Title: True Biz
Author: Sara Nović
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary
Pages: 402
Publication Date: 5 Apr 2022
StoryGraph* Moods: Informative, Emotional, Reflective
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: I want to say Instagram, but I can’t remember for sure.
Other Books by this author: Girl at War and America is Immigrants.
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
Description: The title of this novel comes from an exclamation in American Sign Language meaning ‘really, seriously, definitely, real-talk.’
The novel follows three people: Charlie – who is deaf but had never met another deaf person before joining River Valley School (nor has she been allowed to learn ASL; she was born to a completely hearing family), Austin – the popular boy whose baby sister is born hearing, and February – the school’s headmistress who is doing what she can to keep the school open (she’s a hearing child of deaf parents).
Charlie finds herself feeling completely behind in deaf culture, made to feel other in a setting she staunchly belongs in. Part coming of age story, part love letter to deaf culture, Nović gives insight to a world most will never get to experience otherwise.
Why I recommend this book: In this story, Nović explores the ways language can include or exclude someone from the conversation (literally and figuratively) and how it can help one to forge an identity.
The formatting of the story is also an interesting read – taking into consideration the difference between dialogue spoken aloud in English and that provided via sign language.
Even if coming of age or finding the self stories aren’t your thing, this is a good read – you’ll learn something.
“But language bears more than the work of communicating with the mainstream world; it is also the internal vehicle for our thoughts and feelings, the mechanism through which we understand ourselves. Without first having had ASL, I would not have understood myself as a person with a story to tell.”
~ Sara Nović, True Biz
Ami Maxine 