Dark Thirst by Sara Reinke ****
A supernatural romance novel about a deaf vampire. A deaf vampire! How awesome is that?! This is a great antidote to that namby-pamby Twilight; if only this would get made into a movie instead. In this take on the old trope, the vampires, who call themselves the Brethren, live isolated in Kentucky farmland, in a series of family compounds that seem like a polygamous Mormon sect, only with lots of money and without religion. Brandon, who was left deaf and completely mute as the result of a brutal assault when he was four, grows up isolated and scorned in a community that only values strength. His father brings in a deaf tutor for a time, who teaches Brandon ASL, but the rest of the family don’t want him mingling with humans. Brandon runs away to New Orleans (why are all vampires stories set in New Orleans?) to try to find his old tutor, but instead finds the tutor’s sister, a cop named Lina, who offers to help him. This is a terrific and really unusual romance. First of all, Lina is a few years older than Brandon, she’s African-American, and more athletic and boyish than most romance heroines. She’s much tougher than Brandon, who was not only tortured and abused by his family, but is inexperienced in the real world. Second, the depiction of deafness is compelling and believable. It makes sense that Lina is fluent in ASL, because her brother is deaf. The vampires are all telepathic, but because most of the scenes are between Brandon and Lina, there are lots of descriptions of sign language, and the author describes real ASL signs. The supernatural element adds a nice twist—he’s scared to have sex with her because he might accidentally kill her—but when they do give in, the sex scenes are HOT. The only downside is that it’s the first in a series, and ends on something of a cliffhanger….
Dark Hunger by Sara Reinke **
This is the sequel to Dark Thirst, and as you might guess from the unimaginative title, it’s not as good. The main problem Devo Girl has with this book is that it follows the romance convention of having the sequel be about a different couple, and in this case, the new couple is far less interesting than the first one. Come on! So what if Brandon and Lina finally got together as a couple, they’re still on the run from the Brethren, the story’s not over yet! But no, this book focuses on two others who are on the run with them: Brandon’s twin sister Tessa, and Lina’s former police partner, Rene, who is also half-vampire. Rene is also a RAK amputee, wounded by a gunshot in the line of duty and forced to retire. There are a few good scenes of him in the shower, and the sex scenes are pretty good, but unlike the first book, this one falls into the old gender stereotypes. Rene is a smug asshole, and Tessa is a beautiful, delicate ballet dancer. Oh and of course, she is fleeing her abusive husband, blah blah blah. We want more Brandon!! But no, not only is he hardly in this book at all, there are some hints at the end that he may be magically cured. The book ends with a horrible twist and a cliffhanger, that just was really unpleasant. The publisher has not picked up the series, so don’t expect part three anytime soon. On her website, the author claims she has found another publisher, but the third book will again be about a new couple, this time Rene’s long-lost half brother, or some such nonsense. Very disappointing. Maybe it’s time for some deaf vampire fanfic.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The Raging Quiet
The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan. ***
Young adult romance. The setting is imaginary, but bears a strong resemblance to medieval Ireland/England. Teenage Marnie travels to a new village with her new husband, whom she thought she loved, but who is clearly a brute. On their arrival, she sees the villagers beating a boy whom everyone thinks is mad. Marnie soon discovers that he is not mad; he's deaf, and can't speak. The brutish husband is quickly and conveniently dispatched, and the novel revolves around Marnie's attempts to communicate with the boy, whom she names Raven. They make up a sign language together, but the villagers think she's a witch. Even though the writing is a little thin in places and the setting seems more like a Renaissance Faire than a real place, there are some accurate touches, like the descriptions of village festivals. And in spite of its flaws, Devo Girl enjoyed this book a lot. The author says at the end that she was inspired to write this by her experience working in a deaf school, and the author’s experiences come through: the depiction of deafness provides a sense of authenticity that the setting lacks. The difficulty Marnie has in communicating with Raven, and his fearsome anger at not being understood feel very true-to-life.
Devo Girl liked this book so much she wrote a sequel herself, which you can read here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5755825/1/Raging_Quiet
Young adult romance. The setting is imaginary, but bears a strong resemblance to medieval Ireland/England. Teenage Marnie travels to a new village with her new husband, whom she thought she loved, but who is clearly a brute. On their arrival, she sees the villagers beating a boy whom everyone thinks is mad. Marnie soon discovers that he is not mad; he's deaf, and can't speak. The brutish husband is quickly and conveniently dispatched, and the novel revolves around Marnie's attempts to communicate with the boy, whom she names Raven. They make up a sign language together, but the villagers think she's a witch. Even though the writing is a little thin in places and the setting seems more like a Renaissance Faire than a real place, there are some accurate touches, like the descriptions of village festivals. And in spite of its flaws, Devo Girl enjoyed this book a lot. The author says at the end that she was inspired to write this by her experience working in a deaf school, and the author’s experiences come through: the depiction of deafness provides a sense of authenticity that the setting lacks. The difficulty Marnie has in communicating with Raven, and his fearsome anger at not being understood feel very true-to-life.
Devo Girl liked this book so much she wrote a sequel herself, which you can read here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5755825/1/Raging_Quiet
Love’s Sound in Silence
Love’s Sound in Silence by Meg Hudson. *
A modern-day romance, but written in 1982, and laughably dated. In this overly long and needlessly convoluted story, Midge goes off to spy on her best friend’s twin brother, who has been keeping some secrets. Brian Vandervelt, the scion of an implausibly wealthy Knickerbocker family, lost his hearing in an explosion as a young man, but has set out to prove himself by running the family newspaper in the small upstate New York town of Coxsackie (commence childish giggling). He has kept his deafness a secret from his sister; the other secret is that someone at the paper is trying to kill him to get his inheritance. Midge loyally goes to work at Brian’s paper, and of course falls for him instantly. This has all the hallmarks of a bad romance: gratuitous overuse of exclamation points? Check! A pedestrian setting passed off as the height of glamour? Check! A glacial pace, slowed by awkward, boring history lessons about said pedestrian setting? Check. Painfully embarrassing sex scenes? Only two, but check and check. Since this is an older book, it also subscribes to the ideal alpha male mystique, so Brian is a cold, aloof asshole who forces himself on Midge even as he’s verbally abusing her. In fact, she gets sexually harassed at work by both Brian and another of her bosses, but she’s such a nonentity, it’s hard to care. She’s also too stupid to remember to face him when she’s speaking—she forgets every single time. Ugh. It’s not just the clothing in this book that’s dated, although the descriptions of Midge’s and Brian’s outfits are hilarious. Finally, the devo factor is fairly low. Midge spends a lot of time feeling sorry for Brian, but the depiction of his deafness is cursory at best.
A modern-day romance, but written in 1982, and laughably dated. In this overly long and needlessly convoluted story, Midge goes off to spy on her best friend’s twin brother, who has been keeping some secrets. Brian Vandervelt, the scion of an implausibly wealthy Knickerbocker family, lost his hearing in an explosion as a young man, but has set out to prove himself by running the family newspaper in the small upstate New York town of Coxsackie (commence childish giggling). He has kept his deafness a secret from his sister; the other secret is that someone at the paper is trying to kill him to get his inheritance. Midge loyally goes to work at Brian’s paper, and of course falls for him instantly. This has all the hallmarks of a bad romance: gratuitous overuse of exclamation points? Check! A pedestrian setting passed off as the height of glamour? Check! A glacial pace, slowed by awkward, boring history lessons about said pedestrian setting? Check. Painfully embarrassing sex scenes? Only two, but check and check. Since this is an older book, it also subscribes to the ideal alpha male mystique, so Brian is a cold, aloof asshole who forces himself on Midge even as he’s verbally abusing her. In fact, she gets sexually harassed at work by both Brian and another of her bosses, but she’s such a nonentity, it’s hard to care. She’s also too stupid to remember to face him when she’s speaking—she forgets every single time. Ugh. It’s not just the clothing in this book that’s dated, although the descriptions of Midge’s and Brian’s outfits are hilarious. Finally, the devo factor is fairly low. Midge spends a lot of time feeling sorry for Brian, but the depiction of his deafness is cursory at best.
Tell Me How the Wind Sounds
Tell Me How the Wind Sounds by Leslie Guccione **
Young adult romance. Amanda is a sulky, spoiled teen stuck on a small island off the coast of New England for the summer with her parents. Jake is a deaf teen who lives on the island. He communicates using a mix of ASL and speaking/lip-reading. The dated 80s references are occasionally, unintentionally hilarious, and the writing is quite dire in some places (including some glaring, repeated spelling errors, such as peak/pique). But the depiction of deafness is really well done, as is the description of ASL and lip-reading. About half the narration is from Jake's POV. Amanda is kind of a brat, but Jake emerges as a really interesting, well-rounded character.
Young adult romance. Amanda is a sulky, spoiled teen stuck on a small island off the coast of New England for the summer with her parents. Jake is a deaf teen who lives on the island. He communicates using a mix of ASL and speaking/lip-reading. The dated 80s references are occasionally, unintentionally hilarious, and the writing is quite dire in some places (including some glaring, repeated spelling errors, such as peak/pique). But the depiction of deafness is really well done, as is the description of ASL and lip-reading. About half the narration is from Jake's POV. Amanda is kind of a brat, but Jake emerges as a really interesting, well-rounded character.
Mary Mehan Awake
Mary Mehan Awake by Jennifer Armstrong ***
Young adult novel, only about 100 pages long, set in the US around the time of the Civil War. As the novel begins, the war has just ended, but Mary is mentally and physically exhausted after two year working as a nurse to wounded soldiers. She goes to work as a maid for a scientist and his wife in upstate New York. There she meets another servant, Henry, a former artillery man who was deafened in the war. It's a love story, of course, but also the story of how Mary recovers from her experience of the war. The whole thing is from her point of view, we never really find out what Henry is thinking. They communicate solely by writing. No magical cure either. I really liked this book--the writing is really excellent. The descriptions of the landscape, and the sensitive portrayal of their feelings, are remarkable. This novel is actually the sequel to The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan which tells about how Mairhe/Mary emigrates to the US from Ireland with her family as a teen, and how her brother is killed in the Civil War (although I haven't read the first book). There is also an edition that combines both books under the title Becoming Mary Mehan.
Young adult novel, only about 100 pages long, set in the US around the time of the Civil War. As the novel begins, the war has just ended, but Mary is mentally and physically exhausted after two year working as a nurse to wounded soldiers. She goes to work as a maid for a scientist and his wife in upstate New York. There she meets another servant, Henry, a former artillery man who was deafened in the war. It's a love story, of course, but also the story of how Mary recovers from her experience of the war. The whole thing is from her point of view, we never really find out what Henry is thinking. They communicate solely by writing. No magical cure either. I really liked this book--the writing is really excellent. The descriptions of the landscape, and the sensitive portrayal of their feelings, are remarkable. This novel is actually the sequel to The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan which tells about how Mairhe/Mary emigrates to the US from Ireland with her family as a teen, and how her brother is killed in the Civil War (although I haven't read the first book). There is also an edition that combines both books under the title Becoming Mary Mehan.
Freak City
Freak City
USA 1999 ***
It's about a rebellious young woman who is put against her will in an institution, and about the people with various disabilities she meets there. Her roommate, played by Marlee Matlin, is developmentally disabled. The main character falls in love with a young man who is a quadriplegic (played by Peter Sarsgaard), and while Devo Girl was not so happy with the ending, overall it's a very sensitive portrayal of disability, and even darkly funny in many places. Jonathan Silverman also plays a blind guy living in the same institution.
Sadly, this film has not yet been released on DVD, but you can buy VHS copies online.
USA 1999 ***
It's about a rebellious young woman who is put against her will in an institution, and about the people with various disabilities she meets there. Her roommate, played by Marlee Matlin, is developmentally disabled. The main character falls in love with a young man who is a quadriplegic (played by Peter Sarsgaard), and while Devo Girl was not so happy with the ending, overall it's a very sensitive portrayal of disability, and even darkly funny in many places. Jonathan Silverman also plays a blind guy living in the same institution.
Sadly, this film has not yet been released on DVD, but you can buy VHS copies online.
Murderball
Murderball
USA
2005
****
Documentary about quad rugby. Devo Girl really really loved this one when it first came out. It's a very realistic look at both the sport and the lives of some of the players. This one has also been discussed extensively on PD:
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=248
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=347
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=587
USA
2005
****
Documentary about quad rugby. Devo Girl really really loved this one when it first came out. It's a very realistic look at both the sport and the lives of some of the players. This one has also been discussed extensively on PD:
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=248
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=347
http://paradevo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=587
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