So Much to Tell You

John Marsden

Jul 2012 · Hachette UK

About this ebook

I don't know what I'm doing here. Well, I do really ... I have been sent here to learn to talk again. Sent here because my mother can't stand my silent presence at home. Sent here because of my face...' She watches; she dreams. She sees more than they realise. She has worries and fears, hopes and desires. She is troubled; she is angry. Above all, she is lonely. She may be someone you know. She may be you. In John Marsden's acclaimed debut novel, she tells her story, with humour and insight, with sensitivity and strength, with painful honesty. You will never forget her. When it was originally published, SO MUCH TO TELL YOU won a Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award, a Victorian Premier's Award and a Christopher Medal (USA), as well as being selected by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults.

Ratings and reviews

This Book Is A Great Book. It is about a girl who is scarred, literally, by her past, Marina has withdrawn into silence. Then, at her new boarding school, she is set the task of writing a diary by her English teacher, and finds a way of expressing her thoughts and feelings and of exploring the traumatic events that have caused her distress. Through Marina's diary we gain an insight into life on her dormitory, and her difficult relationship with her father, who injured her in an angry moment. Eventually, Marina makes tentative friendships and, in a moving denouement, is reconciled with her father. "So much to tell you" is a beautifully written novel, exploring the realms of silence within a girl. She speaks to no one, but after set the task of writing a diary at school she starts expressing her thoughts and emotions through it. As a reader you are pulled into the tragic, sad story and as the book develops later exploring the "traumatic events that have caused her distress." The book is addicting from the first page on, and with its descriptive language and deep entries, the book plunges you into this girls world. A world of silence. "I am in Prep now, writing this at my desk. On my left is a girl called Cathy Preshill. On the right is a girl called Sophie Smith. Cathy seems very thin to me and I wonder if she has anorexia, but she probably doesn't. I do though - anorexia of speech" "Again a session with the Counsellor, Mrs Ransome. I don't know how many of these I've had now. They were meant to be every Wednesday and Friday but she keeps changing the times, and, anyway, it seems to be more like three sessions a week instead of two. Does that mean I'm worse than they thought I would be? I'm sure she's a nice lady but I don't do anything in there except sit. Usually she just reads or goes through papers, but sometimes she talks a bit. Today she told me about her son, who's been expelled from his school for smoking dope, and now he goes to a high school. Seems like they have a lot of trouble controlling him. It's bad when the counsellors' kids get into trouble. If they have problems, then I guess everyone will." I recommend this book to all Engilsh teachers that teach year 7 or 8. I read this book in year 7 and we did a play about it. This book is AMAZING!

Beautiful sad little story but kind of heart warming as well unlike a lot of Marsden's other stories.

Five stars from me. :)

About the author

John Marsden is one of Australia’s most popular writers of young adult fiction. His books have sold more than a million copies worldwide and he has won, or been short-listed for, every major award for young adult literature in Australia, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year, the National Children’s Book awards and numerous children’s choice awards. The gripping war series, which began with TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, has broken all sales records for young adult fiction and was recently released as a major feature film. SO MUCH TO TELL YOU, originally published in 1987, was his first young adult novel.