"Just Listen" entry #8

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

This passage is noteworthy because it's of Annabel telling the truth- exactly as it happened that night.

"As I stepped over the threshold into the dark, I had my first prickling sense that something wasn't right. It was just how the room felt, like the entire space around my was unsettled. I stepped back, reaching for the knob, but I couldn't find it, my fingers only touching the wall. 'Nick?' I said. Then, suddenly, I felt something bumb up against my left side. Not furniture, or an object, but something alive. Someone. It's Nick, I told myself. He's drunk. But at the same time I started moving my hand behind me, faster now, searching for the light switch or doorknob. Finally, I felt the knob. Just as I was twisting it, though, I felt my fingers closing over my wrist. 'Hey,' I said, and even though I was trying to act casual, my voice sounded scared. 'What's--?'

'Shhhh, Annabel,' the voice said, and then the fingers were moving up my arm, over my skin, and I felt another hand on my right shoulder. 'It's just me.'

It wasn't Nick. This voice was deeper, and not slurring at all, each syllable enunciated perfectly. As I realized this, I panicked, my hand gripping tighter around the water bottle in my hand. The top popped off, and suddenly I felt cold water seeping into my shirt, only my skin. 'Don't,' I said.

'Shhh,' the voice said again, and then the hands were off me. A second later, they covered my eyes.

I jerked forward, trying to pull away. The water bottle, now half empty, fell from my hands, hitting the carpet with a dull thud, and his hands grabbed my by the shoulders, hard. I kept wriggling, trying to get loose and turn around, toward the door, but my hands were flailing in empty air. It was like the walls had slid back, out of reach; there was nothing to hold on to.

I could hear myself gasping, my breath beginning to sputter as he lock an elbow around my neck, pulling me up against him. My legs came up off the ground and I started kicking them, making contact with the door once- bang!- before he dragged me backwards a couple of steps. Then his other hand was moving around to my stomach, pushing aside my shirt, and thrusting down my jeans."

This is the moment in the book just before and just as Annabel is getting raped. The whole book is about this one, important event that happened in Annabel's life- leading to how she is before she meets Owen- quiet and unable to speak her mind. Because if she speaks her mind then she admits to something horrible, wrong- that she was raped, and that she didn't consent to her then best friend Sophie's boyfriend, Will, to doing this to her. Annabel didn't consent to Will violating her in this way. It's the ultimate part of this book because it's what Annabel tries to hold in the whole time- no body has any idea that Annabel was raped, let alone that Sophie thinks that Annabel willing did this with Will. No body knows anything that Annabel is going through let alone what she's holding in this entire time.

"Just Listen" entry #7

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

I think Dessen's intended audience is teens or young adults- well not only because I found this book in the young adult section of the library but also because I when I looked up Sarah Dessen I found that she was a famous author who had written a lot of books for young adults. I also figure that the intended audience is young adults because the main character of this book, Annabel is also a young adult- she's a teenager in high school which makes her story easy to relate to seeing as how I'm in still in high school too. I guess the question then becomes- why did Dessen want to write a book that young adults could relate to? What was Dessen's reason? My reasoning is that Dessen wrote a book that young adults could relate to because she had either experienced something similar to what Annabel goes through in this story or she knew someone who did go through something like Annabel. Either that or Dessen just has a really wild imagination.

Dessen overall seems to have a very personal, open relationship with the audience through her main character- Annabel. Eventually Annabel tells you everything that could ever matter about herself- how she can't speak her mind openly about a lot of things, her personality, being raped, dealing with a sister who has an eating disorder- things that you wouldn't normally learn about someone unless you sat down with them and they told you their story. So often you learn things about people from somebody else- say you're all in class but someone is sitting next to you and they're talking about somebody you know- well do you sit there and listen to something you've never heard about this person you know, effectively eavesdropping etc. just learn something about someone you don't really know all that well to begin with?

"Just Listen" entry #6

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

The author has done a lot to engage me, the reader into this book. Mostly though, Dessen engages the reader by writing in first person. Because Dessen writes the story in first person it makes it easier to relate to what Annabel is going through in the story even though Annabel's story is unusual. But I guess the smaller things about Annabel can make it easier to relate to her- like that she doesn't speak up all that much about what she wants or that her ex-best friend is really mean to her now. Everybody can goes through those kind of things- say your friend moves away and you guys don't talk that much anymore, well if you guys do talk again, it's very easy for some misunderstanding to be born from not seeing someone in awhile. On another note though, because Dessen writes from first person (Annabel's perspective), the story itself becomes more personal and therefore easier to understand and relate to.

Dessen doesn't really make the reason why she wrote this book plain. In fact, Dessen doesn't say why she wrote this book at all. So I guess the reason why Dessen wrote this book is more implicit than anything else. My guess is that the reason why Dessen wrote a story like Annabel's is because she most likely either experienced or saw something like Annabel's story in her own life. I guess that because Dessen could maybe relate to Annabel was going through in this story then the author figured it would make it easier for teens to relate to.

"Just Listen" entry #5

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

The author wrote this book from a Annabel's perspective. It was almost like I was sitting in a room with Annabel and she was sitting there with me telling me the story. Because Dessen tells the story this way it makes it more personal and easier to relate to. You know how when say you're talking to one of your friends and they had just experienced something you've never experienced before- say their father died or they got to travel the world? Well, if that friend is willing to sit with you for awhile and try to explain how they feel and what they were thinking- it makes it easier for you to try and understand what they are going through. That's the way it is with this book- the story line is unusual in it's self because it's about a girl who is a model and is learning to speak her mind more, but not only that her two sisters were models too!! Because the story line itself is unusual- you think that you wouldn't be able to relate to the story at all, let alone understand what Annabel is going through. But because Dessen writes the story so that it's from Annabel's perspective aka first person perspective, it makes it slightly easier to understand. I mean, here's Annabel who has been raped (although you don't learn this until later in the story), she was friends with the most popular girl who school who is constantly mean to her now (although you don't find out why until later in the book), she's dealing with a sister who has an eating disorder and her mother who still wants Annabel to be a model even though Annabel doesn't want to let alone have the guts to say so out loud.

"Just Listen" entry #4

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

I chose this book, "Just Listen" because I have read other books by Sarah Dessen before and liked them, so I figured I would like this book too. My expectations were that it would have a little bit of everything in it. That "Just Listen" would have romance, comedy, truth, lies, and all of the in-between. Most of Dessen's books are about teens discovering something about themselves that they had never thought of before or had avoided because they were afraid to face the truth. It's when the teens in Dessen's books face their truths, that they change- usually for the better. Usually the teens or subjects of Dessen's books are going through tough times- parents divorcing, the death of a loved one, a close loved one is sick- the kind of life changing events that especially effect you at that age when you're still living at home. Dessen lived up to my expectations- even surpassed them. After you read several books by one author, you usually get a feel for what the author might right but if they are an especially good writer, they tend to surprise you with unexpected twists and turns. Dessen did this in her book, and even surpassed what I had expected. I guess you could say she's one of those classic authors (or getting there) that I really enjoy- kind of like the type of author most people enjoy including people like Jack London, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer or J.R.R. Tolkien. Personally, I'm adding Sarah Dessen to my "classic authors/books list", the kind that gets read over and over again.

"Just Listen" entry #3

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

So far as plot, not much happens within the next 75 pages- except that Annabel goes with Rolly and Owen to breakfast for the first time. Here, Annabel becomes slightly amazed that she is spending time with Owen like this, so natural and relaxed and although she doesn't realize it yet- she starts to fall for him. Owen drives Annabel back to her house, and then leaves just as Annabel realizes that Owen left his jacket with her (the breakfast restaurant had been cold) and she would have returned it to him when school started up again on Monday or Tuesday but she realized that Owen also left his ipod with her. Curious, Annabel turns on the ipod to find a playlist on the ipod with her name on it- slightly intrigued she starts playing the list and as she scrolls she finds that every song that she has ever talked about with Owen is on this playlist that has her name on it. Annabel thinks about how she had always wondered what Owen was listening to all the time (he's the type that always has the ipod earbuds in his ears almost 24/7, playing something all the time), and what he was thinking about as he listened to his ipod but "who would have ever guessed that it might have been me (Dessen 203)?", Annabel finds herself thinking. Its when Annabel goes to take the ipod back to Owen that she finds her sister trying to make dinner in the kitchen. At first Annabel makes a move to leave her sister alone (the sister that had the eating disorder), in the kitchen trying to make herself dinner, but then Annabel realizes it must be very difficult for her sister Whitney, seeing that "[...] Whitney hardly ever cooked for herself. My mother monitored all her meals, fixed her snacks and sandwiches, even the cereal she ate for breakfast. I realized that if this was weird for me to watch, it had to be really strange for her to do. Especially alone (Dessen 204)." So for the first time, Annabel cooks dinner with her middle sister, Whitney, and then leaves shortly after to take the ipod and jacket back to Owen. When she arrives at Owen's house, she finds his sister Mallory having a sleep over and playing model/dress-up and taking tons of pictures. Mallory shows Annabel her room- which is covered with pictures of models in all sorts of attire, including pictures of Annabel. Here Annabel discovers that Owen sees her as different from what they can see in the pictures and later that night they kiss for the first time. As Annabel heads home from the photo op, Mallory hands a stack of pictures to Annabel to take home and shortly after Annabel leaves with a lot on her mind. When Owen tried to explain to Annabel exactly what she was to him at his house, she doesn't really get it but then, "I wanted to ask him to explain further, to say what I was to him, exactly. But then I realized maybe he just had. I already knew he thought of me as honest, direct, even funny- all things I had never thought about myself. Who knew what else I could be, what kind of potential there was in the differences between that girl and the one he saw now. So many possibilities (Dessen 217)." Here, its a major turning point for Annabel: she starts to realize who she had been and the differences between who she is now and who she had been and that's changing, and that the girl who Owen sees her as isn't necessarily the girl who she "thinks" she is. All of this is a major turning point in thinking for Annabel.

"Just Listen" entry #2

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

Well, probably the most amazing thing at this point in the book is that Annabel meets Owen- or more like the way she met him. At first they would both sit at or on the wall at lunch- because they both didn't really have friends to sit with at school by that point. Annabel was constantly being confronted by Sophie, her ex-best friend who's convinced, we later find out- that Annabel purposefully slept with her boyfriend, Will. Annabel hates confrontations- and every time they happen, Annabel gets sick and starts throwing up. It's after one of these confrontations with Sophie, that Owen spies Annabel throwing up behind the bushes at school and goes to help her. Owen doing this helps to create a lasting relationship. Before they know it- they're catching each other walking home after school just to give the other a ride & then they start talking about music, Owen's obsession. Shortly after Annabel gets her first ride home with Owen, she meets Owen's little sister- Mallory, a girl who's obssessed with fashion and therefore Annabel Green who's a model. Mallory is also like a hyper-active puppy that seems to get into everything. It's when Annabel gets her first ride home with Owen, that she learns about Owen's radio show and one of his good friends, Rolly, who's extremely forgetful but also obsessed (in love with he says) with some girl that we meet later in the book. Here Annabel listens to Owen's radio show for the first time and we also get a feel for Annabel's relationship with Sophie before the fall out. It doesn't look so good- apparently Sophie's one of those moody, self-absorbed, jealous types & even more so because she goes with Will- who constantly has sex with and goes to other places with girls. Then Annabel gives a ride home to Owen- and meets his sister again, but this time while getting a feel of Owen's life and his neighborhood.