A LOT to Process Here....

 Once in a while, I will read a description of a book on a blog or something, think it sounds like something that might stretch my reading experience, and add it to my ever-growing list of books to read. That's what happened with The Words in My Hands by Asphysia. I added it to the list for three reasons: 1) I thought it was a graphic novel, and I've never read a graphic novel; 2) it's contemporary young adult, which is a genre I don't really frequent; and 3) it's about a Deaf girl, and I thought it would be interesting to learn something about the experiences and perspectives of the Deaf. I got more than I bargained for! 1) Yes, there are some illustrations because the main character is an artist, but this is not a graphic novel. 2) Yes, it's contemporary young adult, with all the romance, friendship and coming-of-age struggles that are typical of the genre, but that's not all there is. 3) I learned a LOT about the experiences of Deaf people, including that trying to appear "normal" by lip-reading and learning to speak is stressful and exhausting. I also learned that the word is capitalized when referring to the community of people who are deaf, and (at the risk of sounding kind of dumb) that there is not a universal sign language; sign language, just like spoken language, comes in different variations depending on geography (ASL is AMERICAN Sign Language, duh....).

Beyond those three things, there was a lot of interesting content to think about. The book is set in Australia in the somewhat near future, when food and fuel are scarce. A giant corporation called Organicore has created a food supplement that people receive through a subscription, and people have come to fear "wild" (meaning natural and non-processed) food because the official word from the government (which is controlled by Organicore) is that "wild" food gives you food poisoning. Besides, Organicore's food supplements have been enhanced with agents that prevent cancer and cure the common cold! Never mind that as the story begins, there are some side effects emerging, such as Energy Deficiency Syndrome in young people. It's also illegal to grow your own food on public land (I guess you can still grow food on your own land), so most people have become dependent on the rations supplied by Organicore. Their apartments don't even have kitchens, because who needs one when Organicore ships you a box with everything for a ready-made meal?

Piper McBride is the daughter of a top scientist with Organicore. She's also deaf, and is struggling to fit in at her school and to understand what people are saying, even though she has hearing aids. When the story begins, Piper's mother has just been fired from Organicore as the scapegoat for the side effects, which upends everything in Piper's life. She and her mom go from being financially comfortable to renting out their home and living in the guesthouse with only one small Organicore meal per day. While looking for some form of transportation to get to school (they can't buy fuel for their car), Piper meets Marley, a hunky guy who works in a bicycle shop. Marley just happens to be the son of a Deaf woman. He introduces his mother  (Robbie) to Piper, which sets off a chain of events that completely changes Piper's thinking about her life. For one thing, Robbie grows her own food, which is magical to Piper, who by this point is starving trying to survive on one small preprocessed meal per day. For another, Robbie is comfortable with being deaf and doesn't try to fit in with "normal" people; she uses sign language as her primary means of communication and is not at all apologetic about it.

Another person Piper meets through Marley is Kelsey, an activist who is organizing a movement to allow people to grow their own food as a means to address the food and fuel shortages the country faces. Piper becomes more and more drawn into the movement, starting with starting a community garden on her street, eventually being arrested for her activities but ultimately having a triumphant moment when she is a featured speaker at a rally.

What I thought was going to be a fluffy little teen romance about a girl who was different from other YA heroines because she was deaf ended up having a lot of depth. Here are some things the story made me think about:

1. Our food system - The pandemic a few years ago showed some of the vulnerabilities of the food chain in the U.S. (and maybe around the world). I've also read articles that talk about the small number of large corporations that control agriculture and food production in this country. The majority of what we eat in the U.S. comes from six crops - corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar beets (all carbohydrates). Plus, there's Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food that points out how much of what we eat is ultraprocessed - engineered in food labs to contain the "right" nutrients, along with other ingredients to make them tastier and, Pollan contends, more addictive. Yet, he argues, with all of this nutritionally-"perfect" food, rates of conditions like heart disease are higher than they've ever been. His solution? "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." We need to turn away from the convenience of an Organicore-style system to eating more "wild" food.
   
2. Government corruption - In this semi-dystopian story, the one large corporation influences key aspects of society through their "ownership" of the prime minister. I guess Organicore was instrumental in getting the woman into her position, so she favors policies that will benefit Organicore, even if they aren't good for the people. Organicore also has control of the communication system (Quest Tool, which everyone in the book, even Piper's corporate-employee mother, calls Cesspool); only stories that favor Organicore's perspective make it to the news feed that everyone gets on their personal wrist device. When Kelsey and Piper are trying to spread the word about their rally in favor of growing food, any message they submit, whether to the general public or to each other, is deleted. Sound familiar?
3. Piper's identity crisis - At one point, Piper thinks of herself as split into halves. One half is the one who pleases her mom and wears her hearing aids and speaks with her voice; the other half is the one who doesn't use her voice, who doesn't wear her hearing aids, and who uses sign language or other means (like mime or writing) to communicate with people. She is struggling with which half is the "real" Piper. She doesn't want to disappoint her mother, who has spent so much money and effort to try to help her daughter be "normal." But what is "normal" for her mother is oppressive and uncomfortable for Piper. A key part of the book is her journey to decide who she is and wants to be. 
   
4. Deafness - As I said above, I learned a lot about the Deaf community from the book. At the end, there is an additional note from the author that talks about how hearing people can interact with the Deaf in respectful ways. Very informative.

There's probably more I could pull out of this, but this post is already long enough, and I have a social event to get to. I'll just wrap it up by saying this book vaulted from pretty low expectations to being one of the contenders for "best thing I read this year."