Charlie has always been hearing impaired, her parents wanted her to be a normal girl and opted for an implant instead of catering for her special needs. As a result, the teenager is excluded from communication and learning as her implant never worked properly. It is only at the River Valley School for the Deaf that she discovers a world that she had been shut out from. She learns to sign and finds friends. Even though the school is a safe haven, this does not mean that people there are without problems and even golden boy Austin whose deaf family is something like a star in their community has to fight with mixed emotions when his baby sister is born hearing.

Sara Novic opens a world which is widely unknown. “True Biz” not only narrates the story of teenagers who - like any other - have their fights with their parents but also struggle with who they are and who they want to be. Being impaired does not make this easier. Along those lines the novel opens the discussion about how to live in a society with high superficial standards when it comes to being considered “normal” and the tricky question about what is best for a child.

Even though I was aware of some of the problems pupils face with limited hearing capacities in average schools, Charlie’s situation of being withhold proper means of communication is repelling. It would be easy to blame her parents, yet, their intentions were good, but good isn’t always the best. The same is true for the complicated case of Austin’s baby sister, decisions have to be made where there is not really a best way to go.

One scene sticks especially with my memory. When the baby is born and Austin asked if she is ok, his father answers that she is perfect. Not too strange a reply, yet, the girl is hearing whereas Austin is not. Does this distinction make him less perfect for his parents, underlining the widespread notion of only the physically not impaired are the ones to be happy about.

Characters that are loveable and sympathetic to follow make it easy to understand their reasoning and view of the world. A lot of information is integrated adding to the book’s enlightening for the reader. A great read in so many respects that I can only highly recommend it.

Oh my god. I loved this book so much. As a HOH person, I'm so happy I was given the opportunity to read and review this early! Its amazing and informative. I will definitely be recommending this book to a lot of people!

A very thoughtful and inspiring read. This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.

Why is there no speech marks? That’s a disadvantage for reading a move it helps to have proper grammar and to cause less confusion.
The main character is named Charlie, he’s deaf but he does not have much experience with others that were similar. This changes when she begins at a school for the deaf so it is interesting to see how she gets on and as a person who can hear it was interesting to see the differences. Seeing the struggles they go through can be difficult but I enjoyed reading it within a novel.
Overall, I really enjoyed the novels idea however the grammar aspect could have been implemented to make for better reading instead of having to think and re-read if the main character has actually said anything or if it was just her thoughts.
I did enjoy that it tackled those that are deaf as I have not read many novels from a unique point of view.

This book is so good. It’s an own voices story about Deafness. Whether you be Deaf to hearing parents, Deaf royalty or a CODA. As soon as it finished I wanted more. Please could this book be a series?

I absolutely loved this book. It was a fascinating glimpse into the world of a Deaf school, and the difficulties that Charlie (born into a hearing family and implanted with a poor quality cochlear implant at 3) had communicating with the world, and the opening up of horizons that came from starting at a school with other Deaf students, and learning to sign. Each chapter began with information about Deaf history or American Sign Language, with pictures of different signs. The author dealt really well with the switches between sign and oral speech, and I learned a lot about ASL. However, the book stands on its own as a thrilling novel. As well as Charlie growing up and learning to communicate, we also see things from the point of view of the Headteacher, who learns that the school will soon be closing, and just wants to do the best for her students. Charlie's relationships with her parents and her first boyfriend are also well portrayed. I couldn't put this book down!

This is a little gem. It's the kind of book where you are not sure whether it will hook you and then you find yourself caught up in it's simplicity.

Plot wise, this is an interesting book and it has really opened my eyes. I teach children who are deaf and who use CI and whilst reading this, I found myself asking them questions and for the first time really thinking about the issues they face.

Our protagonist is believable. She certainly isn't perfect, and I liked that. She drinks, takes recreational drugs and enjoys sex. She is complicated and real. I was a bit nervous about Slash as a character, but again, he seemed to battle against his stereotype, which I thi k is the point of the book. To make us question our preconceptions. Austin is an interesting character as he has this heritage as a deaf family, and the storyline with his sister is again, something I hadn't thought too much about. Only complaint is I wish I had more of Elliot's story. Maybe a spin off book??

The layout of the book is different with the signing, and the writing style was easy to follow without being too young. There was a good pace throughout. The ending??? Jury is out on that one. I'd figured given how many pages were left, that the story wasn't going to be resolved as such, but I don't really know how I feel about the ending. If it were a Netflix show there'd be a second season.

Overall a really good book. Educational and thought provoking.

True Biz is a novel about River Valley School for the Deaf, where a new student learns to find her place and the headmistresses struggles to keep the school and her marriage going. Charlie has never been around other deaf people before, but when she transfers to the school, she learns the language that was kept from her, makes new friends, and develops her understanding of Deaf culture. Her new friend Austin deals with the birth of his baby sister, who is hearing, and the school's headmistress February tries to manage threats about the school's future whilst keeping her worries from her wife.

I loved Nović's Girl at War so I wanted to read this one, and I'm very glad I did. Told from the perspectives of a range of characters, mostly the three protagonists with occasional moments from somebody else, and interspersed with information on American Sign Language and Deaf history as Charlie learns it, the book immerses you in the lives of the characters, and as a hearing reader I found I learnt a lot whilst following the characters' journeys. There's more of a focus on character, with a coming of age element particularly with Charlie, rather than narrative, with the book more of an episode of the characters' lives rather than a distinct start and finish.

Charlie's story was particularly engaging, exploring the development of her anger and sense of her own self as she deals with an implant that doesn't work as it should and realises what she missed out on by having sign language and Deaf culture kept from her. Her political education comes both from history lessons and from other people, and the book really shows the importance of community and sharing history to fight for your rights. The other main story in the book, February dealing with her aging mother, failing to communicate with her wife, and worrying about the school and students, was also good, though didn't really come to a particular ending. The other characters had less space in the book, but I liked that there was a range of characters and hints of their stories too.

Emphasising the important of other people and shared culture, True Biz is a character-focused coming of age story that has a powerful message about disability rights and Deaf community.

I enjoyed this very much, as a hearing person who does not know anything else, it was very interesting to see the issues that deaf people face, especially at the hands of the authorities and hearing people who do not understand. But I found the lack of quotation marks and speech in italics really difficult to follow - it made it hard to work out who was speaking. But the snippets about sign language etc were interesting.

I don't think I can even put this book into words, nothing I say will explain how good this book was. It was well written with a beautiful narrative, a gri[[ing storyline amd well developed, relatable, believeable and intensely likeable characters. It was thought provoking and full of vivid descriptions and rich imagery. I loved it.