Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Back to Books

 


I've decided to change the focus of my posts to book reviews only.  All is well in the Campbell household but I was boring myself and suspect you were just as bored.  So books, here we go!

Metropolis by B.A. Shapiro

It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a book that I literally could not put down. I think the way the story unfolds around six individuals and placed in six-story 100-year-old storage unit would make a great play. A near fatal incident in one of the elevators begs the question - who is at fault and is it an accidental or planned. I couldn’t read fast enough!!

True Biz by Sara Novic

This book is centered around a school for the deaf in Ohio, and even if you know someone who is hearing impaired, I promise you that you’ll see those lives in a different way. The challenge for me was to keep track of the multiple storylines: the head mistress who signs and her wife who does not, a teen whose mother forces her to wear an implant but refuses to learn to sign, the deaf teen whose family has a thread of genetic deafness and what happens when a baby is born hearing.

I came away with some unanswered question. What would it mean if a patrolman shouts at a deaf teen to stop, but they keep running? Of if they do need help but have no way to call the police. Of if a child in Child Protective Services declines to have a cochlear implant installed and the authorities overrule them. I think the movie CODA has given us all a lot to think about. The bottom line is - how can we effectively communicate.

I thank NetGalley, a book clearing house of sorts, for providing both of these books to me as advanced reader copies, so appreciated.  Two thumbs up to both!