Just Listen - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	The Truth About Forever
•	That Summer
•	This Lullaby
•	Keeping the Moon (reissue)
•	Dreamland (reissue)

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
when Annabel, the youngest of three beautiful sisters, has a bitter falling out with her best friendthe popular and exciting Sophieshe suddenly finds herself isolated and friendless. but then she meets owena loner, passionate about music and his weekly radio show, and always determined to tell the truth. And when they develop a friendship, Annabel is not only introduced to new music but is encouraged to listen to her own inner voice. with owens help, can Annabel find the courage to speak out about what exactly happened the night her friendship with Sophie came to a screeching halt?

Customer Reviews: Read 114 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Dessen's Magic Will Never Dissipate April 7, 2006
48 out of 51 found this review helpful

How beautifully written this book is, I cannot even begin to explain, nor would I ever do it justice. It's hard to believe that Dessen's books keep getting better and better, because I always wonder how she's going to top the last one. Somehow, she always does, and in a way that leaves you desperate for more. I have never been one to re-read books, but I absolutely cannot lay this book to rest. I want to re-live the story, because I can't bear to let the characters go.

Annabel is facing the hardest school year of her life. She's dealing with a lot of family issues including her sister's severe battle with anorexia, and trying to tell her mother that she desperatly wants to quit modeling. Her ex-best friend Sophie no longer talks to her, because she thinks that Annabel slept with her boyfriend, but the truth is far deeper and the worst part is that nobody knows. Now that her friends have turned on her she has nobody until Owen Armstrong, the most unlikely person, befriends her and makes her see life in a new light.

Dessen did a beautiful job of portraying family relationships and how difficult it can be when you have to sacrifice for them. You feel so much a part of this book that it's as if you are sitting at the table with them arguing, crying, screaming, laughing, talking, or holding one another. The struggle with friendships is so real and honest that I'm sure every one of us can relate in some sense to the loss of a best friend, or a misunderstanding that never was resolved that Annabel deals with on a daily basis. The pain she has to endure while desperately hiding the truth from everyone else is incredible and you feel so deeply for her that it may bring you to tears or just want to reach into the book and give her a big hug.

Every young woman should read Dessen's books, but especially this one. It has so many lessons to offer girls on topics that are extremely important for them to be aware of. Everything from love and loss to anorexia and rape, this book has it all and it is so very beautifully done. I cannot express enough just how highly I reccomend this book to women of all ages, but especially to high school girls. Dessen is absolutely brilliant.

5 out of 5 stars

Models, family, and bacon... April 18, 2006
40 out of 43 found this review helpful

Sarah Dessen's latest novel focuses on Annabel, the youngest in her family and the sweet, nice one who avoids confrontation and, ever since becoming best friends with the popular-yet-caustic Sophie, avoids standing up for herself. Her family's attention is centred around her older sister Whitney and her eating disorder, and Annabel's white lies - telling her mom she's fine, not discussing the night when she and Sophie stopped being friends - keep things going smoothly. It's not until she meets Owen Armstrong, another 'outcast' at school who quotes Anger Management phrases at her, that she becomes aware of how often she lies, and more importantly, how often she simply fails to tell the truth. This is a story about a lot of things, from complex family relationships to the world of modeling to the importance of music, but mostly it's the story of one girl finding her voice, and letting people hear the sometimes painful but always true things that she needs to say.

1 out of 5 stars

Speak by LHA was better December 21, 2006
17 out of 37 found this review helpful

This book was too similar to _Speak_ by Laurie Halse Anderson. I loved _Speak_. It was fresh and original, and Anderson let us know right away that something traumatic happened to the main character. We don't know what it is, but we instantly feel sympathy for her and want to find out more. But in Annabel's case, all we know is some kind of altercation happened between her and her friend, Sophie. Annabel lets Sophie walk all over and does nothing to change the opinion of the rest of the school. This makes her seem weak and annoying. I hated her when I should have been feeling sympathy for her. The other characters didn't endear me to the story, either.

The writing sometimes got in the way - this is probably the biggest problem I had with the book. The story is told from Annabel's perspective, and we're constantly reminded that she's telling it. Phrases like "I watched/saw" or "I heard/felt" run rampant, and we never get to experience Annabel's story or emotions for ourselves. Instead, she tells us what's happening and what she's feeling, and we're outsiders looking in. Personally, when I read a story I want to be the main character. I want to see what she sees, feel what she feels, hear what she hears. If the writing keeps me out, I get frustrated.

I realize the author was trying to make a point - that you can't really know someone based on appearances. That is a fantastic idea, and worth pursuing. But I think it didn't translate well into this story - it came off as preachy and unoriginal. There is no explanation for why Annabel doesn't tell anyone about what happened to her. I understand part of the author's point, that it's extremely difficult to speak about these kinds of things, but it doesn't work in this situation. Mostly because a crowd of kids saw the aftermath, and charged emotions and such would make Annabel say things she ordinarily might not say. She's not protesting much, or insisting the other person be punished - which I think most girls would do in this situation. Her actions don't inspire sympathy. They make her seem weak and not too smart. Which is a shame, because this story had great potential.

Based on the reviews here, I don't expect many to agree with me. But that's okay. Diverse opinions are what make the world interesting. :)

5 out of 5 stars

Courtesy of Teens Read Too April 16, 2006
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

Up until now, The Truth About Forever has always been my favorite Sarah Dessen book. Now that I've read JUST LISTEN, however, I think there's a tie! The characters of this latest release are so honestly real, their dialogue perfectly placed, that you can't help but be pulled into the life and times of Annabel Greene.

Of course everyone thinks that Annabel has the perfect life. She's a model who has been in television commercials, in print ads, and in fashion shows at the local mall. She's popular at school, even if it is mostly because she's best friends with Sophie, the high school girl who demands attention. Her father is an architect who designed their house of glass; her mother lives for Annabel's modeling; she has two older sisters, Kirsten and Whitney, who are both former models themselves.

Under all of that perfection, of course, lies the real Annabel. The one who suffered from something so horrible at the end of the last school year that she's lost not only her best friend, but her self-respect. Her family is so consumed with Whitney's eating disorder, with Kirsten's college life far away in New York, with keeping everything under control that Annabel doesn't tell them what's happened--the things that are still happening every day she goes to school just dreading the day. She doesn't want to add more problems to the mix; in fact, she lies by omission, simply avoiding the truth rather than shattering her family's illusions.

But then Annabel meets Owen Armstrong, a boy she once watched punch out another student, then calmly walk away. Owen keeps to himself, never seems to be without his iPod, and doesn't appear to need any friends. But after he reaches out a hand to her, literally, after she's sick outside of school one day, a budding relationship of friendship begins to build between the guy who never lies, no matter what--and the girl who lies to protect other's feelings, namely her own.

I loved JUST LISTEN. Owen is a character that will immediately grab your interest, especially with lines like "...for me, not saying how I feel when I feel it is a bad move. So I don't do it. Look at it this way: I might be saying you're fat, but at least I'm not punching you in the face." As for Annabel, the things she's holding inside are tearing her apart, and, in the end, it's the strength of her sisters that gets her to ask for help.

The characters of Kirsten and Whitney are complicated and complex, and I have to admit that there's a part near the end of the book in which the sisters come together that had me crying like a baby. As for Annabel, it's not all about telling the truth, but about listening, not just to others, but mostly to that voice inside of her:

"...this is what happens when you try to run from the past. It doesn't just catch up: it overtakes, blotting out the future, the landscape, the very sky, until there is no path left except that which leads through it, the only one that can ever get you home."

3 out of 5 stars

Not Dessen's Best May 8, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

Sarah Dessen's one of my favorite writers. I loved "This Lullaby" and "The Truth About Forever". I also loved "Dreamland". "Just Listen" didn't measure up though. I'm not saying it was bad, becasue it wasn't. It wasn't great either though.

Annabel is a junior in highschool with two older sisters, one in college and one who had an eating disorder (anorexia). When something happens between her and her best friend Sophie last summmer, she finds herself an oucast at school. Owen, another outcast, befriends her. She becomes fasinated by Owen who never lies, and surrounds himself with music. She becomes increasingly aware of everything she's holding in. She doesn't even have the guts to tell her mother that she wants to quit modeling. As the lies start to stack up, it becomes harder and harder to keep them all in. Will she finally get the courage to tell them?

(I think you know the answer to that). The cool part is there's a very subtle hint to characters from one book, as well as an obvious reference to characters from a different book. Make sure you've read all of Dessen's other books...

The main thing that bugged me was how it was so similar to "Speak". It's almost as if Dessen stole the idea and changed it to her style of writing.

Despite what I've just said, "Just Listen" is a pretty good read, and if you're a fan of Dessen, then you should still read it.

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