Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

True Biz by Sara Nović

24 reviews

in_themoonlight's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Ableism

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Injury/Injury detail

stripes_and_naps's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about Deaf Culture. The only downside for me was that the ending felt too abrupt and anticlimactic but I understand why that was a choice that the author made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Dementia, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Ableism, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

pandact's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative 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

4.5

I haven't watched Euphoria, so I'll compare this book to Elsa Sjunnesson's memoir Being Seen. It has hard-hitting personal stories and essays, and you'll love the characters and their signing even in the audiobook version! The crash course even includes some DeafBlindness as it speeds through the checklist of banned books, so you'll definitely learn something from this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Death of parent, and Bullying

Minor: Rape, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

ajoyr's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Body horror

Minor: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Alcohol, and Drug use

jennp28's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was a really fascinating and arresting look into deaf culture. The cast of characters and the varying POV really worked to show all the angles of the story and the interstitials of non-fiction deaf history, sign language etc really added to the book. I listened to the audiobook, perhaps ironically, but I really appreciated the inclusion of the sound of the signs being made. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Medical content, Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

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

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

As a disabled person, one of my big endeavors for 2023 is to read more disability-centered books and True Biz came highly recommended. The first few chapters were hard to get into, but once I got sucked into the story, it felt impossible to put down. 

Charlie as a character was very interesting and her family life tells an important story of Deaf experiences in the United States today. Juxtaposing her with Austin allowed me, as the reader, to see the two sides to Deaf life and the challenges of each. 

I'm not sure where I thought the book would end, but it wasn't that in a very good way. The story ramped up in a believable way, making it a very good read. 

My first criticism lies in the way Austin's ex is written; she's such a flat character, seemingly only there to make Charlie seem cooler and better. My other criticism of this is its advertisement as LGBTQIA+; while the headmistress is a lesbian, the story is only about her a little bit, and the overarching story is about Charlie and Austin, a straight couple. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

marissab's review

emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Ableism, Alcohol, Car accident, Dementia, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, Classism, Cursing, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Bullying

liesbethvv's review

challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I am very grateful for this book. It’s eye-opening and very informative. Although the informational bits interrupted the pace a bit, I didn’t really mind. It felt true to form to feel like an outsider for once, having to learn things to fully understand the setting and characters. As we are fed little bits of the characters’ struggles in their different parts of the Deaf community, we are immersed in a different world, that should very much be more intertwined with ours. Thanks to Sara, I’m now much more aware of the struggles and possible solutions that could be put in place for everyone’s sake, not just the hearing world’s. Also curious to read more of Sara’s work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy, Racism, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Child death, Car accident, Bullying, and Vomit

augustar14's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

A wonderful dive into Deaf culture and life at a Deaf residential school. The cast of characters is diverse and well developed, each with their own experience of and relationship with their community, culture, and ability (or inability) to assimilate into the hearing world.  I found the perspective of the main character stepping into the Deaf world for the first time to be a great way to transition the reader into a culture they may know little about.  The interludes between chapters that provided more information about ASL were the perfect level for beginners. I especially appreciated, as one listening to this as an audio book (ironic, I know, but it's the most accessible way for me to read lately), the added noise of hands signing when the text was meant to be signed ASL as opposed to spoken English. It would not have been the same experience otherwise. 
Highly recommend this book both to those who have experience with Deaf culture, and those who have none at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Drug use, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Dementia

Audism