True Biz by Sara Novic (audiobook)

 genre: contemporary fiction

February’s job as the headmistress of a boarding school for the deaf is as challenging as it is satisfying. When new student Charlie arrives, with her cochlear implant and essentially no sign skills, February knows that Charlie needs a solid friend to help her adjust and work on learning how to communicate. That solid friend? Austin. Austin, who comes from a long line of deaf adults who have been active in their community and who know that to be Deaf is not to be deficient.

I learned so much reading this novel. It is about Deafness within the context of hearing culture - but also as a Culture within itself. It is about what a community of people can look like and how essential it is to have a place where you can be understood in all your fullness as a human being. It’s about the miracle of language and communication and the essential nature of activism for groups of people who live and thrive outside the “norm” of society. It’s even about the idea of deafness as a “disability” - if the world isn’t able to accommodate your needs, is that YOUR problem or a problem with your environment?

I’m so glad I did the audiobook because they actually had the narrators signing all the dialog so you could listen to the movements of their hands as people “spoke.” February is a complicated character but I liked that we had her point of view as a CODA (child of deaf adults) as well as the points of view of the students, with their varying life experiences and family situations. One of the plot threads felt a little bit wacky to me, maybe just super not what I’d expect, but I also could suspend my disbelief and go there in a way that sorta surprised me. Strong writing. Lots of feelings, solid connections and the little historical bits were just as interesting to me as the story they were fleshing out. So glad I listened to this one.