Today I realized it’s been two weeks since I posted anything. Had other writing to do. So, here’s my review of Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper.
Eleven-year-old Melody was born without the ability to speak or move 90% of her body. She also has a photographic memory and is extremely intelligent. However, since she can’t speak or move people think she has low intelligence and needs to be placed in special education. That changes one she gets the same speaking computer as Stephen Hawking. Now she’s able to show people how smart she really is.
What this book does well is that it makes you rethink how people born with mental disorders actually are. Just because they seem slow and (ahem) stupid, are they really? Melody’s frustration at how she wants to tell her parents something but can’t pulls off what Draper is trying to go for. Which is where the whole goldfish out of his bowl thing from the cover comes from. Melody is like said fish. All she can do is flap around without making any noise as gasp for air. It’s pretty intense stuff.
On the other hand, the book loses steam rather quickly. from the start you are rooting that Melody gets to finally speak and let people know, “hey, I’m not as stupid as you think I am.” As the book goes on, the excitement dies down as Melody’s everyday life suddenly becomes mundane and like an episode of one of those reality shows on TLC that get boring after the third episode. Even when she gets her speaking device your interest has already waned.
Out of my Mind starts off with a bang but slowly fizzles out to a bore. Draper tries with her solid writing to keep the reader’s interest, but it’s not enough. This is one of those cases of having high hopes for a book but it makes you lose interest in it way too quickly.
Categories: Novels
Tags: novels, Out of my Mind, reviews
Sanrock Reviews 
Thank you for being yyou