Rating: 
Summary: Real Experiences and Honest
Review: I find this book one of the best of its time. For once women talk and they relate their "Growing Pains" to anyone who cares to listen. I recommend it to all ages, and I promise you will not want to put it down!!!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is real and truthful.
Review: I submitted a piece that was an actual account of my uncle's death. This piece along with others will make you stop and ponder the many issues women face as they enter adulthood. And you will not want to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Insightful
Review: I read "Reviving Ophelia" about a year ago. I was intrigued when I saw "Ophelia Speaks" at Borders and knew I had to read it. I loved it. I only wish I didn't see myself on many of its pages. My two favorite contributions had to be the poem "Catalogues," the opening poem in the Media-Fed Images chapter and "Fight Girl Power" in the Feminist Pride chapter. I found it interesting to note that Shandler said Ophelia was drowned by the weight of her skirts and neglected to mention another theory, one that truly encompasses the meaning of "Ophelia Speaks." Another theory is that Ophelia commited suicide because she was pregnant with Hamlet's baby. Mentioning this theory would have given the book more meaning. While it is true that girls face many hardships as teenagers, these are a part of growing up. These problems are part of everyday life. For example, like millions of teenage girls, I have suffered from depression and was in therapy. I tried several different antidepressants before finding the right one. I have experienced the death of grandparents. I have been ridiculed by cliques and rejected by friends. I have questioned my religion. My point is, our culture does not necessarily "girl-poison." Rather, we live life. I also don't like the fact that all this negativity is placed on teenage girls in particular. With already shaky self-esteem, the last thing we need is others saying we are "poisoned" by society and our futures are doomed. Why aren't there books about the fall of teenage boys? They are the more violent ones of society. After the school shootings that took place in Colorado, why aren't psychologists writing books about them? I think someone should write a book called "Reviving Hamlet" or something. Overall, "Ophelia Speaks" was an awesome book. I think Shandler should write a sequel. As a nineteen-year- old teenage girl, I would definately contribute something.
Rating: 
Summary: Widen The Search
Review: 'Ophelia Speaks : Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self' is an essential addition to the vital library focused on teenage personal development. I gave Sara Shandler's book to my daughter and suggested that while she was searching for self, she might also look for her homework sheets, the four overdue library books I've been ordered to pay for, the banana skin I'd seen in her closet two months ago, the family cat last heard meowing under a mountain of crumpled jeans on her floor and her best friend, Marsha Pippens, missing, presumed piled, since last Saturday's sleepover.
Rating:
Summary: Another Book for (mid-late) Teen Girls
Review: If you are looking for a book that will empower you as a young woman, try Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me proud to be a woman. I recommend this book to any woman who is sexual, wants to be sexual, or is just tired of getting crap for having a vagina.
Rating:
Summary: Important to read
Review: Sara Shandler was in high school when she read Dr. Pipher's book, Reviving Ophelia. She found the book a link between her self and her sisters, other teen girls. It was a message to let her know that she wasn't alone. Sara felt, however, that Dr. Pipher's book was still too clinical, too adult and removed from the actual struggles of modern life for young women. At a young age, she decided to write, or at least edit, another book, allowing girls to speak for themselves.
What Ms. Shandler created was a collection of essays, submitted by middle school, high school and college age girls all over the country, from all areas, races, and social strata. The essays range over such subjects as physical appearance, eating disorders, parents, rape and molestation, sexuality, friends, feminism, school, and religion. Though the voices Ms. Shandler presents here are candid and outspoken, Ophelia Speaks, nonetheless, manages to present a more hopeful outlook on the lives and futures of young females in America today. The problems are real, but the hearts and minds are strong, not fragile or weak. The hardships are mostly spoken of matter-of-factly, from the pens of the girls who have all ready adapted to difficult circumstances. Rather than promoting change in society, Sara Shandler sends her book out as a letter to all adolescent girls, simply to let them know they are not alone. The only thing that this book asks for in return is that the reader listen without judgement, to the young females in America who simply want to be heard and understood.
Rating:
Summary: Honest, Truthful, One of the best eyeopeners around.
Review: As one of those few whose written work was included in the book, I am honored to be apart of it. It's honest and truthful and hopefully has been able to open the eyes of its readers. Every girl who wrote a peice for it shared a little bit of their soul with millions of strangers who should be blessed by reading it. I hope more and more young women who read it become hopeful in their lives and see that you can make it through.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book for discovering yourself
Review: The book Ophelia Speaks by Sara Shandler is one of the best books I have ever read. The insight it gives to adolescent girls is one of a kind.
The book, written in small essays and poems, is a collection of the experiences and memories of adolescent girls. The topics they have written about vary wildly, from rape to crushes to believing in yourself.
It's refreshing to be able to open the book and relate to all the stories-with anything you are going through, this book lets you know that you are not alone in your struggles. You see not only yourself in the story, but all of the women you know as well. As I was reading it, I found myself saying, "Yeah, I know how that feels. I've been through that."
It's cool because the author has framed each section with her own thoughts and experiences, so she becomes like a friend to you throughout the whole book. This is definitely a book every girl has got to read.
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