Customer Reviews:
 Interesting ... May 27, 2008
Since my son has lost more hearing and I have had a cochlear implant, I thought I would read more on the deaf culture. This book had plenty to say about the deaf world and what it is like to be deaf, but it is also one of the most depressing books I have ever yet to read. I am not exactly sure what the author intended to achieve with this book because instead of feeling admiration for the characters, I find myself angry and depressed. This should not be labeled as a fiction book.
Other than that, I will have to say, being deaf in the early part of the century also means lack of communication and poor education. This couple fought to survive through the Great Depression and WWII, struggled to raise a family (ironically, both children could hear) and still keep food in their bellies and clothes on their backs with a roof over their heads. They not only had one strike against them, being deaf, they had another strike against them when they were forced to repay $6,000 back to the car dealer who sold them a car. It took them over twenty years to pay it off and they struggled throughout that entire time.
This is an angry and bitter book and I wonder if the author has any personal experience with the deaf culture since she has written so convincingly of their thoughts and ideas. I may be deaf, but I have never signed and I also have never experienced the desolation of these characters. I do relate however, to the daughter's shame of her parents' deafness and their "loud" expressions of their hands when they signed. It has given me an insight of what life was like before I was born, what my life would have been like if I was born just thirty/forty years sooner. And it is not pleasant.
If you're interested in learning more about the deaf culture, this book would do it. But not in the way you might expect since it is a story about a family who fought against the odds to remain alive. It is also a great historical piece of information if you like that sort of thing. If you're looking for a good story, this one might not exactly fit the bill as it is depressing and bitter.
5/27/08
Good, but not like the movie July 6, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book because years ago I saw the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie "Love Is Never Silent," which was based on this book. I wanted a more "in-depth" look into the story.
I think this is the first time I liked a movie better than the book. While the book was good, it didn't give me as much of a background into the story as I'd hoped.
There were a few points of the story I wish would have been expanded upon, but I felt like I was left hanging a little bit.
 Deaf Life October 24, 2002
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
I am a Sign Language interpreter. I am with deaf people every day. This book is a wonderful, accurate account of how many deaf people feel about the hearing world.
Hearing people will never be able to understand how frustrating a deaf person's life often is. It is hard to have to go through an interpreter for all your business and often private transactions.
This book beautifully told the story from both sides, and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Thank you.
Marsha Binau
In This Sign June 19, 2002
26 out of 29 found this review helpful
We all have signs, in spoken language, in the way we behave, in the way we act..... And the signs are important to understand ourselves and to understand others.In this book Joanne Greenberg tells the story of a deaf couple and their hearing daughter. The story is so sad, I have cried alot, and at the same time I learn so much from the book. Janice and Abel are both deaf and because of a misunderstanding early in their married life, a misunderstanding because they are unable to hear, their lives make a tragic turn. This change their lives dramaticaly, and takes away most of the beauty. Their daughter can hear, and becomes the link for Janice and Abel to the world of hearers, a world they don't understand and don't trust. This is the story about Janice and Abel who live in their own world. A world of signs. Signs they are ashamed to show. They are quite young when they leave deaf school to marry, and the book is a heartbreaking story of their fight for their lives in the hearing world. A book you will learn alot from, a book you can't put down once you have started. Britt Arnhild Lindland
Can a true portrayal of life keep you reading? Yes! April 3, 1997
50 out of 52 found this review helpful
This book has a strange impact on the soul. It's a story thatmight be described as about deafness, since it's the story of deafcouple, their hearing daughter, and their struggles through life. And yet the comment I hear most frequently about this book--from old and young, women and men, those who can hear and those who can't--is this: "I could relate." It was the same way with me. As I read this book I kept thinking..."that's like my family--thats like MY parents--that's like me." This book isn't JUST about deafness...it's about what separates us, about the walls we put up around ourselves and how to break them down. The characters aren't heroic and they aren't extraordinary. They live, go to work, go to school, cry, laugh, have children, make and lose friends...and you can't put their story down because it's too much like yours. I never wanted to read about life, just life, until I saw it so well portrayed.
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