Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 9^-12. A funny, assertive, non-elitist memoir of what it's like to be deaf--stone deaf--from the age of three.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Genial and moving, sharp and witty, Kisor's memoir defies pigeonholing of the deaf by hearing and deaf persons alike. The book editor of the Chicago Sun-Times , who lost all aural ability at the age of three after suffering meningitis, Kisor characterizes himself as ``a minority within a minority,'' an oralist without knowledge of sign language who relies on spoken language and lip-reading to live and work amid the hearing. Trained by his mother in the then-maverick reading-based Mirrielees system and educated in hearing classrooms, he indicts the paternalistic deaf educators of his youth who fostered an ``oral-or-nothing'' means of communication for the deaf, although he also finds alarming the ``new orthodoxy'' of today's separatist signing deaf culture. With unflinching candor and telling details, Kisor cites the ways in which being deaf among the hearing shaped his personal and professional experiences: his humiliating impotence when his wife, undergoing an induced delivery of a stillborn baby, confronts insensitive medical personnel; a bout with alcoholism; his flexible interviewing skills, which are tested, for example, when he must negotiate a dialogue with writer Edward Hoagland, a chronic stutterer. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Often moving, frequently hilarious, and always revealing reminiscences of the book editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. Kisor has been deaf since age three, when a bout of meningitis robbed him of his hearing. Almost immediately, his parents discovered the writings of an unconventional teacher of the deaf, Doris Irene Mirrieless, and set about putting her theories into practice. As a result, today Kisor is able to speak (though he admits to a rather breathy delivery that takes a bit of getting used to). He has worked as a copy editor and reporter, has taught college courses, is married and the father of two sons--and here captures in very human terms just what it means to be deaf in a hearing world. He describes, for instance, the difficulties of lip-reading (the incident that provided the title of his book in an amusing example). He also speaks of the divisions within the deaf community between those who espouse the ""oral"" approach and the proponents of ""signing."" His reflections on the 1988 uprising at Gallaudet Univ., in which the deaf student body demanded the appointment of a deaf president, are sensitive and evenhanded. And his descriptions of recent technological advances that will benefit the deaf are heartening. Written with immense insight and engaging honesty--he admits to a struggle with alcoholism that threatened his marriage--Kisor's memoir will expand hearing readers' awareness of the problems faced and the progress achieved by America's deaf community. Walker Percy, whose daughter is also totally deaf, contributes a moving Foreword. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
