Library Staff Recommendation
This year, I am undertaking Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge. One of the prompts this year is: read a book by a d/Deaf author. I chose True Biz, and I am very happy I did. True Biz is an idiom in American Sign Language, meaning things like “real talk” or “no kidding.”
This story is set in a Deaf high school in the US and mostly follows three characters: the principal, a student who comes from a long line of Deaf people, and a new transfer student who had struggled in conventional education. The book shows us their individual struggles, but also the collective struggles Deaf people face in society.
Novic made a stylistic choice for dialogue that I found enhanced the book. Spoken dialogue is not differentiated from other text (eg via double quotes), which makes it a little harder to recognise and read clearly. On the other hand, sign language is differentiated and far easier to read. For a book about Deaf people, this made a lot of sense.
I am glad I chose to read this book. It was a very different story to what I normally read and provided a perspective that I do not believe I have ever read before. It gave me a better appreciation of Deaf culture and some understanding of the ways society places barriers in how Deaf people live and engage in the world.
4/5 Stars
Reviewed by Rebecca