A review by geckotigerwolf
The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais

hopeful informative lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I'm not great at writing reviews but I wanted to write a couple of things I really liked. 

I really liked that the sign language (ASL not BSL as this is set in America) was glossed instead of written in English. I also liked that when she's lipreading "you... sentences... like this" to represent that she's not catching every word and is extrapolating from the ones she does catch. These are two really strong stylistic choices that I think really help you immerse yourself in Maya's worldview. 

One part did feel a bit icky. Early in the book, Maya is (understandably) upset when a deaf girl with a cochlear implant insists she's not deaf, as if it's shameful or a dirty word. But then Maya does the same thing later in the book with the word disabled. The author says in a note at the end that many of the Deaf community don't consider themselves disabled which would be fine if the next sentence wasn't "There is NOTHING wrong with having difficulty hearing." Of course there isn't but there's nothing wrong with being disabled either! As a character it's probably internalised ableism on Maya's part but when the rest of the book is so careful to challenge any prejudices against the Deaf community it felt odd to have this unchallenged. 

Anyway, thankfully that was more or less a throwaway line. I really did enjoy this book quite a lot. The characters were great (Melissa in particular, though Maya was also great), I really enjoyed the way language was expressed on the page, and watching the characters get to know each other and learn more about each other and the unique challenges they all faced. 

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