Digital audiobook narrated by Chloe Dolandis
3.5***

When her family moves several states away just before she’s to start her senior year of high school, Maya, who is deaf, is mainstreamed into a hearing high school. When student body president Beau Watson begins to learn sign language so he can converse with her, Maya is suspicious of his motives.

This is a lovely young-adult romance with the added inclusion of one partner with a significant disability. Maya is smart and tenacious, but she just can’t believe that a hearing person and a deaf person can form a true relationship. In many ways the relationship between Beau and Maya is a typical teen romance, with missteps followed by genuine gestures that show caring, alongside all the usual teen drama of a senior year in high school. And that, I think, is the beauty of the novel. Maya’s deafness may set her apart, but in all other respects she is a typical teenager with the same kinds of dreams and questions and aspirations and missteps as every other teenager.

I listened to the audiobook, wonderfully performed by Chloe Dolandis. The irony of my listening to a book about a deaf student was not lost on me. ( )

OMG this book made me cry but in a happy way. My American Sign Language teacher recommended this book and I finally got around to reading it and let me just tell you Maya and Beau's story filled my heart. They pushed aside a lot of struggles between the deaf and hearing world and yes, I'm aware the story isn't 100% about the deaf community it does put into perspective the struggles and pressure people from the deaf community face throughout their life. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one day! Maya is a strong-willed female protagonist who defends her deafness. At first, she comes off a bit arrogant but as the storyline moves along, the reader begins to understand her struggle as she assimilates herself into a "hearing" world. I really liked the way that the author distinguishes between speaking and the act of sign language by having the "dialogue" written in capital letters and the sentences themselves shortened. The thing that surprised me the most was that Maya was written to only having been deaf for about 4 years, due to a bout with Meningitis. The author keeps everything grounded and real and Maya's struggle, along with the other characters struggles to help Maya assimilate into this new world come straight across in the story. It has actually inspired me to get online and learn some ASL!
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The Silence Between us is a romance story about a girl named Maya who is also deaf. Maya has to move her last year in highschool to a school labeled as “a hearing school” for the first time, which is just a normal school to us. Maya also must learn the hearing culture as well, which makes her uneasy and frustrated most of the time. Maya focuses on her future throughout the majority of the book and some characters try to derail her from her goals, and some begin to question her abilities with her deafness. This comes to a head when Maya does not back down and instead does not view her deafness as a disadvantage. ( )

Deaf teen Maya moves from New Jersey to Colorado with her mom and brother and must attend a hearing school for the first time and adjust to the hearing culture, which she finds frustrating. She's surprised when some classmates, including Beau Watson, takes the time to learn ASL. Maybe the hearing world isn't as bad as she imagined. But when people in her life - both hearing and deaf alike - ask her a question that is a part of her deaf identity, Maya stands with her decision, never giving in to the idea that her deafness is a disadvantage.

I have a minor in American Sign Language and was stoked to find and pick up a book that had ASL written in ASL. I even practiced signing when I was reading.

A few of the problems I had with this is it felt more like an education story than experiences and development. Maya would tell about all these Deaf Culture things but would not exactly show them. She talks about being in the Deaf Community, but only ever really talked about her best friend from back home, Melissa. I wished we had more examples.

I didn't feel like the characters were fully developed either, which made the novel read much like the intended audience, YA. One of my biggest pet peeves was the fact that Maya's brother has cystic fibrosis - they move to a city with higher elevation, and their mother almost seems shocked he's having problems adjusting. I just feel like I wouldn't ever do that to a kid. Another peeve was the fact that Beau does something that to me, seemed highly out of character for him, and it just seemed to be added for the drama of it all.

Maya was such a hard character for me... she wants nothing to do with hearing people and judges them for not knowing how to communicate with her or that they know nothing about ASL. Then, when people (Beau) begin learning sign language to communicate with her easiest, she's immediately suspicious and thinks they have a hidden agenda. I understand that's a part of her growth but still doesn't really add up.

Overall, the story was very YA. I would still recommend this book to people for the #OwnVoice and learn a bit about American Sign Language, and Deaf culture. ( )