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hjb_128's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Sexism
kaydeedickins's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol and Cancer
Minor: Vomit, Sexism, and Medical content
chrisljm's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
too many mentions of bee-stung lips
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Cancer, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Chronic illness, War, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexism, Ableism, and Drug use
buttermellow's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, and Medical content
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, and Sexism
kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition
Okay. Here we go. I don't even know how to rate this book. Warning: spoilers ahead.
I would like to preface this review by mentioning that the author has added a note in new publishings of the book acknowledging that she made errors. The note is as follows: "This work of fiction portrays some inaccuracies regarding hearing loss and cochlear implants that I did not know of prior to publication. I am thankful to those that brought this to my attention; I deeply regret those inaccuracies and that I am unable to change them. I ask that readers look to the deaf community as the authority on this topic rather than this fictional character."
While I appreciate that the author apologized, I feel it is much more than simple "inaccuracies" in the book. It is blatant audism and ableism, written by a hearing person with a very typical hearing view of deafness, and it should have been researched better.
While I am not deaf myself, I am an ASL Interpreter, and have been involved in the Deaf community for years. I have a different perspective than most hearing people who have no exposure or education about the Deaf community, culture, and history. Still, it is very possible that I missed even more things than in this review, and so I highly recommend reading Sydney Langford's review on Goodreads (I could not find her here on StoryGraph; she may not have a profile here), as hers is from an own voices perspective:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3785992966?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=3
The myriad of problems of audism and oppression, some of which made my blood boil:
Multiple times in the book, Willa purposely mumbles in Ryder's presence, *because* she knows that he can't hear her. This is blatant audism.
While Ryder is asleep, Willa notices that he had been wearing his hearing aids. She instantly becomes angry because he probably heard her mumbling to herself in front of him and believed he should have told her he was wearing them. He owed her no explanation. She wanted to be informed for HER own benefit. Deaf people do not need to justify their decision to wear hearing aids, or to not wear them.
Ryder's family made no attempt to learn sign language to communicate with him. While this is actually very typical of a deaf person's experience with their hearing family, the family also continuously forces him into situations where they want him to speak, instead of making it easier for him to communicate and understand. They do often use their phones and text, however.
Forcing Ryder to speak when he specifically chose not to for his own reasons. I loved Willa's mom until she did this to him. Her character wasn't the only one. Willa was so happy to hear his voice, despite him not wanting to speak most of the book. This is very hearing-minded, and comes from a place of oppression. Again, she wanted him to speak for HER benefit, so SHE could hear his voice, not because HE wanted to and was making the right choice for him.
Lip reading. The lip reading skills of Ryder were completely unrealistic. After being deaf only a few years, he's a master lip reader. This is wildly inaccurate. It takes an exhausting amount of learning and training to become skilled at lip reading, and even then, only about 30% of the English language can be seen on the mouth. The rest is all blanks, and the deaf person has to fill them in based on context and what they did get. It is incredibly difficult and exhausting.
Cochlear implants. They are NOT a cure for deafness as the book portrays. The deaf person is STILL DEAF. The surgery is incredibly invasive and expensive, and when the implants get "turned on" after healing post-surgery, it is absolutely NOT an instantaneous cure. Sounds are distorted, and do not sound like do for a person born hearing. The deaf person needs to go through extensive training and practice to learn to differentiate between all the sounds and noises in the world. And when the outside piece of the implant is taken off, the deaf person is still deaf. AND it is not a miraculous cure for learning to speak again, either. Even for someone who was born hearing.
The point: Deaf people are not broken. They do not need to be fixed, especially by hearing people who do not sign, cannot communicate with them without an interpreter, have no knowledge of the oppressive history of Deaf individuals and their community, and view deafness only from a hearing medical perspective. Deaf readers and community members should have been consulted for this book.
I would like to preface this review by mentioning that the author has added a note in new publishings of the book acknowledging that she made errors. The note is as follows: "This work of fiction portrays some inaccuracies regarding hearing loss and cochlear implants that I did not know of prior to publication. I am thankful to those that brought this to my attention; I deeply regret those inaccuracies and that I am unable to change them. I ask that readers look to the deaf community as the authority on this topic rather than this fictional character."
While I appreciate that the author apologized, I feel it is much more than simple "inaccuracies" in the book. It is blatant audism and ableism, written by a hearing person with a very typical hearing view of deafness, and it should have been researched better.
While I am not deaf myself, I am an ASL Interpreter, and have been involved in the Deaf community for years. I have a different perspective than most hearing people who have no exposure or education about the Deaf community, culture, and history. Still, it is very possible that I missed even more things than in this review, and so I highly recommend reading Sydney Langford's review on Goodreads (I could not find her here on StoryGraph; she may not have a profile here), as hers is from an own voices perspective:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3785992966?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=3
The myriad of problems of audism and oppression, some of which made my blood boil:
Multiple times in the book, Willa purposely mumbles in Ryder's presence, *because* she knows that he can't hear her. This is blatant audism.
While Ryder is asleep, Willa notices that he had been wearing his hearing aids. She instantly becomes angry because he probably heard her mumbling to herself in front of him and believed he should have told her he was wearing them. He owed her no explanation. She wanted to be informed for HER own benefit. Deaf people do not need to justify their decision to wear hearing aids, or to not wear them.
Ryder's family made no attempt to learn sign language to communicate with him. While this is actually very typical of a deaf person's experience with their hearing family, the family also continuously forces him into situations where they want him to speak, instead of making it easier for him to communicate and understand. They do often use their phones and text, however.
Forcing Ryder to speak when he specifically chose not to for his own reasons. I loved Willa's mom until she did this to him. Her character wasn't the only one. Willa was so happy to hear his voice, despite him not wanting to speak most of the book. This is very hearing-minded, and comes from a place of oppression. Again, she wanted him to speak for HER benefit, so SHE could hear his voice, not because HE wanted to and was making the right choice for him.
Lip reading. The lip reading skills of Ryder were completely unrealistic. After being deaf only a few years, he's a master lip reader. This is wildly inaccurate. It takes an exhausting amount of learning and training to become skilled at lip reading, and even then, only about 30% of the English language can be seen on the mouth. The rest is all blanks, and the deaf person has to fill them in based on context and what they did get. It is incredibly difficult and exhausting.
Cochlear implants. They are NOT a cure for deafness as the book portrays. The deaf person is STILL DEAF. The surgery is incredibly invasive and expensive, and when the implants get "turned on" after healing post-surgery, it is absolutely NOT an instantaneous cure. Sounds are distorted, and do not sound like do for a person born hearing. The deaf person needs to go through extensive training and practice to learn to differentiate between all the sounds and noises in the world. And when the outside piece of the implant is taken off, the deaf person is still deaf. AND it is not a miraculous cure for learning to speak again, either. Even for someone who was born hearing.
The point: Deaf people are not broken. They do not need to be fixed, especially by hearing people who do not sign, cannot communicate with them without an interpreter, have no knowledge of the oppressive history of Deaf individuals and their community, and view deafness only from a hearing medical perspective. Deaf readers and community members should have been consulted for this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
memorable's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-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? Yes
3.5
This book started off really well and I just couldn’t get enough. Once Ryder “got his hearing back”, I had some issues with it. First of all, the importance for everyone that Ryder actually used his voice to speak. Joy basically forced him to read to her even though it caused him being anxious. The book also felt all over the place towards the end and it felt really rushed. Sometimes, I had to go back one page to reread in order to understand what was going on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Sexism and Vomit
Anxiety Cochlea-implants
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