The Silence Between Us

How does a teenager cope with moving to a new school senior year in high school? Now imagine that same teenager is deaf. Maya has gone totally deaf due to an illness. She has been going to a school for the deaf and is forced to move to Colorado with her mom and brother, Connor, because of his cystic fibrosis. Now Maya must go to Engelmann High School which is a hearing school.

Even though Maya has an interpreter for her classes, the principal decides she needs a mentor. Nina is involved in lots of school activities and becomes a friend to Maya even through her lackluster desire not to be involved in the hearing world. Then she meets Beau. Beau starts to learn sign language, and Maya is not sure what his angle is.

Gervais weaves an honest look at how Maya has to overcome prejudices from her classmates and her community. This is an eye-opening book about the hearing and deaf interact with each other. Maya has to change her way of thinking to become friends with Nina and Beau, and they evolve in the way they treat Maya to help her have a successful senior year.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange of an homest, unbiased review.

I loved this book! I loved Maya and even though we have different challenges, I found her character to be authentic . The friendships she developed made for a great story: showing that people from different worlds can coexist. I love that the characters have outlets such as art, reading, etc. I feel like that's a good lesson in the story to mirror healthy coping mechanisms.

There are parts that made me sad, too. Definitely having a brother who struggled with his health and witnessing the overwhelming burden life put on their mom was hard to accept, but just one more area where the author wrote an honest portrayal of life. There were many good lessons hidden within an entertaining story.

I received a copy of THE SILENCE BETWEEN US on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity.

FIVE STARS! And here’s why:

This book should be required reading in school. Alison Gervais captivated my interest from the get-go. It has all the elements of a great YA story: family and friends drama, regrets, second chances, and a story shrouded in frustration and forgiveness. My father-in-law is hearing impaired, and each day Is filled with so many battles that the rest of us just take for granted. Alison wrote a fantastic story with compassion and understanding for the hearing impaired. If you love sassy romances with witty banter and realistic characters, then this book is for you. Well written and engaging. And the title is great, too! Highly recommend.

RATING: 4/5 STARS

Maya is a Deaf teenager who moves to Colorado before her senior year of high school. It's a big adjustment for her, as she's leaving behind her school for the Deaf to attend a hearing school. Gradually, Maya befriends classmates Nina and Beau who demonstrate interest in learning ASL to better communicate with her. With encouragement and support from her friends, her interpreter Kathleen, her single-parent mother, and her younger brother Connor who has cystic fibrosis, Maya navigates the world of the hearing and opens herself up to new experiences. Along the way, she untangles her growing feelings for Beau and battles staying true to herself even as she fears her community wants her to be someone different.

The biggest strength of THE SILENCE BETWEEN US is its integration of ASL into the writing. I have read contemporary fiction that featured deaf MC's, but this is the first book I've read that I feel truly captures the essence of the language. ASL has its own rules of grammar and syntax that are different from that of English prose. It might take a chapter or two to get accustomed to reading ASL interwoven with fragments of conversation that Maya is able to lipread, but it's worth it for its uniqueness and the authenticity it lends to the novel.

Another positive aspect of this book is that it was written by an #OwnVoices author. I'm glad that the book included an interview section at the end because I like to know the background behind the voice I'm reading in a story. The author is Hard of Hearing and works with the Deaf community, and this shows in the writing. It's hard to truly get inside the head of and create a character unless you've experienced his or her struggle in some form. I was glad to see the issues that face the Deaf community brought up by someone who is familiar with this subject.

The characters in this book were fairly well-developed. I enjoyed Maya's friendship with Melissa (who is also Deaf), and I'm glad that Maya finally accepted Nina and Beau's wholehearted attempts to get to know her. Beau was a very sweet character and I thought his struggle with his college decisions and future was relatable for the YA demographic. I loved that he continued to learn ASL, despite making mistakes and being pushed away by Maya. However, without revealing too much, I thought how he incited a confrontation with Maya about cochlear implants was a bit out of character though this conflict is eventually resolved.

A character that I slightly struggled with was Maya herself. I wasn't happy with how she treated Beau in the beginning, though I acknowledge that her change of heart and shedding of skepticism towards his intentions are part of her growth throughout the story. I liked that she had aspirations to become a respiratory therapist to help patients with CF like her brother. (Side note: Maya mentions once that she plans to go to medical school to become a respiratory therapist, but this is inaccurate. There are specific training programs for this career, including a bachelor's degree track that she talks about wanting to be accepted for. This is just a small detail that I noticed since I'm studying in the medical field.)

The appeal of this novel is that is brings up topics of debate in the Deaf community, which makes it more than "just another YA contemporary." For the record, I believe that most acclaimed YA contemporaries have important insights into adolescence, a fragile period full of uncertainties and firsts that gives the genre its credibility and significance. But this book sheds light on subtle discrimination and the perception of deafness in the context of disability, which I think is important.

I'm glad I read this novel. Although it's unlike anything I've read before, it's lacking a bit of that fluttery, jumping-off-a-cliff feeling (difficult put a finger on) that I've gotten from previous stand-out YA novels. But it's definitely worth a try for those who enjoy coming-of-age narratives and want to learn more about the Deaf community.

A sincere thanks to NetGalley and Blink YA Books for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Social: Instagram post on @_shelf.awareness to come.