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hkat's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting book to think about in the context of who gets to tell the stories of a specific community, and especially resonates with the part of the book where the author talks about how sign language is the only language where interpreters are not (or very rarely) native speakers of one of the languages. Hager Cohen clearly has a deep connection to the community, and recognizes the
I appreciated the insight into a variety of aspects of the Deaf community, and the look at the intersectionality between deafness, race, country of origin, class, etc.
My biggest issue with the book is the (beautifully) descriptive language throughout. It's not clear that the author was present, and to describe the sights, sounds, smells of many moments often caused me to stop and wonder about how the book was written. Even interviewing some of the subjects would not have resulted in details like crescents of sweat around a parent's eyes. I think these details really add to the atmosphere of the book, but seem out of place.
I appreciated the insight into a variety of aspects of the Deaf community, and the look at the intersectionality between deafness, race, country of origin, class, etc.
My biggest issue with the book is the (beautifully) descriptive language throughout. It's not clear that the author was present, and to describe the sights, sounds, smells of many moments often caused me to stop and wonder about how the book was written. Even interviewing some of the subjects would not have resulted in details like crescents of sweat around a parent's eyes. I think these details really add to the atmosphere of the book, but seem out of place.
colleenish's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic and compelling stories about the heartbreak and wonder of the hearing world.
zanecarey's review
4.0
i can definitely see why this book is mandatory reading for intro to asl at my college, and i'm glad I chose to read it before the class began. this is one of the first books ive read that has touched on the friction of advocating for communities you will never be apart of and learning to live with the discomfort. i loved the in depth look into some peoples stories. they left me with a feeling of warmth, and there is nothing more touching than reading about intersectional experiences. sofia's growth in her faith will be a story that sticks with me long after this book does. and the kicker is this book is older than me(published in 1995), imagine how Deaf culture has changed since then? guess i have more reading to do
katebrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I really like Cohen's writing style, even though the narrative was totally disjointed. I don't know that she went "inside a deaf world" so much as provided vignettes of a particular deaf place. They were beautiful vignettes though; I was also very interested in her musings on being a hearing person in Deaf places. Her father had gained respect and acceptance despite being hearing by being a native signer with Deaf parents, while she was both hearing and a non-native signer which put her even further outside the community. Her grappling with even the idea of being an interpreter - that interpreters of every other language except ASL will only translate into their native language because one can only truly grasp all the nuance of meanings of a language if you learned it from birth - really got me thinking about the idea of hearing interpreters who aren't native signers, most of them, acting as an imperfect link between hearing and Deaf worlds. Very interesting.
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