The novel follows a deaf couple – Abel and Janice – through their lives from shortly after WWI to the mid 1960s. They start out confident and sure, having gone to a “Deaf school” to learn trades which will assure them of work, Abel in a print shop, Janice as a seamstress in a cap factory. But they soon discover that despite learning to read lips they are woefully ignorant of the World of the Hearing.

I read this novel back in the mid 1970s, shortly after it was originally released. I had read Greenberg’s earlier novel – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (written as Hannah Green) – when I was in high school and enjoyed that exploration of mental illness and recovery. A challenge to read a book featuring a deaf character made me remember this little gem and I went searching for it.

I find myself conflicted in my feelings for Abel and Janice. I feel sad that they are so lost and truly “dis”-abled by their deafness. I want to befriend them and welcome them to the community. I want to throttle the people (landlady, boss, car salesman, etc) who take advantage of them. At the same time, I feel angry with Abel and Janice for being so prideful and refusing any sort of help. Janice, especially, is so paralyzed by fear of what others will think of her that she nearly alienates her only daughter and husband.

The way they rely on the child Margaret (who is Hearing) to interpret for them mirrors the way many immigrant families rely on their children to help them navigate interactions with businesses, doctors, teachers, etc. They never recognize the burden this places on their daughter, or that merely being able to hear the words does not equal understanding concepts unfamiliar to the child. Here is Margaret coming home from school after getting a disappointing grade on a test:
“If she had been called stupid or a failure, she would have felt less weakened. This weakening was of a kind she did not understand. Miss Lester’s hand on her arm had been comforting and gentle and those words which she had understood were praising and not for blame. … A single word could have a dozen meanings; it could mean the opposite of what it said, and when it was most a game, it was the most serious. The hearing of the words was not enough. Her parents thought that hearing was everything. How could they know that she, with all her hearing, was suffering death by thirst even as she sat in school, lost in a meaningless tide of words?”

As Margaret grows up she begins to resent more and more the way her parents rely on her to be their voice; she struggles to find her own life in face of the duty she feels to help her parents. Here is her father talking about what it means to lose her to marriage:
“When Hearing have a child and she grows to be a woman and is married, the parents cry at the wedding because she is leaving them and they know they will be lonely for her. When Deaf have such a child, a Hearing child, she grows up in the Hearing world, and when she is married, mother and father do not cry. When the Hearing child leaves the house of the Deaf, their mouths also are taken away from them and their ears are taken away and the child also, whom they love. For this, tears are not enough.”

There are many such passages in the book which made me think – and rethink – my impressions, reactions, and assumptions about the Deaf and others who are faced with obstacles that most of us never even see. I’m so glad I re-read it. It is poignant, eye-opening, and thought-provoking.

In 1985, the book was adapted into a TV movie – Love Is Never Silent – which starred Mare Winningham as Margaret.
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No way around it: this is a depressing book -- Abel and Janice, a Deaf couple, have to deal with difficulties such as debt, grinding poverty, working extremely long hours in factories, heartbreak, and most of all the prejudices by Hearing people. Their daughter Margaret is relied on much too heavily as an interpreter. For instance, she frequently misses school to accompany her mother to various "female problems" doctor appointments. This novel takes place during the 1920s to the 1960s.

Still, in spite of it being depressing, I couldn't put it down. Being Deaf myself, I've long been aware of this book (it was first published in 1970) but just now read it. When reading novelizations of Deaf life, I always wonder if other readers unfamiliar with Deaf Culture think that all Deaf and their experiences are the same as the characters portrayed. That is possibility with this book but I would still say it's a worthwhile read. Part of that is the very good writing, and because it would be a great book for Deaf book clubs and/or classes focusing on Deaf culture or literature about Deaf culture. I do not believe it is currently in print, however it seems to be readily available in places such as amazon.com. I stumbled across my copy in a used bookstore.

(Note: my original review draft was much more involved than this, and more of a plot summary, but when attempting to click on "save review", my mouse accidently hit "cancel". Argh. I think I will suggest to LT that they put up a warning "are you sure you want to cancel?" for events such as this) ( )

This is a very interesting and moving novel about a Deaf couple and their Hearing daughter, Margaret. It starts in the 20s, when Abel and Janet are newly married, out in the world, and have finally escaped the school for the Deaf where they met. They buy a luxury car, then sell it when it's too expensive to run, not understanding that they papers they signed were for a loan. The car dealer sues them and wins, dooming them to 20 years of poverty while they repay the loan.

The book does a fascinating job of showing us how Abel's life changed when he went to the Deaf school. He grew up in a Deaf family who used some signs, but didn't really understand words or language. School opened that world to him.

Margaret's their link to the Hearing world, and has to interpret for her parents at the doctor, the bank, and when they must buy a coffin for her young brother. Her teachers can't understand why she can read well but has such poor grammar. They have no idea that it's because Sign doesn't have the same kind of structure that and that she gets little practice in spoken English. Later she's befriended by a storekeeper in their slum neighborhood who gives her a radio. A radio! It's her lifeline to learning and experience in the ways of the Hearing world.

It also conveys how isolated Janet and Abel are until they join a Deaf church. Janet's ashamed of their shabby clothes and doesn't want to meet other Deaf people, but Abel insists, and for the first time since school, they talk to people besides each other.

Janet does piecework for a factory and can't understand why Union representatives approach her and angrily "talk, talk, talk" at her. She believes the factory has only her best interests at heart. She's faster than the Hearing workers, so she's pleased when WWII comes and she's asked to train the other seamstresses. Abel similarly benefits from war, when Hearing printers are drafted and he gets extra work. They're proud that for the first time their skills are recognized. Of course, after the war, they're no longer valued employees.

When Margaret meets a young man and gets serious about him, Janet's angry - doesn't she understand how they need her? How can she consider leaving home? Abel is more understanding how she needs her own life.

Margaret defiantly gets married. Her mother in law is surprised to find out that Margaret's parents don't read. She assumed Deaf people would have lots of books since, after all, there's no reason they can't read. But reading and that kind of language aren't a part of Deaf culture, or at least people Deaf from birth.

Although Abel and Janet eventually own their own home, Janet never gets over the bitterness and shame of the years when they were poor. She's angry, too, that Margaret has her own life. Though the grandsons learn to Sign when they're young, eventually they forget, and don't spend time with their grandparents. It's the grandson who becomes a social activist in the 1960s and goes to the South to help the poor who brings Margaret and her parents back together, though not in a heartwarming way. For all his concern about helping others, he can’t see his grandparents very clearly. ( )