Common Sense Media Review
Teen girl struggles following trauma in riveting novel.
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Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 5 parent reviews
Based on 67 kid reviews
Kids say the book tackles serious real-life issues that resonate with teens, such as eating disorders and trauma, making it a powerful read despite some unresolved plot elements and mature content. Many reviewers commend its strong messages about trust, honesty, and personal growth, although a few express concerns about the language and subject matter being inappropriate for younger audiences.
- real-life issues
- strong messages
- mature themes
- important lessons
- character growth
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
Annabel's life looks pretty good. She has a loving family, lives in a beautiful home, and is a successful teen model. But her junior year of high school is looking to be the worst year of her life. Her mother has been fragile and depressed since the death of her own mother. Her sisters are fighting all the time, and one of them is hostile and dangerously anorexic. Annabel wants to quit modeling but is afraid to tell her mother. And she has lost all of her friends because of something that happened at the beginning of the summer that she is unable to talk about, and that her classmates and former friends have drastically misunderstood. The only person who will talk to her is Owen, a loner with a juvenile record, anger management issues, and strange taste in music. But there's one thing he knows all about: how to be honest.
Is It Any Good?
This angst-filled, moving novel is so engrossing it's truly difficult to put down. Thanks to author Sara Dessen's exquisite attention to detail, each moment in Just Listen is rendered so clearly and vividly that readers can easily enter Annabel's world: her misery at school and home, her inability to deal forthrightly with any of her problems, and her developing relationship with troubled outcast Owen. The characters are equally vivid, especially menacing Owen, with his bizarre musical tastes, theories, and unusual life outside school. He's a real original. And all of the main and secondary characters have an intriguing emotional complexity usually missing in teen problem novels.
Though Dessen doesn't reveal the pivotal event until near the end, most readers will have figured it out almost from the beginning. Still, it's a testament to her skill that despite the fact that for large stretches not much happens, this is a real page-turner.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the importance of consent and how sexual assault is portrayed and dealt with in Just Listen. Why would someone feel she had to keep such an experience a secret?
Just Listen has been a best-seller since it came out. Why do you think it continues to be so popular?
Compare Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak with Just Listen. How are they similar? Are they both realistic?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Contemporary Fiction
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Penguin Group
- Publication date : May 7, 2006
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 12
- Number of pages : 371
- Last updated : December 3, 2025
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