A review by foggy_rosamund
Whisper by Chrissie Perry

3.0

At the opening of this novel, Demi has been deaf for two years due to meningitis. She has tried to remain the same person she was before she became deaf, but her experience of the world has changed irrevocably. She struggles at school, even with the help of an interpreter because she can't follow what her class-mates and teachers are saying. She has become isolated from her family and friends: and because of this, she decides to attend a school for deaf students. Perry does a good job of exploring Demi's emotions as she struggles to fit into both her old life and her entrance into Deaf culture. Though the ending is a little pat, I think the novel achieves a good balance in its explorations of Demi's experiences and the relationships between teenagers.

A big caveat for me is the novel's repeated, unchallenged use of the word "retard". The characters are quick to say they aren't retards, and given that we live in an ableist society, it's understandable they would feel this way, but the narrative doesn't challenge the use of this word at all, or make any positive reference towards developmentally disabled people. In a novel that is nuanced in its portrait of disability, this is very frustrating.