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mischief_in_the_library's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this! And I persevered somewhat (not very much though) because it's Australian, and it's nice to see deafness in literature. Only...nothing was happening, and I gather from other reviewers that nothing was GOING to happen. This would have been better as a middle grade book - the characters spoke more like 12-year-olds than the 16 they were supposed to be. And, maybe a bit nit-picky, but I did AUSLAN for a whole semester and didn't know nearly as much as Will conveniently did after one hour of lesson.
Anyway. Cool idea. Could be done better.
Anyway. Cool idea. Could be done better.
ps_a22's review
2.0
This book was so cute. I loved the message and the great characters it had. A nice read.
melbsreads's review
4.0
Also reviewed on my Youtube channel.
This book was seriously cute while also being surprisingly educational. It's a split narrative YA contemporary that tells the story of Will and Summer, who meet on the Facebook page for Jessica Watson who, as a teenager, completed a solo circumnavigation of the world. Summer lives in Kettering, a small town in Tasmania. Will's from Kettering, but living in Eden on the south coast of New South Wales with his father. It's Summer's mention of Kettering that makes him reach out to her, and the two start emailing and become friends.
Not long after, Will's dad gets a job in Hobart and they move back to Kettering, allowing Will and Summer to meet for the first time. And it becomes apparent that Summer has left a few things out of her emails to Will, namely the fact that she's deaf.
I loved how authentically teenaged this felt. Will and Summer have several arguments in the course of the book, and their reactions are totally how the teenagers I work with would react. I love that Will's reaction to finding out that Summer is deaf is to look up Youtube videos about AusLAN and to enrol in a short course so that he can communicate with her face-to-face. I love that there are misunderstandings and awkward moments and things that are hard to talk about. I love that there was discussion of the sentiment towards Cochlear implants in the deaf community, and basically, this book was pretty damned fabulous.
A quick and easy read, although there were times when I struggled with the lack of dialogue marks throughout.
This book was seriously cute while also being surprisingly educational. It's a split narrative YA contemporary that tells the story of Will and Summer, who meet on the Facebook page for Jessica Watson who, as a teenager, completed a solo circumnavigation of the world. Summer lives in Kettering, a small town in Tasmania. Will's from Kettering, but living in Eden on the south coast of New South Wales with his father. It's Summer's mention of Kettering that makes him reach out to her, and the two start emailing and become friends.
Not long after, Will's dad gets a job in Hobart and they move back to Kettering, allowing Will and Summer to meet for the first time. And it becomes apparent that Summer has left a few things out of her emails to Will, namely the fact that she's deaf.
I loved how authentically teenaged this felt. Will and Summer have several arguments in the course of the book, and their reactions are totally how the teenagers I work with would react. I love that Will's reaction to finding out that Summer is deaf is to look up Youtube videos about AusLAN and to enrol in a short course so that he can communicate with her face-to-face. I love that there are misunderstandings and awkward moments and things that are hard to talk about. I love that there was discussion of the sentiment towards Cochlear implants in the deaf community, and basically, this book was pretty damned fabulous.
A quick and easy read, although there were times when I struggled with the lack of dialogue marks throughout.
the_lilypad's review
3.0
I loved that this book took place is Tasmania and I really enjoyed the characters, but the writing felt a bit young to me.
katie_kat_02's review
5.0
Lovely book. Nothing too outstanding about it except its wonderful representation of deafness in Australia. I personally really related to Will about what it was like to learn Auslan as a second language to be able to communicate with someone.
leigh_ann_15_deaf's review
1.0
Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters.
I'm really not a fan of YA instalove, so I was really looking forward to the book being over. Overall, this is an okay representation of a deaf character, as far as physiological and social realities.
But the story isn't about Summer. She's a stagnant character who doesn't really do anything but think about Will, wondering why he likes her, what his motivations for doing anything he does are, and so forth. She's so enamored with him that within a few weeks of hanging out with him, she makes this painting of them together (more on this later). Summer's "chapters" are super short, and she never doesn't think/write/sign about Will. (I count only 2 sections/chapters, 3-paragraphs and 2-paragraphs, in which Summer doesn't think of Will.) It's stagnant and boring.
Will, on the other hand, is experiencing an actual journey into language and culture, and dealing with a toxic friendship and divorced parents. He can go pages without a mention of Summer. So why doesn't Summer have more going on in her life? But even Will's journey is more of a series of epiphanies. It's just realization after realization after realization, and he never really examines any of this. He actually thinks at one point that he needs to come to terms with something, but he's never actually shown coming to terms with it. He's literally fine the next day without having put in any kind of work to self-reflect.
But anyway, let's get into the deaf representation. I'm not going to go over every single detail, but the stuff that stands out to me. Here's what Lomer does right:
- Lomer cites several Auslan books and dictionaries. She points out that grammar mistakes are par for the course for ESL speakers/writers. Lomer also simplifies the distinction between D/deaf. (In the field of Deaf Studies, we are actually moving away from the D/deaf distinction, particularly because of how divisive it is and because it was coined by a hearing person.) The uppercase Deaf is used in reference to Deaf literature, but otherwise it is lowercased. She thanks several deaf people for their advice and guidance. Her disclaimer at the end is super nice: "Although others [not included] have given me advice and feedback, any inaccuracies in the book remain entirely my own." Does this mean she's ignored some advice for the drama? It's possible that she did, but I wouldn't know what kind of feedback she's gotten on some of these events/characterizations.
- Summer doesn't want to attend school because it'll be too hard and she doesn't want to be the "special needs girl," especially after her experience with being bullied in mainstream school. She can't attend a residency school because there are none: the Tasmanian Institute for the Blind and Deaf closed in 1976. (Where do her friends go to school? Why doesn't she attend that school?) Summer went to a deaf preschool and primary school, but then all the support stopped because at the time no legislation required deaf students receive educational support. Summer mentions that another deaf girl and her family sued the government and won the right to this educational support. I'm not sure if this is historical fact; I'm only finding sources on the deaf woman who sued for the right to serve on a jury (2012).
- Summer is at a cafe with friends, and Will stares. The girls make all sorts of noises as they sign, causing others to turn and look. Cully notices them too and wants to go hit on them, thinking deaf people don't exist because his nan has a bionic ear (cochlear implant). And they look so "normal." I've run into plenty of people who think like this.
- A man yelling at Summer from a distance refuses to believe she's deaf. Will goes to her and mimes that she's not allowed to fish at that spot, so she joins him at his spot. Summer pulls out a notebook and pen to write with him.
- Summer's house has a flashing doorbell.
- Meeting Summer's deaf friends, one comments that Will's signing sucks. He misses the comment. And yet there's rarely a miscommunication between Summer and Will. Because they have that teen love connection, I guess? But there are some problematic passages as far as Will's signing goes, because he never forgets a sign once he learns it.
Things that aren't necessarily "wrong" but annoy the hell out of me:
- Cully is a caricature of a toxic friend and audist person. Everything he does and says is so over the top that he doesn't seem like a real person. He "means well," but does things like threaten to throw Summer's cowgirl boots overboard on the yacht, and uses Will's email to tell Summer that if she could speak she would be perfect. Will sees it and suddenly realizes that that's what he really thinks even if he wouldn't say it. (Will never actually confronts this, either.) Anyway, Will is fine to put up with all of Cully's ableism and general shittiness, but he draws the line when Cully brags about getting naked with Summer (the truth, but omitted she did it because Cully was dying of hypothermia and they needed to cuddle for life). Will ends the friendship over this. Very "don't talk about my girlfriend, but any other girl is fair game" vibes. And yet Summer urges him to be friends with Cully again because the boys have a history?? Gross.
- Summer's older sister, Violet, refuses to sign because she thinks it makes her look stupid. The younger sister sometimes signs and sometimes doesn't, even when Summer is around and practically begging for access to the conversation. The only family member who consistently signs is the mother. In my own experience it is fairly accurate for hearing family members to not sign, or sign on a very low level. It's odd to me that Violet won't even sign at home, when no one but family is around to see her "look stupid." The mom's fluency is also a bit of a surprise to me, since it's fairly rare for parents to know signs well. In reality, it would most likely be the little sister who would be most fluent and become the "official" interpreter between the family and the deaf family member. I guess it's nice the author shook things up a bit here? But it'd have been nice to flesh out the family characters a bit more.
- Lomer sometimes glosses (writes English words in Auslan order), sometimes translates (writes English sentences for Auslan dialog). It's inconsistent. Glossing is generally annoying to me, because it would be like writing any other language like Japanese in the wrong order. It wouldn't be so bad if it was Will glossing, but Summer glossing is kind of weird.
- Summer mentions her father (deceased) had learned Auslan from two deaf neighbors at age 5. Did he remember it for 15+ years so it would be handy when Summer was born? She later says that dad remained friends with the deaf boys for years, but there's no mention of the family taking any formal courses or dad needing to brush up on signs or anything. It's just a little too convenient and superficial.
- This one really bothers me: Summer's painting depicts a goshawk with its eyes reflecting human figures. In the left eye, the girl has no ears or mouth, and in the right eye, it's Summer's face (including ears and mouth). The boy is Will. So in other words, Will "completes" her. He gives her or is her ears and mouth. She literally paints him as a hearing savior. Barf. Tell me you're a hearing writer without telling me you're a hearing writer. I shared this scene in a Facebook group for international deaf people, and the consensus is that this is really gross, and although plenty of people in that group (including me) jokingly refer to partners/spouses as their "hearing ear person," we don't actually think they give us or are our ears or mouth. This is the scene that makes me wonder if Lomer ignored feedback from her deaf advisers.
Things that don't work for me at all:
- Summer is kind of silly, and not in a cute way. Like she doesn't know how the world works, and just wonders about other people's experiences and motivations constantly. She knows what whistling is, but wonders why Will is doing it. "It's not to communicate something. Is it?" Girl, if you know what whistling is, you know damm well it's either to get attention or to make music. Deaf people literally aren't this ignorant. Someone actually has to tell her that boys are humans and have feelings, too. Come on.
- Summer and Will see a whale and calf swim by. Will signs, "Whales under water. Just listen!" Then he slaps his forehead, embarrassed because he had meant it as a joke, but not a "deaf" joke. What was the joke supposed to be?? We don't get any context for this at all, and I'm just very confused by this.
- Hearing authors love having hearing non-signing characters unconsciously sign when they're emotional. Do second language learners do that with any other language? You take one German class and then when you get excited or angry you start muttering in German? Genuinely curious. Since this seems to be a staple in hearing authors' works.
- When it's dark outside, of course Will and Summer perfectly understand each other by signing into their hands. It's not like your tactile sense is very different from your visual sense, or that understanding tactile sign takes practice. No, you just do it, and understanding magically blossoms between you. It's linguistic osmosis. Yeesh! Another staple in works by hearing authors writing signing characters.
That's pretty much all I bring to the discussion. Don't like the story, don't like the characters. But it's not the worst deaf character I've seen.
Link to ranked list of deaf characters in fiction: https://modcast.blog/2022/12/17/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction/
I'm really not a fan of YA instalove, so I was really looking forward to the book being over. Overall, this is an okay representation of a deaf character, as far as physiological and social realities.
But the story isn't about Summer. She's a stagnant character who doesn't really do anything but think about Will, wondering why he likes her, what his motivations for doing anything he does are, and so forth. She's so enamored with him that within a few weeks of hanging out with him, she makes this painting of them together (more on this later). Summer's "chapters" are super short, and she never doesn't think/write/sign about Will. (I count only 2 sections/chapters, 3-paragraphs and 2-paragraphs, in which Summer doesn't think of Will.) It's stagnant and boring.
Will, on the other hand, is experiencing an actual journey into language and culture, and dealing with a toxic friendship and divorced parents. He can go pages without a mention of Summer. So why doesn't Summer have more going on in her life? But even Will's journey is more of a series of epiphanies. It's just realization after realization after realization, and he never really examines any of this. He actually thinks at one point that he needs to come to terms with something, but he's never actually shown coming to terms with it. He's literally fine the next day without having put in any kind of work to self-reflect.
But anyway, let's get into the deaf representation. I'm not going to go over every single detail, but the stuff that stands out to me. Here's what Lomer does right:
- Lomer cites several Auslan books and dictionaries. She points out that grammar mistakes are par for the course for ESL speakers/writers. Lomer also simplifies the distinction between D/deaf. (In the field of Deaf Studies, we are actually moving away from the D/deaf distinction, particularly because of how divisive it is and because it was coined by a hearing person.) The uppercase Deaf is used in reference to Deaf literature, but otherwise it is lowercased. She thanks several deaf people for their advice and guidance. Her disclaimer at the end is super nice: "Although others [not included] have given me advice and feedback, any inaccuracies in the book remain entirely my own." Does this mean she's ignored some advice for the drama? It's possible that she did, but I wouldn't know what kind of feedback she's gotten on some of these events/characterizations.
- Summer doesn't want to attend school because it'll be too hard and she doesn't want to be the "special needs girl," especially after her experience with being bullied in mainstream school. She can't attend a residency school because there are none: the Tasmanian Institute for the Blind and Deaf closed in 1976. (Where do her friends go to school? Why doesn't she attend that school?) Summer went to a deaf preschool and primary school, but then all the support stopped because at the time no legislation required deaf students receive educational support. Summer mentions that another deaf girl and her family sued the government and won the right to this educational support. I'm not sure if this is historical fact; I'm only finding sources on the deaf woman who sued for the right to serve on a jury (2012).
- Summer is at a cafe with friends, and Will stares. The girls make all sorts of noises as they sign, causing others to turn and look. Cully notices them too and wants to go hit on them, thinking deaf people don't exist because his nan has a bionic ear (cochlear implant). And they look so "normal." I've run into plenty of people who think like this.
- A man yelling at Summer from a distance refuses to believe she's deaf. Will goes to her and mimes that she's not allowed to fish at that spot, so she joins him at his spot. Summer pulls out a notebook and pen to write with him.
- Summer's house has a flashing doorbell.
- Meeting Summer's deaf friends, one comments that Will's signing sucks. He misses the comment. And yet there's rarely a miscommunication between Summer and Will. Because they have that teen love connection, I guess? But there are some problematic passages as far as Will's signing goes, because he never forgets a sign once he learns it.
Things that aren't necessarily "wrong" but annoy the hell out of me:
- Cully is a caricature of a toxic friend and audist person. Everything he does and says is so over the top that he doesn't seem like a real person. He "means well," but does things like threaten to throw Summer's cowgirl boots overboard on the yacht, and uses Will's email to tell Summer that if she could speak she would be perfect. Will sees it and suddenly realizes that that's what he really thinks even if he wouldn't say it. (Will never actually confronts this, either.) Anyway, Will is fine to put up with all of Cully's ableism and general shittiness, but he draws the line when Cully brags about getting naked with Summer (the truth, but omitted she did it because Cully was dying of hypothermia and they needed to cuddle for life). Will ends the friendship over this. Very "don't talk about my girlfriend, but any other girl is fair game" vibes. And yet Summer urges him to be friends with Cully again because the boys have a history?? Gross.
- Summer's older sister, Violet, refuses to sign because she thinks it makes her look stupid. The younger sister sometimes signs and sometimes doesn't, even when Summer is around and practically begging for access to the conversation. The only family member who consistently signs is the mother. In my own experience it is fairly accurate for hearing family members to not sign, or sign on a very low level. It's odd to me that Violet won't even sign at home, when no one but family is around to see her "look stupid." The mom's fluency is also a bit of a surprise to me, since it's fairly rare for parents to know signs well. In reality, it would most likely be the little sister who would be most fluent and become the "official" interpreter between the family and the deaf family member. I guess it's nice the author shook things up a bit here? But it'd have been nice to flesh out the family characters a bit more.
- Lomer sometimes glosses (writes English words in Auslan order), sometimes translates (writes English sentences for Auslan dialog). It's inconsistent. Glossing is generally annoying to me, because it would be like writing any other language like Japanese in the wrong order. It wouldn't be so bad if it was Will glossing, but Summer glossing is kind of weird.
- Summer mentions her father (deceased) had learned Auslan from two deaf neighbors at age 5. Did he remember it for 15+ years so it would be handy when Summer was born? She later says that dad remained friends with the deaf boys for years, but there's no mention of the family taking any formal courses or dad needing to brush up on signs or anything. It's just a little too convenient and superficial.
- This one really bothers me: Summer's painting depicts a goshawk with its eyes reflecting human figures. In the left eye, the girl has no ears or mouth, and in the right eye, it's Summer's face (including ears and mouth). The boy is Will. So in other words, Will "completes" her. He gives her or is her ears and mouth. She literally paints him as a hearing savior. Barf. Tell me you're a hearing writer without telling me you're a hearing writer. I shared this scene in a Facebook group for international deaf people, and the consensus is that this is really gross, and although plenty of people in that group (including me) jokingly refer to partners/spouses as their "hearing ear person," we don't actually think they give us or are our ears or mouth. This is the scene that makes me wonder if Lomer ignored feedback from her deaf advisers.
Things that don't work for me at all:
- Summer is kind of silly, and not in a cute way. Like she doesn't know how the world works, and just wonders about other people's experiences and motivations constantly. She knows what whistling is, but wonders why Will is doing it. "It's not to communicate something. Is it?" Girl, if you know what whistling is, you know damm well it's either to get attention or to make music. Deaf people literally aren't this ignorant. Someone actually has to tell her that boys are humans and have feelings, too. Come on.
- Summer and Will see a whale and calf swim by. Will signs, "Whales under water. Just listen!" Then he slaps his forehead, embarrassed because he had meant it as a joke, but not a "deaf" joke. What was the joke supposed to be?? We don't get any context for this at all, and I'm just very confused by this.
- Hearing authors love having hearing non-signing characters unconsciously sign when they're emotional. Do second language learners do that with any other language? You take one German class and then when you get excited or angry you start muttering in German? Genuinely curious. Since this seems to be a staple in hearing authors' works.
- When it's dark outside, of course Will and Summer perfectly understand each other by signing into their hands. It's not like your tactile sense is very different from your visual sense, or that understanding tactile sign takes practice. No, you just do it, and understanding magically blossoms between you. It's linguistic osmosis. Yeesh! Another staple in works by hearing authors writing signing characters.
That's pretty much all I bring to the discussion. Don't like the story, don't like the characters. But it's not the worst deaf character I've seen.
Link to ranked list of deaf characters in fiction: https://modcast.blog/2022/12/17/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction/
missusb21's review
4.0
Catching up on books I haven't had access to, while I look after someone else's library.
I found this gentle and engaging. Summer's voice is distinct from Will's - and I really liked how the relationship stayed primarily in the friend range. Will doesn't push Summer at all. In fact, she initiates some of the flirting.
Lovely read.
I found this gentle and engaging. Summer's voice is distinct from Will's - and I really liked how the relationship stayed primarily in the friend range. Will doesn't push Summer at all. In fact, she initiates some of the flirting.
Lovely read.
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