Narrated By: Lisa Flanagan, Kaleo Griffith
Publisher: Little, Brown Audio
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary – Literary
Format: Audiobook
Published: April 5th, 2022
Goodreads
Rating: 4/5 Stars
True Biz was an engaging, interesting novel about students and teachers at the River Valley School for the Deaf. Alongside the plot (we’ll get to that in a moment), there are small interludes that give the reader information and history about Deaf culture, sign language, and important historical events that inform the novel. Anyone who is marginalised understands how deeply the past can affect the present, and these interludes were handled really well – in the audiobook, they have a different narration to the main story, and in a different writer’s hands might have felt a bit over the top or unnecessary, but here provide important context for the events. The interludes and narrative compliment each other really well, and add to the feel of this novel.
It’s a novel completely grounded in the culture it portrays, demonstrating the difficulties faced by the Deaf community (both in the past and now), the treatment of Deaf children by their parents, the difficultly of a hearing child born into a Deaf family, and is, at its core, a coming-of-age story about two specific characters.
When Charlie joins the school, she has never met another deaf person before. She starts learning sign language, and the culture, embraced by the other pupils despite her rebellious streak. Austin’s family are prominent in the community, which makes it even harder for him to deal with his baby sister being born hearing. And February, the headmistress, is dealing with her own personal struggles while fighting to keep the school open for the children who need it.
You can almost feel how important this book was to Nović, encompassing both small, everyday struggles the characters face, as well as the larger, systematic ones which impact the characters in various ways. Charlie stands out at the school because of her implant, which means she can hear to some degree. She stands out as a character here because of her situation and her tenacity; she takes what she’s learning and puts it to practical use, striving for a better world for her and her classmates, and through the novel she begins standing up to her parents.
Nović also doesn’t shy away from the difficulties faced by the characters, whether it’s in their romantic relationships, families, and beyond, and these are messy, flawed people simply trying to do their best. It was a really enjoyable novel to listen to, dealing with the human condition in the same way all great books do, and I have a feeling it’ll stand out in my memory for a fair while to come.
Reading Challenge
Avengers Challenge!
Prompt: Hawkeye – Deaf characters
Progress: 5/6 Completed + 20% Bonus Prompts
Unwrapping Words 