Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: HarperPerennial Canada
Release Date: August 1, 2003
ISBN: 0871139022
Awards:
Format Reviewed: Hardcover
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Genre: Fiction
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Brenda Weeaks
Reviewer Notes: Major Deaf Character (Grania O’Neill)
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Deafening: A Novel
By Frances Itani

     Grania is five years old and deaf. She lives in Deseronto, Ontario with her family. Her father owns a hotel in Deseronto, Ontario. Her mother cooks for the guests and her grandmother (Mamo) takes care of the family.

     Grania has a special family. Her mother tells her to pay attention and be ready to “break through the silence.” Her Mamo helps Grania to use her voice and learn how to read. Her sister, Tress, helps her to feel safe at night by stretching a rope between their beds. Her father tells her to speak her fears into the dark, and they will go away. Her brother and sister make up homemade language to communicate with her.

     By age nine, Grania goes to the deaf school in Bellville. She’s gone nine months out of the year, learns how to sign, and gains many friends. Nola is a friend who prays every night not to “wake up blind.” Grania prays that she “doesn’t have to live there forever.”

     When Grania grows up, she falls in love with a hearing man. Jim (Chim) is from Prince Edward Island. He is attracted to her silence and wants to know the worse things about being deaf. Shortly after they marry, Jim is sent off to war. He becomes part of the Number Nine field ambulance, which is a part of the Third Canadian division. The couple’s separation is extensive and difficult. Though they write back and forth, it’s their emotional and sacred commitment to each other that keeps them in contact, instinctively. It is truly touching.

     Deafening is slow to start but quickly picks up and eventually leaves you wishing there was more. The Timeline of Deafening is 1903 to 1919. The storyline is in four parts. Part one is Grania’s childhood. Part two is her time at the deaf school. Part three is marriage and changes towards war. Part four is the newlyweds’ separation during the war and the story’s outcome.

     The view of a girl cut off from sound, the lonely deaf, such as Mr. Wordsworth, the historical, horrifying details of the war, and the impact of one woman on one man -- it is superb writing, the kind of story that taps into one’s emotions. When reading Deafening, be sure to have a box of tissues handy and the name of a good friend; I can’t imagine anyone reading it through just once and not passing it on.