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A review by leigh_ann_15_deaf
Hush by Dylan Farrow
1.0
I was so excited for this book, and then was sorely disappointed. I liked to see the traces of Jim Henson's Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, but I dislike the misogynist Hogwarts vibes. It's set up for a sequel/series. But I don't like it...The characters and the world are a little too shallow. It seems a bit like Harry Potter, where none of the worldbuilding took place until after the third book, when Rowling actually started working on the lore.
The rest of this review contains SPOILERS.
From the blurb, which stated that almost all Bards have been men, I assumed that was going to take a social exclusion route rather than biological determinism (Cathal says some brains shatter from the power)...Although he does add that madness tends to happen to the most powerful. "Female Bards are supposed to be the most volatile, vulnerable to our emotions and desires." Screams internalized misogyny and female exceptionalism. At the very end, it is revealed that this is a lie, but is there any explanation for the fewer numbers? Nope. (Also, it was stated that Bardness was not genetic, but random, so how does Shae inherit this from Ma?)
I just don't think this idea was developed enough, the differences between male and female Bards, especially. Nothing was really developed enough, except to establish that the Bards are like contemporary American police, corrupt and violently oppressive.
The utter absence of signed language and gesture is all the more apparent to me, as a deaf reader, during the scene in which Shae and Ravod laughably attempt to communicate through a window. It also doesn't make sense that they wouldn't develop gestures, since spoken language has such power, and the number of characters who don't/can't speak. It seems common enough that people would go, "Oh, hey, what if we invented a manual system of communication?" The phonocentrism is strong with this one.
I do like the unveiling of reality vs illusion facilitated through language. I just think the book would be improved if it weren't so phonocentric.
Shae has unlimited thread, somehow. Like, she's always sewing/embroidering and using thread like Theseus in the labyrinth. She never runs out of it, and she never gets more of it or replaces it.
One of the biggest cringes in this novel for me is the fact that the only female Black (or POC) character is presumably the villain, until the "plot twist" which shows she isn't.
The rest of this review contains SPOILERS.
From the blurb, which stated that almost all Bards have been men, I assumed that was going to take a social exclusion route rather than biological determinism (Cathal says some brains shatter from the power)...Although he does add that madness tends to happen to the most powerful. "Female Bards are supposed to be the most volatile, vulnerable to our emotions and desires." Screams internalized misogyny and female exceptionalism. At the very end, it is revealed that this is a lie, but is there any explanation for the fewer numbers? Nope. (Also, it was stated that Bardness was not genetic, but random, so how does Shae inherit this from Ma?)
I just don't think this idea was developed enough, the differences between male and female Bards, especially. Nothing was really developed enough, except to establish that the Bards are like contemporary American police, corrupt and violently oppressive.
The utter absence of signed language and gesture is all the more apparent to me, as a deaf reader, during the scene in which Shae and Ravod laughably attempt to communicate through a window. It also doesn't make sense that they wouldn't develop gestures, since spoken language has such power, and the number of characters who don't/can't speak. It seems common enough that people would go, "Oh, hey, what if we invented a manual system of communication?" The phonocentrism is strong with this one.
I do like the unveiling of reality vs illusion facilitated through language. I just think the book would be improved if it weren't so phonocentric.
Shae has unlimited thread, somehow. Like, she's always sewing/embroidering and using thread like Theseus in the labyrinth. She never runs out of it, and she never gets more of it or replaces it.
One of the biggest cringes in this novel for me is the fact that the only female Black (or POC) character is presumably the villain, until the "plot twist" which shows she isn't.