Five Flavors of Dumb

     In starting the year, I actually had wanted to read this book first. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John is a book about a mostly deaf girl who starts managing a rock band. Not only did it have a unique plot, but the writing style appealed to me. It seemed very humorous, in the sarcastic kind of way that I like. It's proved to be quite a good novel, going pretty deep into the weaknesses of people. It's most definitely a novel that would be called "coming of age" in the sense that while it's technically about the main character trying to manage a rock band, it's really more about her and the other characters in trying to find themselves in their last year of high school.
     The main character's name is Piper. Piper wasn't born deaf, but it wasn't a surprise when her hearing steadily got worse. Both of her maternal grandparents were deaf, and it quite obviously had to go down the genetic line at some point. Her parents are very insecure about this issue and, as most people would, find it to be quite devastating. Her father seemed to completely reject everything about it and refused to learn sign language. Piper uses a hearing aide and can read lips. That's how she ends up getting by, but it doesn't work all the time, especially since the hearing aides only sort of work in a quiet space. This leads us to the next issue of the story, that her little sister was born deaf, but they spent money to let her hear. Their family isn't all that rich though, so they delved into Piper's college funds, that her grandparents had saved for her. Honestly, this was a betrayal to them, considering that they were not ashamed of being deaf, and the idea of using all the money to "fix" someone, would've been both an insult and a disappointment to them.
     That only slightly goes into the idea of how we perceive weakness. In general, people will feel sorry for the deaf or the blind, but in all reality, is it really that bad? Just because Piper is deaf, doesn't mean that she's missing out of life. Sure, she can't hear, and it can be awkward talking to people, but all in all, she has dreams that she wants to fulfill and a life that she can live out. I know that I've started the blog on quite the late time, but I hope to properly show the issues that have come form this story of a deaf girl, breaking the boundaries and taking life into her own hands through the most beautiful thing that she can't hear, music.