{"data":{"id":28,"attributes":{"title":"True Biz","description":null,"url":"https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61335466-true-biz","review":"

True biz (adj/exclamation; American Sign Language): really, seriously, definitely, real-talk

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First impression: immediately, yes ⚡️

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I am learning so much important information that I also feel guilty for my ignorance. Just from the first few pages, I already gathered how false my perceptions are. How our ableism is not just a societal stereotypes and judgemental thing, but life altering for the community. What we can EASILY do is make things accessible but we doubled down on our self righteousness and went straight for the erasure of deaf culture.

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We learn that because of advancement in technology, the medical field discourages ASL to kids, taking away their language, in exchange for a cochlear implant or other tech 💸💸💸 (that a kid can't consent to). In hindsight the technology is not really evil. But these implants, they're not working well, even gets dangerous. How can a child communicate that? They're basically testing in production and it's so frustrating because it's real actual lives at stake and not software you can easilly revert back to a stable version. 🙄

One of the best things about this book is the diversity within the deaf community. Our main characters are 1.) February, the headmistress and a CODA (child of deaf adults); 2.) Charlie, a rebellious deaf teenager who's cochlear implant did not \"fix\" it all, who has never met another deaf person before River Valley School for the Deaf; and 3.) Austin, the golden boy who came from generations of deaf people and recently finds out his sister is born hearing.

And it did not stop there, we also have Kayla, a black girl who uses BASL (Black ASL); Gabriella, a queen bee; mysterious Elliot who experienced [redacted, spoiler ⚠️]. Wanda, a recently hired deaf teacher. Oh and February's also gay and the book explores her marital issues. I realized how I had this thinking that deaf people are supposed to be quiet and nice (❓) and why did I ever think they're not as selfish and human as us?

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Maybe this is just a hangover from Netflix's TV series, but the setting reminds me of Wednesday and Nevermore Academy, but in a more positive light (and colors?). That sense of safe space in a community (that's still a school setting), and a headmistress doing right by them.

This book may get political but I didn't really find it depressing. The book reminds me more of joy and persistence 🥀.

One of the few books where the time goes by without you realizing it. Too many times I shocked myself that I'm already +30 pages in when it literally felt like 5 mins. I was so consumed in it I didn't want to leave. It's just January 2023 but I think I already found my number 1 🥇 read for the year.\n

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I was browsing Sara Novic's website and found out that this will be adapted to a tv series!!! To be starred by deaf actors 😭.

","dateStarted":"2023-01-09","dateEnded":"2023-01-13","recommend":true,"createdAt":"2023-01-14T00:37:43.569Z","updatedAt":"2023-01-21T09:42:22.077Z","publishedAt":"2023-01-14T00:37:56.529Z","rating":10,"buy":null,"author":[{"name":"Sara Nović","link":"https://sara-novic.com/"}],"themes":["deaf community and erasure of deaf culture","importance of community","the effects of ableism","language, specifically ASL, BASL, MVSL"],"recommendTo":["EVERYONE"],"recommendSimilar":null,"triggerWarnings":["ableism"],"longTitle":null,"ratingSpice":null,"ratingTears":1,"ratingHumor":null,"ratingCover":2,"translator":null,"originalLanguage":null,"writtenWith":null}},"meta":{}}