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A review by jenbsbooks
Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—and a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco
3.5
Sometimes I'll include how a particular book ended up on my reading list. For this one, I was perusing a library book sale and saw several copies of this book (indicating there had been demand for it at one point). It had the "Bestseller" badge, and a quick lookup on Goodreads indicated a high rating.
I'm not a complete novice to deaf culture. My sister learned sign-language (LDS mission) and has been an active interpreter for years (her husband also). I took several ASL classes, through the interpreting level, but never felt I really mastered the language (that, and spelling, finger or otherwise, is a challenge for me, in spite of my reading background).
I did NOT have ANY idea who Nyle DiMarco was ... I don't follow the reality TV shows. Apparently he was on America's Top Model (is it a spoiler to say if he wins or not?) and then on Dancing With The Stars (again ... win?)
This begins with an Author's Note, which IS necessary, but it was a little technical and dry. I realize the irony of listening to an audiobook about deafness, but I had a physical and kindle copy for reference as well. I appreciated the Table of Contents, with descriptive headers, which were included on the audio TOC as well. 20 chapters.
It's always interesting to see how a memoir is set up ... strictly chronological? Arranged per topic? In college, I had an assignment to write an auto-biography, so I struggled with that myself (I have my life history from birth to my 20s ... should update, not for publication, but just for family). This was mostly chronological, starting with his birth and childhood years. His schooling, then his break into modeling and acting. There were some time shifts though, especially when accounting times with his father.
There was a lot of good information about the deaf community. About Deaf (with a capital) and deaf, about other phrases (hard of hearing, etc) which are often offensive. About how signing was NOT encouraged in so many situations (deaf school!) I was familiar with most of this, but still appreciated new knowledge on the subject.
This seemed almost as much about Nyle's sexuality as his deafness. There are some similarities too I suppose. Lots of discussion, and it is labeled as LGBTQ. Also quite a bit of background on reality TV, which may or may not be of interest to readers, I did find it interesting, even though I hadn't ever watched either show (they seriously have the models walk a plank and see if they fall to kick them off the show??) I just might have to search YouTube to check out his final dance on DWTS.
The text copies have some pictures included - which are a fun addition. I think the audio has "supplemental content" but as I already had the text in two formats, I didn't investigate that.
Many resources, ways to continue on with Deaf education were listed at the end.
I'll add this to my little library - it will interesting to see how quickly it might be snapped up (my little library isn't a great gauge, as it's new, and we're a little out of the way). I'll mention this to my sister (the interpreter) as it would be interesting to get her opinion on it from her POV and experience.
Content Concerns - some proFanity (x7), slight sexual content, a lot of discussion of sexual identity/LGBTQ conversations.
I'm not a complete novice to deaf culture. My sister learned sign-language (LDS mission) and has been an active interpreter for years (her husband also). I took several ASL classes, through the interpreting level, but never felt I really mastered the language (that, and spelling, finger or otherwise, is a challenge for me, in spite of my reading background).
I did NOT have ANY idea who Nyle DiMarco was ... I don't follow the reality TV shows. Apparently he was on America's Top Model (is it a spoiler to say if he wins or not?) and then on Dancing With The Stars (again ... win?)
This begins with an Author's Note, which IS necessary, but it was a little technical and dry. I realize the irony of listening to an audiobook about deafness, but I had a physical and kindle copy for reference as well. I appreciated the Table of Contents, with descriptive headers, which were included on the audio TOC as well. 20 chapters.
It's always interesting to see how a memoir is set up ... strictly chronological? Arranged per topic? In college, I had an assignment to write an auto-biography, so I struggled with that myself (I have my life history from birth to my 20s ... should update, not for publication, but just for family). This was mostly chronological, starting with his birth and childhood years. His schooling, then his break into modeling and acting. There were some time shifts though, especially when accounting times with his father.
There was a lot of good information about the deaf community. About Deaf (with a capital) and deaf, about other phrases (hard of hearing, etc) which are often offensive. About how signing was NOT encouraged in so many situations (deaf school!) I was familiar with most of this, but still appreciated new knowledge on the subject.
This seemed almost as much about Nyle's sexuality as his deafness. There are some similarities too I suppose. Lots of discussion, and it is labeled as LGBTQ. Also quite a bit of background on reality TV, which may or may not be of interest to readers, I did find it interesting, even though I hadn't ever watched either show (they seriously have the models walk a plank and see if they fall to kick them off the show??) I just might have to search YouTube to check out his final dance on DWTS.
The text copies have some pictures included - which are a fun addition. I think the audio has "supplemental content" but as I already had the text in two formats, I didn't investigate that.
Many resources, ways to continue on with Deaf education were listed at the end.
I'll add this to my little library - it will interesting to see how quickly it might be snapped up (my little library isn't a great gauge, as it's new, and we're a little out of the way). I'll mention this to my sister (the interpreter) as it would be interesting to get her opinion on it from her POV and experience.
Content Concerns - some proFanity (x7), slight sexual content, a lot of discussion of sexual identity/LGBTQ conversations.