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A review by carysbeesbooks
True Biz by Sara Nović
4.0
I had never heard of this book until I joined a reading challenge called 12 New Perspectives, hosted by @travelinglovereads and @emilyisoverbooked, on Instagram. I am so so glad I joined that challenge because it brought me this book, which very quickly became one of my favourite lit fic books! True Biz is a book that I have already recommended to loads of my friends and family. It's a book that taught me so much about a culture that I'm very unfamiliar with. It's a book that I just know I'm going to reread again and again and keep learning new things with every reread.
True Biz is the story of February, Charlie and Austin. The headteacher of a school for the deaf in America and two of her students. Each of these main characters have very different backgrounds within the Deaf community. February is a CODA, the hearing child of two deaf parents who has grown up to become a passionate headmistress who truly cares about her students. Charlie is a new student at the school, and has never even met another deaf person before, let alone been surrounded by people whose main form of communication is ASL. Austin is the most popular boy in school. With a family that is considered as deaf royalty, Austin has to learn to adapt when his little sister is born hearing.
True Biz felt like a fiction and non-fiction book rolled into one and, as someone who struggles to read non-fiction, this was the perfect way for me to learn about Deaf culture and the Deaf community. The main plot of the book is broken up with lesson plans and Wikipedia articles giving information about ASL, Deaf history and other snippets of knowledge that are relevant to the story. I especially loved how the lesson plans often ended with questions "for the class" that I fully intend to go back and think about myself! Alongside the history and culture parts of this book, the story and character development were also really well done! The fast pace of the book kept me engaged and the writing was extremely evocative, which had me at the edge of my seat at certain points and really got me feeling real emotions!
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was the ending. Unfortunately, for a book that was overall very well paced, the ending felt rushed, with quite a few storylines simply left hanging. I'm guessing that it was the authors intention to leave the ending open to interpretation but it's simply not my personal preference. I also wasn't a fan of the adult/minor relationship that, while not applauded, was never really condemned in the narrative.
All this being said, True Biz was an absolutely amazing read in my eyes. I loved the author's writing and the characters were all very well-developed. The informational portions of the book were easy to read and understand and never seemed to take away from the overarching storyline, instead enhancing and improving it. I will definitely be having a read of Sara Nović's other books and can't wait to see what she writes next!
True Biz is the story of February, Charlie and Austin. The headteacher of a school for the deaf in America and two of her students. Each of these main characters have very different backgrounds within the Deaf community. February is a CODA, the hearing child of two deaf parents who has grown up to become a passionate headmistress who truly cares about her students. Charlie is a new student at the school, and has never even met another deaf person before, let alone been surrounded by people whose main form of communication is ASL. Austin is the most popular boy in school. With a family that is considered as deaf royalty, Austin has to learn to adapt when his little sister is born hearing.
True Biz felt like a fiction and non-fiction book rolled into one and, as someone who struggles to read non-fiction, this was the perfect way for me to learn about Deaf culture and the Deaf community. The main plot of the book is broken up with lesson plans and Wikipedia articles giving information about ASL, Deaf history and other snippets of knowledge that are relevant to the story. I especially loved how the lesson plans often ended with questions "for the class" that I fully intend to go back and think about myself! Alongside the history and culture parts of this book, the story and character development were also really well done! The fast pace of the book kept me engaged and the writing was extremely evocative, which had me at the edge of my seat at certain points and really got me feeling real emotions!
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was the ending. Unfortunately, for a book that was overall very well paced, the ending felt rushed, with quite a few storylines simply left hanging. I'm guessing that it was the authors intention to leave the ending open to interpretation but it's simply not my personal preference. I also wasn't a fan of the adult/minor relationship that, while not applauded, was never really condemned in the narrative.
All this being said, True Biz was an absolutely amazing read in my eyes. I loved the author's writing and the characters were all very well-developed. The informational portions of the book were easy to read and understand and never seemed to take away from the overarching storyline, instead enhancing and improving it. I will definitely be having a read of Sara Nović's other books and can't wait to see what she writes next!