ampersandread22's review against another edition
3.0
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Sprawling. The one word to describe this book. It covers a great many years, a plethora of characters, and touches on a great deal of political and social hot topics. This novel's sprawling-ness (not a word!) isn't always a great thing.
We follow the epidemic of silents from the birth of the first wave of children, to decades later, when these children have reproduced, their parents have become estranged, their condition "cured," then protested, and then the whole thing brought to an overall unsettling conclusion.
It's a book you have to pay attention to. The first dozen chapters (none more than five or six pages) are dizzying. You are introduced to a new narrator every chapter, each with their own story and relationship to the silents. And then you have to remember all these different stories, each with multiple characters each. It gets to the point that you see the name of the narrator at the beginning of the chapter, and you struggle to recall who they're linked to, and what was the last thing that happened to them? It's honestly difficult at first.
But then it's like getting hit in the head again and again: eventually you learn to duck. Eventually you remember the characters and stories by sheer repetition. It's a big book. There are a lot of stories going on. And decades of fictional history. Some characters are infrequent narrators (a shopkeeper at a mall, a politician). They come up to spice up the monotony the authors feel you're going through, hearing about the same core group of people. But these infrequent narrations tend to confuse, and muddy up the steady timeline.
Now, it is a good book. No doubt complex, which is the one thing I would expect from a piece written by three different people. But the concept of silents, and the way most of the characters approach them and support or act against them, are plausible reactions people would have were this situation a reality. I like the idea of a worldbuilding/dystopian characteristic (a section of the population born without speech) approached so big-picture, so broadly, and from so many angles. It's fascinating in a scholarly way, and the fact that most of it is so well-written really helps.
The ending is eerie and disturbing, in an interesting and bittersweet way. It's a good way to end the epic that was The Silent History, which was a unique approach to a fascinating idea.
Sprawling. The one word to describe this book. It covers a great many years, a plethora of characters, and touches on a great deal of political and social hot topics. This novel's sprawling-ness (not a word!) isn't always a great thing.
We follow the epidemic of silents from the birth of the first wave of children, to decades later, when these children have reproduced, their parents have become estranged, their condition "cured," then protested, and then the whole thing brought to an overall unsettling conclusion.
It's a book you have to pay attention to. The first dozen chapters (none more than five or six pages) are dizzying. You are introduced to a new narrator every chapter, each with their own story and relationship to the silents. And then you have to remember all these different stories, each with multiple characters each. It gets to the point that you see the name of the narrator at the beginning of the chapter, and you struggle to recall who they're linked to, and what was the last thing that happened to them? It's honestly difficult at first.
But then it's like getting hit in the head again and again: eventually you learn to duck. Eventually you remember the characters and stories by sheer repetition. It's a big book. There are a lot of stories going on. And decades of fictional history. Some characters are infrequent narrators (a shopkeeper at a mall, a politician). They come up to spice up the monotony the authors feel you're going through, hearing about the same core group of people. But these infrequent narrations tend to confuse, and muddy up the steady timeline.
Now, it is a good book. No doubt complex, which is the one thing I would expect from a piece written by three different people. But the concept of silents, and the way most of the characters approach them and support or act against them, are plausible reactions people would have were this situation a reality. I like the idea of a worldbuilding/dystopian characteristic (a section of the population born without speech) approached so big-picture, so broadly, and from so many angles. It's fascinating in a scholarly way, and the fact that most of it is so well-written really helps.
The ending is eerie and disturbing, in an interesting and bittersweet way. It's a good way to end the epic that was The Silent History, which was a unique approach to a fascinating idea.
chrysalis11's review against another edition
3.0
This was a book that took so long to finish, I pretty much lost interest by the end of it! The premise was super interesting and it began on a very promising note. But the story lost its fizz along the way and by the end it was just flat, sad leftover soda. (I read this was originally developed as an app-format story and my god that must have been tedious after a point.)
But I still enjoyed the first quarter and then some more a lot. The short chapters and multi-person narrative style was a great format. I just wish they had varied the tone and style of the narrators a lot more, what with so many people carrying the narration. Esp. that of Calvin!
But I still enjoyed the first quarter and then some more a lot. The short chapters and multi-person narrative style was a great format. I just wish they had varied the tone and style of the narrators a lot more, what with so many people carrying the narration. Esp. that of Calvin!
mentalshelfcare's review against another edition
Way too slow for such a large book. Didn’t have the patience to push through despite being really interested in the initial plot
sbaunsgard's review
4.0
I think this book is supposed to make you have feels and raise lots of questions, but there's something also not quite together enough about it. It reminds me of California by Edan Lepucki. Some children are born without language. Society does everything awful that you'd expect.
msjg's review against another edition
5.0
This book has much to say about language, consciousness, disability, neurodiversity, and mass hysteria, but it is also a page-turner that kept shifting in unexpected directions until the last pages.
One of the authors, Matthew Derby, came to present our literary organization in Nanuet, NY, and spoke movingly about his sister Margaret, a multiply-disabled child who could not speak and who died in early adulthood.
He also talked about the development of The Silent History as an iPhone app before it was a book. If they ever make it for Android, I'll be eager to explore the world of the book there, as well.
One of the authors, Matthew Derby, came to present our literary organization in Nanuet, NY, and spoke movingly about his sister Margaret, a multiply-disabled child who could not speak and who died in early adulthood.
He also talked about the development of The Silent History as an iPhone app before it was a book. If they ever make it for Android, I'll be eager to explore the world of the book there, as well.
rmarcelita08's review
4.0
I picked up this book thinking it was a non-fiction. The summary in the back cover sounded so scientific, I thought it was an actual memoir of a real-life phenomenon. I was a little disappointed when I learned it was fiction, though, because the phenomena of silent children seem very, very interesting to me.
The book is basically a compilation of "memoirs" or "testimonies" from parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, and friends of "silents," a group of children born verbally disabled. The book describes the lives of these affected families and how they handle their respective tragedies. Some learn to accept their fate and how to live with these children while some refuse to adapt and continue searching for a cure to their disabilities. The novel chronicles the life and trials of these kids and the people around them whose lives are impacted by their profound silence.
It is a very simple and easy read, pretty interesting overall, too. Very eye-opening, too. I quite enjoyed it.
The book is basically a compilation of "memoirs" or "testimonies" from parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, and friends of "silents," a group of children born verbally disabled. The book describes the lives of these affected families and how they handle their respective tragedies. Some learn to accept their fate and how to live with these children while some refuse to adapt and continue searching for a cure to their disabilities. The novel chronicles the life and trials of these kids and the people around them whose lives are impacted by their profound silence.
It is a very simple and easy read, pretty interesting overall, too. Very eye-opening, too. I quite enjoyed it.
mscoutj's review against another edition
5.0
Stylistically similar to World War Z, without the warm and fuzzies...
mugren's review
1.0
Monotonous and mundane. The idea was interesting, but it's poorly written. Gimmicky.