Quick Book Reviews with Deaf Characters

Sometimes, you read a book and don't expect to see a deaf character. Other times, you search it out and are disappointed. Here are 3 quick reviews of books I read that had d/Deaf characters.

River Raven Academy by Ruby Vincent

While Eli, a young deaf boy, is not the male main character (MMC), he is the brother of the female main character (FMC) and is heavily feature in the book. This series is focused on Ember, a girl who is trying to figure out what happened to her parents after they disappeared. Her aunt and uncle want nothing to do with her or her brother (they said it was "too hard" to deal with him since he is deaf) and ship her off to River Raven Academy. It is an academy, why choose romance with a light mafia gang (The Angels).

I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading this series because I had no idea that there was a deaf character in the book. While he isn't the main character, he is heavily featured and he only uses sign language. His sister and parents sign with him, and he has an interpreter at the school. Originally, the aunt and uncle just said it was "deaf-accessible" but didn't pay attention to anything else and Ember talked to the headmistress. He got an interpreter and Ember works hard to let him stand on his own, though she does try to shield him from the townspeople who are clamoring for her to pay for her family's sins (stealing money, etc.).

It was a refreshing read to see deaf representation where the character being deaf wasn't just a trope, but rather actual representation of what someone may see at an academy. Definitely worth the read, just remember it is a bully romance.

The Signal by Mike Duke

This was a book read by DEAFinitely Readers book club in May. It is a very short book - only 8 chapters and features a deaf woman, Esther on a ship in outer space.

Esther, the deaf analyst on the ship, signs with everyone and doesn't speak. When the ship picks up a signal that begins changing everyone from making them prettier, or stronger, or sexier, Esther is worried. She can feel the beat, but it is the sound that is changing people. She tries to tell her worries, but no one listens. Eventually, she tries to escape the signal but it covers her and changes so that she can hear and "evolve."

It is a very short book but I can't decide how I truly feel about it - even now. For me, this book, the ending, was horrifying.

You were dead before it began. You lived though you were dead already and died though you thought you lived.

I couldn't help but wonder. I couldn't help but think about what pushes us, what drives us, and if there was something out that that was doing it - a "wizard behind the curtain."

Perfect Silence by Kari Lemor

This was a book read by DEAFinitely Readers book club in May. I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite and I ended up mostly skimming it because I didn't want to DNF the book since the club was reading it.

The book follows Carli, a deaf girl who was raised in an all-deaf family. She wants to prove that even those who are deaf can be successful and decides to get a cochlear implant and speak verbally - not just using ASL. Because of this, she struggles to figure out which world she belongs in (and find acceptance with) - the Deaf world, or the Hearing world.

She meets Blake, who is trying to "fix" his nephew, who was recently diagnosed with hearing loss. She helps him navigate the deaf community, and while he doesn't seem like he really wants his nephew to be "disabled." He starts out with a very abelist and oppressive point of view, constantly judging, but felt an insta-attraction to Carli and as she is teaching him about Deaf culture, they fall in love. It's a slow burn, and they seem to face an inordinate amount of uphill battles (his family doesn't like her because she's deaf, her family doesn't like him because he's hearing, etc.)

“I thought if I could hear, no one would ever make fun of me for using sign language or speaking funny.”

I did feel like the author did a good job explaining how CI (cochlear implants) worked, and that they aren't perfect, and it takes work for the person to understand a sound or a word - that seems to be missing in many books I read. I think I struggled to truly connect with the romance and that deterred a lot of the story for me as it is romance book. But I could relate to the Deaf characters - especially the thought of being "Deaf enough" or "Hearing enough".

Language is more than just speech... Language is more than simply being able to talk. It's how we communicate. It's getting ideas across and knowing what others mean.

Have you read these books? What did you think?

Happy Reading!