Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

True Biz by Sara Nović

9 reviews

signeskov's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A super insightful and important coming-of-age novel that presents an intimate and diverse experience(s) of deafness within the walls of an imaginary school for the deaf in southern Ohio. For those of us who have only ever been part of the hearing world, the novel provides a multitude of nuances of what being deaf has meant in North America then, now - and how the community risks further erosion in the future due to new technologies and unequal power relations between the hearing and deaf worlds. A nice read for anyone craving a coming-of-age teenage story with a twist of anarchy and who wants to learn something new.

Also: make sure to read this in a print format! The book includes many wonderful illustrations of ASL that you can practice and learn from as you read. I imagine this works for a much better reading experience in a print than audio book format.

(NB: I chose this book originally as part of the 2023 StoryGraph genre challenge to read a novel with disability rep - though, as it is also apparent from the book, deafness may or may not be a disability depending on the deaf individual you ask and their own lived experience. For now, though, given the thorough injustices experienced by deaf children and adults alike in societies still structured around the presumption of hearing, I believe this novel still qualifies as a relevant selection for the challenge)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Car accident, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Religious bigotry

ohheyitskaitlin's review

emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Ableism, Car accident, Medical trauma, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Dementia, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Mental illness, Sexism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

sarkenobi's review

challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Dementia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Grief, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Child death, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Violence

victoriousbookworm's review

challenging emotional informative fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This book was impactful and beautiful and informative and intense and so many other things. February, Charlie, and Austin demonstrate three different groups in the Deaf community, CODAs, deaf children born to hearing parents, and Deaf families. Their points of view share the story of a school on the brink of closure and the students this school is so important to. Giving some insight into Deaf history and culture, this book provides an entry point into life for Deaf people in the US today and some insight of how this came to be. It’s also a coming of age story, of kids being kids, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, falling in love, and so much more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Forced institutionalization

cozyreadsandcoffee's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think this should be required reading for everyone to understand the struggles of the deaf community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Gore, Bullying, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Torture, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Drug use, Car accident, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Death, Racism, Violence, and Classism

kerrygetsliterary's review

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Cursing, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Drug use, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, and Murder

lit_with_lauren's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness and Death of parent

rachaelboyd's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Dementia, Drug use, Racism, and Terminal illness

momsmagicreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Ableism

Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, Dementia, Drug use, Alcohol, Car accident, Child death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Terminal illness