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uh, this is the title of the book. the book is called true biz by sara novic and it's GOOD.
true biz follows three characters at a school for the deaf - the popular guy, the emo new girl, and the principal, who's a CODA. it was really really good! i was really taken in by austin, charlie, and february and all their stories and i loved the way that the book went out of its way to actually teach ASL. i, uh... listen, someone on my tumblr dash reblogged a link to a free asynchronous ASL course today and i am Considering. i liked this book a lot!
also i liked that charlie got to be an anarchist and STAY an anarchist through the end of the book. none of this "realizing that that's not the right way to do things" bullshit. i support charlie.
that being said, BECAUSE i liked the book so much i think that gives me the right to be a bit nitpicky about some things. FIRSTLY. the kayla thing. my god. there was no, like, payoff to that? i respect sara novic for bringing attention to BASL and all but at least have it tie into the plot. we don't get anyone in east colson recognizing austin from that one tiktok and their cover almost being blown? cmon. also the gabriella thing. we didn't need a random youtube transcript where she lies and says that eliot charlie and austin got kidnapped. i love to hate her but that was a bridge too far. and finally, i wasn't crazy about the outside POVs - just leave it the main trio, we know them, we love them - or the pov omniscient ending that doesn't really resolve the school closing plotline. i'm glad that february and mel patch things up but after the book's tight focus on deaf education and all of that i'm really surprised that novic didn't include ANYTHING in that epilogue about what happens to those kids after the summer.
for the most part though this book was really well done. for all the nitpicking i did, a lot of the plot threads did tie together nicely! i was invested in elliot's backstory reveal! i realized that charlie's father wasn't going to help at around the same time she did! austin's family! february's relationship drama!
ok, cool. cool. so i'm going to rotate this book in my mind for several weeks, watch the apple tv CODA movie, and see about that sign language class. yeah.
true biz follows three characters at a school for the deaf - the popular guy, the emo new girl, and the principal, who's a CODA. it was really really good! i was really taken in by austin, charlie, and february and all their stories and i loved the way that the book went out of its way to actually teach ASL. i, uh... listen, someone on my tumblr dash reblogged a link to a free asynchronous ASL course today and i am Considering. i liked this book a lot!
also i liked that charlie got to be an anarchist and STAY an anarchist through the end of the book. none of this "realizing that that's not the right way to do things" bullshit. i support charlie.
that being said, BECAUSE i liked the book so much i think that gives me the right to be a bit nitpicky about some things. FIRSTLY. the kayla thing. my god. there was no, like, payoff to that? i respect sara novic for bringing attention to BASL and all but at least have it tie into the plot. we don't get anyone in east colson recognizing austin from that one tiktok and their cover almost being blown? cmon. also the gabriella thing. we didn't need a random youtube transcript where she lies and says that eliot charlie and austin got kidnapped. i love to hate her but that was a bridge too far. and finally, i wasn't crazy about the outside POVs - just leave it the main trio, we know them, we love them - or the pov omniscient ending that doesn't really resolve the school closing plotline. i'm glad that february and mel patch things up but after the book's tight focus on deaf education and all of that i'm really surprised that novic didn't include ANYTHING in that epilogue about what happens to those kids after the summer.
for the most part though this book was really well done. for all the nitpicking i did, a lot of the plot threads did tie together nicely! i was invested in elliot's backstory reveal! i realized that charlie's father wasn't going to help at around the same time she did! austin's family! february's relationship drama!
ok, cool. cool. so i'm going to rotate this book in my mind for several weeks, watch the apple tv CODA movie, and see about that sign language class. yeah.
