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Speech Team
Speech Team: A Novel | Tim Murphy
5 posts | 3 read | 8 to read
A propulsive, witty, and moving novel starring four precocious Gen X teensturnedtwenty-first-century middle-agers who are seeking . . . well, if not exactly justice from a long-ago hurtful teacher, then at least some kind of long-desired reckoning and closure Late one morning, parked in a desk chair at his humdrum job, Tip Murray finds himself reading the suicide note of his long-lost high school friend Pete Stroman. Mentioned in the note as a root cause of Petes despair? A disparaging comment made to him about his developmental disability by none other than their high school speech team coach, Gary Gold. As more thorny memories surface from their eighties adolescence, Tip and his best friend, fellow speech team alum Nat Farb-Miola, decide to reconnect with their other teammates, and they discover an unsettling thread: all were quietly wounded by Mr. Golds deeply cutting remarks. The silver lining? Gary Gold is still alive, and a quick Google search tells the quartet that he has retired to Florida. Theres only one thing left to do: confront him. By turns incisive and sweet, alive with the sting of wounds past and the hopeful possibility of the present, Speech Team explores what it means to take account of the pain that can suffuse a life and what it means, years on, to move forward.
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lil1inblue
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My own experience with speech team in high school was a mixed bag. Our coach was, well... Let's just say he had a new 18 year old girlfriend the day after graduation each year. This book does look intriguing, though.

#schoolspirit #teams

Eggs Perfect 🎤 🖤 🗣️ 2mo
27 likes2 stack adds1 comment
review
HeatherBookNerd
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Pickpick

4 people who were part of their high school speech team in the mid 80s reunite 25 years later as they discover they all had some distressing incidents with their speech coach. Since I graduated high school in the mid 80s, nostalgia was certainly part of the appeal. It considers how our perspectives change as we get older. What is socially acceptable has changed over time, making us reevaluate the things that we experienced in a new light.

Reggie Have you seen that movie Totally Killer? This girl goes back in time to the1980s to save her mother and what‘s funny is what was considered ok back then and it‘s wild. 10mo
ShyBookOwl Sounds interesting! The cover SCREAMS The Breakfast Club 10mo
ShyBookOwl @Reggie That movie was so great!! 🤣 10mo
HeatherBookNerd @Reggie @ShyBookOwl I need to check out that movie! 10mo
37 likes1 stack add4 comments
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SteveWJones
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Yep, the cover probably reminds you of “The Breakfast Club.” I‘m enjoying this #GenX version of “The Big Chill.” #1980s

plemmdog Ooh, this sounds good… 11mo
SteveWJones @plemmdog Just finished it and absolutely loved it. 10mo
2 comments
review
Megabooks
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Pickpick

Who‘s up for Gen X nostalgia? 🙋🏻‍♀️ After the suicide of one its members, a 1987 award-winning Speech Team reunites and begins to talk about the messed up things the coach said to them, some of which the dead member shared in his last FB post. As someone who had f***ed up things said to her by her Academic Team coach, I related. But the book isn‘t overly serious. It doesn‘t make light or excuse the coach, but these characters were darkly funny.

Megabooks And hello #CoverLove!!! 🤩🤩 1y
Cinfhen It does sound similar to 1y
Megabooks @Cinfhen not as good imo. But I enjoyed it. 1y
Cinfhen I‘ll probably #BorrowNotBuy 1y
Megabooks @Cinfhen good idea. I preferred cyclorama‘s seriousness to this one‘s dark humor, but you might like it if it comes up on scribd because you and I have been feeling opposite lately. 🤔😘 1y
76 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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GerardtheBookworm
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Pickpick

I was a huge fan of Tim Murphy's Christadora. In his latest, the author examines childhood traumas as a group of alumni Gen-X adults reform their speech team in in the wake of a tragedy. Convinced their former mentor and high school teacher is to blame, the set sought to confront him in order to find closure, understanding and healing.