Tag: Deaf culture

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The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais

There’s a difference between deaf and Deaf. The former is a physical condition, the latter is an identity. Having grown up with a deaf sibling, I’d always been aware of the frustrations in communicating with someone who can’t hear, but until recent years I had not known there was an official community. Deaf with a capital D.

In The Silence Between Us, Alison Gervais gives us a personal and very real peek into how deaf people are forced to deal with the hearing world. In addition, she presents the Deaf community’s ongoing discussion (debate? argument? quarrel?) over cochlear implants. Should they endure the surgery or not? Should they make it easier to live in the hearing world, or should they insist the majority population give consideration to those who communicate with their hands and not their voices?

Synopsis

Maya lost her hearing after surviving meningitis. Her deaf school uses sign language as the best means of communication. ASL is so much easier than reading lips.

When her single mom moves the family across the country for her job, Maya must attend a hearing school. In classes, she has the convenience of her delightful interpreter, Kathleen, but only two students show any interest in reaching out in friendship and learning sign language. Beau is annoying and endearing all at the same time, and Nina isn’t good at sign language, but her friendship is precious.

The stress of Maya’s little brother, who has cystic fibrosis, combined with the chip on her shoulder and her worries about getting into a hearing college, and you have a great story with dozens of obstacles to be overcome on a daily basis.

Pros

  1. If you want to know what it’s like to live as a deaf person in a hearing world, The Silence Between Us will answer every question. Maya immediately immersed me into her world.
  2. Alison Gervais addresses the quandary that hearing people have in relationships with deaf friends and family. Like many of the hearing characters in the book, I am so slow in learning ASL and in reading combinations of signs at flying-finger speed.
  3. The Silence Between Us is one of those stories that you don’t want to end. Where is the sequel of new challenges for Maya at the college level? Or the obstacles she faces when she begins her career as a respiratory therapist?

Cons

My only objection to any part of this novel is how unlikable Maya was for several chapters. But then again, how many teenagers are likable when every day is an exercise in frustration?

Discussion Questions

  1. As a hearing person, if a new student attended several of your classes, would you try to welcome him or her? Would you go so far as learning sign language?
  2. If you were a deaf person and you were a new student in a hearing school, how would you try to cope? Would you be as angry as Maya was?
  3. Dating between hearing people and members of the Deaf community is often frowned upon. What was Maya’s answer to that criticism?
  4. Another bone of contention within the Deaf culture is whether to use cochlear implants or not. Do you agree with Maya’s decision not to use an implant even though the device would make it easier to communicate in her future job? Why or why not?

Conclusion

Of all the books that I’ve reviewed  that contained deaf characters, The Silence Between Us is my favorite. Alison Gervais has done more than tug on my heart strings. She inspires me to do more regarding my own relationships with the Deaf community. Inspiration. That’s what makes a great book!

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3 Things to Forget by Cynthia T. Toney

We’re adding a new segment to Scriblerians book reviews–reviews on books written by the Scriblerians! Several of us have been very busy in the publishing world, and it’s time to crow a little over our successes.

Cynthia is one of the original Scriblerians, initiating a small critique group for yet-to-be-published young adult/middle grade authors. She is now multi-published. The Other Side of Freedom is an award-winning historical fiction, and 3 Things to Forget is the fourth and final book of her Bird Face series from Write Integrity Press. Read on to see what goes on in Cynthia’s writing process.

  1. What was the seed of this story? What got it started?

My main character, half-Cajun Wendy Robichaud, finally makes it to Alaska to see her dear friends Mrs. V and Sam. Readers particularly wanted to know more about Sam and how his friendship with Wendy would develop.

In Alaska, Wendy thinks she’s left behind the problems resulting from her mistakes in Louisiana and wants to forget them. But starting the summer at her friend Sam’s house and volunteering with Alaska Wildlife Conservation bring not only strange surroundings but also strangers into her life. And those strangers have a secret involving a troubled girl who threatens Wendy’s friendship with Sam.

As Wendy struggles to understand the Alaskans she meets and gets to know, she must also say good-bye to old friends she might never see again and decide whether to forget the past or to learn from it.

NOTE: While 3 Things to Forget concludes one season in Wendy’s life, each book in the series is easily read as a stand-alone. 

2. In your writing process, what was the balance between research and your own life experiences?

This novel required more research than the previous Bird Face books. I had traveled to the Anchorage area of Alaska years ago, but I did not visit the Wildlife Conservation Center that is featured in this story. I also sought help with depicting my Jewish characters. I had worked among deaf adults, so I had some knowledge of deaf culture, but I read other novels with deaf teen characters to try my best to portray them realistically.

3. Did you help design the cover or have any input regarding its concept?

No, I didn’t, but I liked this design right away when my publisher showed it to me. I offered more input for the previous Bird Face covers.

4. How do you come up with names for your characters?

Sometimes I use a name I’ve heard only once, but it has stayed with me. I use place names I’m familiar with for people and people names for places. Sometimes I use a surname for a first name or the other way around. I’ve even created character names that don’t seem to exist anywhere. I really admire the clever character names other authors create.

5. If you could meet one of your characters in real life, which one would it be and what would you do together?

It would have to be my main character, Wendy! I think we’d have fun riding bicycles or hiking through woods and trying to identify plants and animals.

6. Are you a plotter or a pantser? What works for you in that modality?

A little of both. I start with how I want the story to begin and to end. Then I create the most exciting middle I can think of for my main character’s predicament. My first drafts tend to be sparse, perhaps because I see so much in my mind’s eye but forget to write it all down for the reader. I’ve learned to expand my descriptions and my characters’ reactions. After the first two books, I was able to let my character start telling me what she’d do next!

7. What do you hope readers take away from your book?

That change is inevitable. Change in relationships, in family dynamics, in resources, and sometimes in physical environment. But God gives us the power to adapt, to find creative solutions, and to find acceptance and love.

Cynthia writes for tweens and teens to show them how wonderful, powerful, and valuable they are. Her interests are American Sign Language, Cajun and Italian culture, growing herbs, and rescuing dogs. She also enjoys studying the complex history of the friendly southern U.S., where she resides with her husband.

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Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

When Antony John’s wife challenged him to write a book about rock music and its personalities from a deaf person’s point of view, Five Flavors of Dumb was the result.


Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Piper Vaughn lost her hearing in fifth grade, so her speech is pretty clear, and she’s mastered the skill of reading lips. Communicating to others is so much easier for her if she uses sign language, but only her brother and mom have learned it. Dad is ashamed of his imperfect daughter. However, Piper’s baby sister, Grace, who is also deaf, has just received expensive cochlear implants—paid for with Piper’s college fund. It doesn’t take much imagination to know how she feels.

The chip on her shoulder gets her into the sticky situation of managing, and getting a paying gig for, a high school rock band, Dumb. (That’s the name of the band, not my opinion of Piper!) The five personalities in the band range from arrogant to oppositional to placating, and Piper has her hands full getting them to listen to each other, both on instruments and in life. How can she do that when she can’t even hear the music properly? She depends on her feet to feel the rhythms through the floor, but her hearing aids only give her vague clues on the harmonies.

With the help of an aging ex-rock singer, Piper fumbles her way through the maze of rehearsals, public relations, and contracts. She gains a better understanding of her family while on the journey, learns to accept the hand of friendship as well as extend it, and is stunned by the discovery of romance.

Pros

1. I love a complicated story! With one main character and eight supporting roles, the opportunities for complex relationships abound. Antony John does a masterful job of building the relationships between Piper and her family and Piper and the band. He keeps those relationships true to life, too. She doesn’t succeed with everyone.

2. While the novel is set in the twenty-first century, the author adds wonderful nuggets of rock and roll trivia of the Eighties.

3. Piper gives the reader a good sense of Deaf Culture and what it’s like to be deaf in a hearing world.

Cons

Since Five Flavors of Dumb is not a Christian YA novel, the language can get pretty salty, so I don’t recommend the book for younger readers.
Discussion Questions
1. Why does Piper think her father is ashamed of her? Is she right or wrong? What makes you think so?
2. How does Piper’s opinion of her brother change over the course of the story?
3. How does Piper judge each of the band members at first? List what she thought about each of them. When was she right and when was she wrong? What does she learn about them as individuals?

Conclusion

Directly after the first chapter and directly before the last chapter, Piper creates a list which reveals how she looks at the world. When I compare both lists, I can see how much she’s grown in maturity and in loving others, a great lesson for all readers!