IN THIS SIGN

by Joanne Greenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 29, 1970

This is the closest thing to I Never Promised You a Rose Garden which Joanne Greenberg wrote as Hannah Greene--a better book in that she has managed to bypass some of the sentimentality while retaining much of the sentimental thrust. Although, for the first part, as the infirmities of the Deaf are compounded with the indignities of the Hearing, it is almost too much and too much to bear. Abel, from a farm, marries the sunnier Janice whom he has met at a training school and very young they go Outside, soon to learn that ""not caring was worse than hate."" Abel, ill-advisedly having bought a car he cannot maintain, faces a court sentence which garnishees his salary for twenty long years ahead; Janice works in a factory, then does piece work at home after bearing one child, Margaret, and subsequently a little boy who falls to his death. Before long she is crabbed and cribbed. Margaret grows up and when she marries joins the world of the Hearing and, scarred by all the stigma of Signing, leaves them well behind although there will be a grandson who will relate to their suffering via that of the world at large. . . . If you also remember Miss Greenberg's The Monday Voices, much of this acquires stamina through its genuine knowledge of poverty and affliction. If it's not a great book (it's hard to say why) it is a strong book, and all of the alienation and anxious fear of the Deaf is impacted in both experience and emotion confirmed by the fact that no reader can possibly remain untouched.

Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1970

ISBN: 0805007229

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION