the plot or

Show More

character development that occur in other's writing.

Show Less

This book reminded me a lot of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but I was impressed by how Dessen took a very similar plot and made a very different story out of it. There are a lot of elements in this story other than what happened to Annabel and how she deals with it, including her relationship

Show More

with her sisters, but Annabel's struggle to come to terms with her experiences is obviously the base of the book. Dessen has a fine ear for the voice of a high schooler. Overall, this is a gripping, realistic story. Like I said, Annabel's a great character and Dessen's writing is so good that we care about even the secondary characters, like Annabel's sisters.

There were two things I didn't like much about this book. The first was Sophie, Annabel's putative friend. She's barely a character in the story, so I can't really say I was disappointed not to see some growth in her, but she's depicted as such a flat character, with few redeeming qualities, that I had a hard time believing in her, which is a problem since, even though she doesn't figure into the story itself, she provides the center for much of the story.

My other problem had to do with Annabel herself. Although a very well-drawn character, much of what happens to her comes as a result of her making the same mistake over and over again. Which is not to say that we don't all do that, but at some point one might hope that a character would become aware of it at least to the point of not being so surprised when someone pointed it out to them. I feel almost nitpicky saying this, but Annabel was otherwise such a well-written character that I hated to see her be given such a glaring flaw.

Show Less

I thought Just Listen was a really good book!! I think that the main character, Annabel, has many different struggles that teenagers today can truly relate with. Just Listen has a good story line and shows how all someone really needs is another person to listen and be there for them. Annabel gets

Show More

that comforting from Luke. Teens can relate to being pushed away from best friends and popularity with misunderstandings and in this book Annabel seeks help but doesn't know who to turn to.

Show Less