A review by halfcactus
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

sad

4.0

This was a short but very very very difficult read. :( It's a poetry collection that's written with the structure of a stageplay, and it's brilliantly executed but extremely heavy and devastating. As the title suggests, it covers the full spectrum of what deafness means to a people, from unified resistance/rebellion to individualistic selfishness and desensitization. It's very much a story of systemic oppression, how it wears you down and breaks your sense of humanity, how violent silence can be. The opening and ending poems tie you back to the present, reminds you how current these issues still are, no matter where you are.
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