Customer Reviews:
 Cry of the Gull - A Highly Emotional But Powerful True Story July 9, 2008
This is an exquisite book, both heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. Emmanuelle Laborit was born deaf into a hearing family, at a time when using sign language in public was a crime in France: it was considered obscene, and the law wasn't changed until 1976, well into the author's childhood. This created a tragic set of circumstances for those born deaf in France.
The author was blessed to have college educated parents who were willing and able to look outside of their own culture to find what their child needed, and when her father decided they should learn sign language, he brought the family to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC for a month, where mother, father and child took part in an intensive sign-language immersion program.
Laborit writes eloquently about the first seven years of her life, a time in which she had no formal language to express herself with. Until her parents made the decision to learn formal sign language, Laborit and her mother made up their own signs, but the problem with home signs is that they are understood only within the environment where they were created.
I highly recommend this book to hearing parents of deaf children, as well as anyone working with deaf children and young adults. The insight provided here is invaluable.
Laugh & Cry, Well expressed book! May 15, 2001
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Emmanuelle Laborit writes her autobiography with such expressive detail. Some parts were hard to believe what the deaf have to go through to let themselves be heard for others. I recommend this book for any parent of a deaf child. What choices they have to make in the education of their child. There are so many different choices. Emmanuelle expains how her education was, she did nearly everything. When she started to learn sign language the world became more understanding to her.
accurate portrayal of one who is "not hearing" January 6, 2001
Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}. I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.
accurate portrayal of one who is "not hearing" January 6, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}. I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.
If you want to laugh, cry, and educate yourself... August 5, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book caught my eye, because I really only read non-fiction. My interest in human development has been encouraged by my rather stilted childhood. This book is written with such candidness, that you are literally enveloped. I have laughed out loud, shed some tears, and loved every moment.
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