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lenabrary 's review for:
The Quality of Silence
by Rosamund Lupton
Ah, this book. I picked it up because the author shares her first name with my partner AND because one of the main characters is a deaf child, something I can identify with.
Lupton's writing style is great and flowing, though the constant switch between points of view in the beginning was a bit confusing. Still, there's nothing wrong with the book stylistically.
My problems with it are:
1) Yasmin's attitude towards Ruby's deafness (starting with this point since it's not spoilery). I can understand that as a mother, Yasmin wants all that's best for Ruby but dear god, she was alienating her child by refusing to see that sign language is a perfectly fine way to communicate - a valid way and one that gives voice to Ruby (aka the reasoning Yasmin used behind her nagging for Ruby to use her voice). Ruby's world is silent and her words come out in shapes rather than sounds. It annoyed me greatly that Yasmin couldn't put herself in Ruby's shoes and understand that UNTIL she experienced the great silence of Alaska, or whatever it was that changed her mind in the book. This is because I'm deaf and I'm sick and tired of hearing people behaving like deafness is something to be "fixed" but Yasmin's character and behaviour spoiled the book for me.
2) White saviour routine
While the Inupiaq people all died, Matt survived because he was away - fair enough, plot point and all. What I couldn't stand is how Lupton used a white character to show how devastating the fraking accident was. How hard would it have been for her to make Matt a POC? He's from England but by gods, that does not mean he should be automatically white. While the book mentions that the Inupiaq people were rallying against the fraking company, it was only told to use from the point of view of a white, middle-class male and it just ticked me off.
Ruby herself was a delightful character whom I absolutely loved and identified with. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to bring my review to even two stars.
Lupton's writing style is great and flowing, though the constant switch between points of view in the beginning was a bit confusing. Still, there's nothing wrong with the book stylistically.
My problems with it are:
1) Yasmin's attitude towards Ruby's deafness (starting with this point since it's not spoilery). I can understand that as a mother, Yasmin wants all that's best for Ruby but dear god, she was alienating her child by refusing to see that sign language is a perfectly fine way to communicate - a valid way and one that gives voice to Ruby (aka the reasoning Yasmin used behind her nagging for Ruby to use her voice). Ruby's world is silent and her words come out in shapes rather than sounds. It annoyed me greatly that Yasmin couldn't put herself in Ruby's shoes and understand that UNTIL she experienced the great silence of Alaska, or whatever it was that changed her mind in the book. This is because I'm deaf and I'm sick and tired of hearing people behaving like deafness is something to be "fixed" but Yasmin's character and behaviour spoiled the book for me.
2) White saviour routine
Ruby herself was a delightful character whom I absolutely loved and identified with. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to bring my review to even two stars.