Name: Cheri McElroy's review of True Biz by Sara Novic
Item: True Biz
Rating: 5
Author: Cheri McElroy

Sara Novic

A transporting novel that follows a year of seismic romantic, political, and familial shifts for a teacher and her students at a boarding school for the deaf, from the acclaimed author of Girl at War True biz (adj/exclamation; American Sign Language): really, seriously, definitely, real-talk True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history final, and have doctors, politicians, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another--and changed forever. This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, cochlear implants and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.

A Novel

True Biz

Lindsay

If these walls could talk, would it matter? Who would hear the secrets we bear?

reason is for people who still have something to fear.

She cannot decide whether the heart’s craving for opposites— not only from itself, but from the others it loves— is its greatest strength or biggest failing.

It was hard to imagine what the world might be like if deaf people had as short a fuse about hearing people’s inability to sign, their neglect or refusal to caption TV, or, hell, the announcements on this bus. Of course, that was their privilege— to conflate majority with superiority.

Austin sometimes thought that if hearing people ever studied the power and speed of the Deaf rumor mill, they might think twice about classifying deafness as a “communication disorder.”

It is so damn depressing, February said as she pushed through the side door. That the biggest dream some people can muster up for their child is “look normal.”

all those years of energy poured into achieving the aesthetic of being educated rather than actually having learned anything.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

I fell in love with these characters and their Deaf culture. This novel is à richly complex story of love, grief, and a desire to belong to community. It will stick with me.

Cheri McElroy

Elizabeth Wood

Wow! What a phenomenal book. 

I loved learning about deaf culture, deaf history, and more about ASL. How Sara Nović incorporated it all within the book was incredible. This is a great book about activism and fighting for equality for deaf people. 

At first, the ending seemed a little abrupt. However, after thinking more about it, I appreciate that there are still loose ends. The book can’t have a happy ending when deaf people are still discriminated against and the fight is far from over. 

I love learning from fiction books (most of the history - I never learned in school), and I will recommend this book to everyone. So. Good.

Super interesting to learn about Deaf culture! The story itself is so-so, maybe more of a young adult book.

Pola Schwöbel

Lisa Lindquist 

A delight to read, I love how they included diagrams on the basics of sign so that the reader could learn along with Charlie.

Kate B-L

Meghan Navoy

I really enjoyed this so much! What a great story that has multiple character perspectives and teaches so much about deaf culture and deaf history

Shareca

True Biz
Sara Nović
★★★★

The hippest book of the year has got to be True Biz by Sara Nović. 🤘🏾

There is a seamless integration of POVs (February, Austin, Charlie, and Charlie's mom, among many others that have a POV at one point), which gives River Valley School such character. As it teaches and entertains, it possesses a flawless harmony between knowledge and pleasure.

One of the main draws of this novel is the fact that the reader (can) learns (learn) ASL along with the characters (Charlie) throughout most of the chapters. Through learning and engaging, readers are able to relate to and better understand the deaf community; they are also able to grow in their own abilities. There is a sense of urgency in the prose that allows you to empathize with each character.

Instead of allowing the lines to run together, lines are spaced apart to allow for a better understanding of how the characters communicate and hear each other. Charlie's arc leaves many of her lines unwritten (like so: "What are — doing?"). The ability to understand words from the perspective of those who hear them, see them, and feel them is a wonderful experience—an unexplored, yet extraordinary experience.

There was such a charming character in Charlie, and the romance between Austin and, in many parts, Slash was adorable as well. It was captivating to read about the lives of each character, simply because it was so effortless to read and absorb yourself within their day-to-day lives. The relationships between the characters merged seamlessly with the third-person POV. There was so much authenticity and transparency in True Biz; even when challenges were encountered, it was so refreshingly warm. 😌

Reading True Biz gave me an understanding of deaf culture and history that was entirely new to me, and Nović's digestibility and depth of information helped me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the deaf community that I will continue to expand after reading this. 👏🏾🙏🏾

Kristen Claiborn

My online book club picked this book for April 2022, and after reading the description (which I rarely do), I was looking forward to it. The deaf community is underrepresented in literature, so I was more than a little curious about, well, everything. Turns out, the deaf community has similar pressures and problems that the hearing community does, but I but they don’t make as much noise when they have fights. 
	One of my biggest pet peeves when I read is coming across books that lack punctuation. This one left out quotation marks. Prior to reading this book, I would have completely been turned off enough to stop reading the book, but I pushed on simply because it was my book club’s choice and I wanted to be able to discuss it with my book friends. I became increasingly more frustrated as the book progressed, because I really just hated the lack of quotation marks. I understand that trying to separate speaking using vocal cords and spoken words versus sign language posed an interesting dilemma for the author, so she did what she felt was effective. I’ve been a grammar nerd most of my life, so I had a hard time reconciling what she tried to do with what I have always known to be the correct way to separate speech in text. While I am working on relaxing my own expectations regarding the written word, I still had a hard time enjoying this one, partly because of the lack of punctuation. 
	I also had a hard time with the sheer number of storylines going on within the novel. She wrote about the school, the headmistress’s rocky relationship, Charlie’s sad relationship with her mother, Austin’s little sister…it was hard to focus on which was the primary storyline. Each of those could have made an entire book on it’s own, so it felt like overkill to put it all in one. I really wanted more of each of those characters!
	I sat on the review for this one, because my initial reaction was to give this book two stars, write a scathing review, then move on. So, I let myself marinate in my feelings and revisit it after a little bit. This book left an impression on me, which says a lot, because I frequently love a book and then forget all about it twenty minutes after I’ve finished the review (I read a large number of books, hundreds per year, so it’s hard to remember them all). I was super impressed with all the knowledge in this book…histories of the deaf community and sign language and even lessons in sign language. It’s quite fascinating. After lengthy contemplation, I realize that my initial reaction to this book was a bit misguided. It’s a fascinating story(stories) with fascinating information mixed in, and the author did a bang-up job of showing speech amongst the deaf characters. In truth, I did enjoy this book.

I finally had time to read one of my most anticipated books of the year, True Biz. Let me preface that I am Deaf, with a capital D, and I have been immersed in various aspects of Deaf culture my whole life, so I am speaking from my own personal experiences. 

The book is so authentic that I thought Sara Novic must have gone to a Deaf school, so I was amazed that Novic is late deafened. She visited various Deaf institutions for research on the book, and it certainly showed through Charlie and Austin's life experiences on the campus. While I attended a Deaf program, I did visit some Deaf institutions, and the life described in the book is very close to my experiences. It was quite fun seeing my own experiences coming to life on the pages.

And as for the various issues the Deaf world is facing, I can certainly say that they are all true in my own experience. I was aware of the "End" even as a child, and now that I'm an adult, I'm all too painfully aware of the upcoming "End". I'm concerned for the future, what will it look like for Deaf people, how accessible it will be, the struggles they will face in the future.

The story itself is fine, and I loved reading about Charlie's journey into the Deaf world and her finding new possibilities she never thought possible. That is what I wish for all Deaf children, to know that they are not limited by their deafness, and there are endless possibilities for them. However, I thought the characters could be improved on a bit. For one, I did not like the awkward and poor romance between Austin and Charlie or February's romance issues. I also feel the ending could be improved on, it was unsatisfying for me. 

I will probably expand this review later, but for now, this gets a 4.5 out of 5 for me, rounded up to 5 (unabashed Deaf bias yeah!).

oberon vortigern

Guan-Yue Chen

I really loved this book. The author has a remarkable talent for creating a narrative and truly captivating story that somehow was also really informative and educational. Instead of reading a fundamentals of deafness lecture, I learned that all through a beautiful story and three dimensional characters. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about the deaf community until I read this book. I learned about the harm of cochlear implants, the suppressing of ASL, the lack of public funding/education, BASL, the origins of ASL, the lack of community and accessibility afforded to the deaf, and the importance of patience and the things I take for granted. Her mom sucks btw. Love people for who they are and not their potential. I wish so much of their stories weren’t left open-ended. What happened to everyone after the school closed? What happened to Feb and Mel? What happened to Charlie and Austin and Elliot? I’m so happy I read this

Chitra Kokkirala

Sarai Johnson

** spoiler alert **
           I liked it a lot. Usually hate books about teens. Found myself riveted. Enjoyed that the love triangle does not become Teen Drama. 

I learned some stuff about the Deaf community but not in a blanketed “Deaf People Feel This Way” kind of way. 

Some characters feel like plot devices: namely, Eliot and Kayla. Not sure what February’s perspective added beyond the knowledge of the impending closure. 

The ending felt weird and inconclusive. I don’t get why the anarchists targeted Edge. The book spent all this intimate time with individuals, but ended in a wildly broad manner that felt like a disservice to the character building. What happens with Mel and Feb? Does Charlie ‘s mom get a hold of herself? Does Sky get the implant? Does River Valley close????? So many questions left unanswered for characters I became quite invested in. 

Still, I liked it.

I loved reading about Deaf culture and found this book very eye opening into what it is like for Deaf people to live in a hearing orientated world. I think it is important to hear from different and diverse voices and to listen to other people’s view points even when we don’t fully understand or agree, so I enjoyed how this book made me think deeply. I enjoyed reading from the students perspectives more so then the head mistress. I liked the characters but more at the start as towards the end I felt a bit lost and I didn’t really like the whole “fighting fire with fire” ideas. I don’t really like the direction the book went in the last half and I found myself agreeing with the fundamental idea of the characters seeking change but puzzled by the way they went about it. Overall, I enjoyed the education from this book but I did not find myself engaging with the plot.

Michaela

sophia n

really really liked this! all the characters were so interesting and i loved the plot and setting, and i really loved all the inserts between chapters about ASL and deaf culture, and how it tied into the fictional plot. also there’s something so tactile and nice about reading this book with your eyes, though i tried the audio too, but i kept going back to the hardback. the spoken dialog being written without indication or quotation marks of any sort, and the signed dialog being broken out and italicized added heavily to the immersion.

the only thing really holding me back from 5 stars is i felt like the ending was kind of rushed, especially in comparison to the pacing of the rest of the book. i think i understand what the author was going for but i'm also kind of like … idk. i wanted just a little more i guess. but overall it was such a good read, and would highly recommend.

I really loved this book. It’s a beautiful quick insight into the deaf community and a great story. 

I saw a video where the author called it “a coming of age story but also a coming of middle age story” and it does a lovely job of conveying both of those stories. 

The different narrators all bring something new to the book and I appreciated reading their different insights. 

Overall I thought this was a lovely book and I’m happy to have read it (and I also want to learn sign language) 

Megan BV

I really loved this book. It’s a beautiful quick insight into the deaf community and a great story. 

I saw a video where the author called it “a coming of age story but also a coming of middle age story” and it does a lovely job of conveying both of those stories. 

The different narrators all bring something new to the book and I appreciated reading their different insights. 

Overall I thought this was a lovely book and I’m happy to have read it (and I also want to learn sign language) 

Christina Pappas

This book was FASCINATING. I was almost completely ignorant about the Deaf community, so I learned an absurd amount from this book, from the systemic oppression of signing to the ethics of consent around cochlear implants. I’m frankly embarrassed to have not known any of it before and I’m grateful to Sara Nović via Book of the Month for educating me (I was going to say “for opening my eyes”, but that reads as ableist in a different way!). Moreover, it was a genuinely great read with characters I found believable yet completely surprising - a great combination. Strongly recommend.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
True Biz by Sara Novic

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &True Biz by Sara Novic

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
True Biz by Sara Novic