True Biz - Sara Nović
What an excellent, worthwhile book.
The book opens with three high school students who attend a school for the deaf who are missing. It then goes back a few months as we learn about them, their hearing and non hearing families, and staff at the school.
The story is riveting, heartbreaking, tender; the characters well developed and compelling.
Beyond the narrative, though, this book is so much more. For those who have never worked in the field or known a deaf person, it is good introduction into the reality of the hearing world’s reaction to and treatment (and often, sadly, mistreatment) of the deaf. It is also instructive in the history of deaf education and the use of ASL, as well as the racism that has permeated the world of the deaf.
There have always been a lot of controversies involved in the education and treatemtn of the deaf and Novic introduces the reader to the complexities of some of them with sensitivity and knowledge.
The ending was a bit abrupt and left me wanting to read more about these characters and their lives.
I highly recommend True Biz…read the book and find out what that term means!
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment