True biz, by Sara Novic

 

True Biz is a highly original novel that takes on many issues faced by the deaf community in the United States. It has several main characters including February, the principal of a high school for deaf students; Charlie, a girl whose parents tried to keep her in mainstream school with a cochlear implant instead of allowing her to learn sign language; and Austin, a boy who comes from a multi-generation deaf family. Facing budget cuts, February decides to fill one of her staff vacancies by teaching a class about deaf history. Sections that address this history punctuate the book throughout. Charlie fights with her parents about the cochlear implant, which she insists doesn’t work. Austin is shocked when his newborn sister turns out to be hearing and is hurt by how happy his father is about it. February is struggling with a mother with Alzheimer’s, a jealous wife, and the knowledge that her school is going to be closed down at the end of the year due to budget cuts, which she must keep secret.

This book addresses many issues and injustices that just aren’t on most people’s radar. The history of how deaf people have been taught in schools, for instance, is truly shocking; for decades they were denied sign language and forced to try to manage by lip reading and learning to speak out loud. This denied many of them a functional language which had significant educational and psychological impacts on them. Early cochlear implants had significant design flaws and many of them didn’t work, but no one listened to the deaf people when they reported this. It was only after many years that they were found to be right and the implants were recalled.

In addition to bringing important issues to light, this is a well-written novel with characters that are believable. The plot unfolds at a good pace; this was a hard book to put down. I liked the way the various plot points or discussions between characters is reflected by the illustrated (with line drawings) history lessons that are placed throughout the book. The author uses typography to show which conversations are signed versus out loud. The book shows how administrators can use the budget to make poor decisions; the impact of one terrible administrator can have repercussions that last decades, something that we see in the news every day relating to higher education. The book ends without a clear resolution to this issue, avoiding a feel-good ending. While I would have preferred a feel-good ending, this is probably more realistic (unfortunately).