Reviews

The Sound of Silence: Growing Up Hearing with Deaf Parents by Myron Uhlberg

jillcd's review against another edition

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4.0

Loved this book and read it in one sitting. So much responsibility for a child to be the interpreter for his parents. It shows how little we knew about the Deaf Community. Grades 3 and up.

lcolechin1711's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

readwithjillandjune's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed this middle grade adaptation of Myron Uhlberg's memoir (I bought his memoir to read later). I thought the author did a great job showing us his feelings as a hearing child with two deaf parents. He showed us all the emotions - good and bad, which I appreciated. This was a great book to start 2022 with!

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

samwlabb's review

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4.0

In this adaptation of his adult memoire, I learned about Uhlberg's experience being the hearing son of deaf parents from his birth until he went to college. There were fun times and bad times, happy times and sad times, but what was never lacking was love.

This book hit me hard in the feels right out of the gate, and it's a great testament to how well Uhlberg conveyed his emotions to me. I felt his frustration, rage, shame, worry, confusion, pride, and joy. Many times, he had conflicting emotions, which was understandable, because of his situation, and he did an incredible job helping me feel the full weight of his struggle with his negative emotions.

One thing that stood out, was the amount of responsibility young Myron had to take on. At an early age, he served as his father's ears and voice in the hearing world. He often had to translate for his father, and felt stuck somewhere between being a kid and being an adult. It wasn't just his parents he cared for either. His younger brother suffered from epilepsy, and Myron was tasked with caring for him as well. He never let this responsibility snowball into resentment though, because his love for his brother was so fierce. It took him a little longer to fully embrace his role in his father's life, but he made peace with that as well.

I really loved all these snapshots of Myron's life, which not only allowed me to witness his family's dynamic, but also gave me a window into Deaf culture during the depression era. The prejudice the deaf faced was terrible, but Myron's father didn't let it keep him from succeeding in his endeavors.

This book was written with that warm and lovely nostalgic tone that I adore. That coupled with the fact, that Myron grew up close to my old Brooklyn neighborhood, made this a fun walk down memory lane. I had so such a great time touring Brooklyn, and I really appreciated the historical bits he chose to weave into this story.

Overall, this was a beautiful and touching story of the complicated, but loving, relationship between a father and son, which warmed my heart and filled me with joy.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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