True Biz

True Biz caught my eye because of its use of an American Sign Language (ASL) idiom as its title. 

True Biz is the ASL idiom that means: 'for sure', 'seriously', 'no joke', 'totally' ...

True Biz is a coming-of-age story set within a Deaf residential school setting that features multiple POVs. There is February, a hearing CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) school administrator; Charlie, a deaf teen girl who attended hearing mainstream schools and was forced to get a cochlear implant by her hearing parents; and Austin, a teenage boy who was born into a well-respected Deaf family and had the benefit of early ASL language acquisition and access to Deaf culture from generations of Deaf family members.

Deaf ('big D' Deaf) - a Deaf person whose native language is a signed language; they identify as culturally Deaf and share a set of beliefs, heritage, culture, and language

deaf ('small d' deaf) - someone who is unable to hear but is not part of the culturally Deaf community

This book is a wealth of information on Deafness and Deaf culture. Readers will learn about Deaf culture, Deaf history, and bits of ASL (which are sprinkled throughout the book). Nović also includes important issues affecting our Deaf communities, including oppression, lack of accessibility and attempted cultural genocide. As someone who studied Deaf culture in my education to be a Sign Language Interpreter, I was aware of these issues, but I feel many hearing people will not only find this story entertaining but will come away from this book better informed about how these issues continue to impact Deaf/deaf people. 

There is no doubt that the topics addressed are important. But at times it felt like the story was written to fit around all the issues - like Nović was trying to include so many issues that the story took a backseat, and it didn't always feel cohesive. I felt the first half of the story was stronger and felt a bit disappointed that the ending was so abrupt.

True Biz will be eye-opening for many people who are unaware of the issues of oppression, discrimination, the effects of delayed or withheld ASL acquisition and the truth about Alexander Graham Bell (yup, the telephone guy) and his appalling and detrimental impact on Deaf people. Due to these emotional topics, I think this book would make an excellent book club pick.

Things I hope readers will learn from this novel:

• the importance of inclusion and accessibility for Deaf people
• realize that cochlear implants are NOT a 'cure' for deafness or allow deaf people to hear with perfect clarity and detail. Deciding to get a CI is an individual and private choice.
• not to assume that Deaf people want to be hearing
• that ASL is only one of hundreds of signed languages worldwide
• understand that learning ASL early on will not hinder Deaf children from learning to read and understand English 
• that ASL acquisition at a very early age is essential!
• acknowledge that Deafness does not mean 'less than' hearing
• be aware of the wonderfully diversity, languages, and culture of Deaf communities
• the desire to learn ASL from a qualified Deaf instructor

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Sara Nović

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Deafness

Type and Source: Hardcover borrowed from public library

Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada

First Published: April 5, 2022

Book Description from GoodReads: 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.