Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters. 

Aquarium is a stream of consciousness novel, but even for all that the writing is convoluted and confusing at multiple points throughout the story. The author's writing is very flowery, metaphorical, and abstract. Even more confusing to me is that the hearing author writes the hearing character in 3rd POV and the deaf character in 1st POV. Shouldn't it be the opposite? Shehori also acknowledges the help of an ISL interpreter and deaf association members, but it’s not clear any deaf individuals provided any help/feedback on this novel. Otherwise, much of the blatant ableism probably wouldn't have made it into the final manuscript. 

The story is told by two sisters, daughters of deaf parents. The big plot twist--spoiler alert--is that the younger daughter is hearing, not deaf. But of course they all sign and live together in an apartment, surrounded by hearing people. 

Neither of the girls is sent to school, for some reason, even though there are schools for the deaf in Israel. A possible answer is that they do not want their children to be subjected to the abusive oralist practices at such schools for the deaf: one deaf villager tells of how sign language wasn’t allowed when she was a girl, and they tied her hands behind her back, etc. 

Moreover, the parents are aware that Dori can hear, and many many many letters from school officials that the parents ignore. There is never an explanation for why they didn't inform the school they had decided to homeschool their daughters, unless it's cultural knowledge I'm missing (e.g., Israel doesn't allow homeschooling or something). 

As far as the sensory orientations and experiences/culture of the deaf characters go, it's fairly accurate. Things like feeling vibrations, noticing flashing lights, being unintentionally loud, and lipreading are good to integrate into the story. Shehori also shows different ways of being deaf: signing, using assistive hearing technology (voluntarily and involuntarily), speaking, etc. 

One big problem is that Shehori mythologizes/metaphorizes deaf sense-making. Evil winds blow knowledge into the ears, essentially, rather than their just being able to see what’s going on around them or their parents actually telling them things. This is an inspoporn narrative. You might be more familiar with its close cousin, the blind character who can make sense of [super]natural phenomena that sighted people cannot. 

Another issue throughout the novel is that it’s not clear who is self-identifying as this or being perceived as that, who is thinking what about themselves or someone else, who is spreading rumors and who is telling the truth, etc. For example: 

“Only on the apple tree were they okay: two daughters of the forest. Two imps. Deaf. Half retarded. Illiterate. Leave them alone.” 

Um? "Okay" meaning what, free? Then "half r-slur" meaning that one or both have intellectual disabilities? It seems these are the rumors by the neighbors of the apartment complex, but this is never made clear, as it comes several paragraphs after the neighbors were mentioned and the author had already moved on to discussing the girls' routines. 

As far as the deaf rep goes, the number one biggest problem is inconsistency in identity/voice. Propaganda and ideologies about deafness are thrown in at random throughout the book, and the author is apparently confused about assistive hearing technology, because very little of what she writes makes sense. 

It seems that Lili, the older sister, is profoundly deaf from the beginning, but when she gets hearing aids (and then cochlear implants) she considers herself to be hearing, even though Lili thinks hearing is "painful." If one could just remember that aids and implants are not cures, and that virtually no one who uses them label themselves as "hearing," this big mess would have been straightened out! But no, the author's intention is to grapple with identity by metaphorizing hearingness and deafness--which I'll touch on later. 

Lili can apparently hear everything with aids, even insects in the nearby field while she is inside the house. I'm not even sure it's possible for hearing people to hear insects outside the house in a field beyond the yard. Further, it’s not at all clear why someone who can hear insects with aids would even qualify for cochlear implants in the first place. Then in the US Lili identifies as deaf again, but not without this quote: “Who would want a deaf psychologist? Maybe because I was no longer deaf, not entirely, but instead living in the eternal in-between position of someone who went through a modification to please you, the hearing…I can hear. I’ve been hearing for some time.”  

Lili and Dori's mother, who was late-deafened/hard of hearing, opts for cochlear implantation and separates from her "deaf power" husband. The author does not meaningfully address this choice, except in the context that Lili and her mother finally have a conversation for once because they can apparently finally understand each other. 

In the beginning of the novel we are introduced to Uriel, a hard of hearing boy who wears hearing aids and looks miserable every day as he trudges to school, where Lili and Dori don’t go. He disappears from the narrative until 11th grade, when Uriel transfers to Lili's school. He and Lili speak, occasionally sim-com. At one point, Uriel mentions he got cochlear implants, and Lili is appalled. She tells him he’s not normal, he’s a robot. (This stems from anti-tech propaganda that was prominent in the early, experimental years of cochlear implantation.) 

In all cases of characters who get implanted, there is no mention of the years of oralist training required to use aids/implants. The confusing representation of how the tech works, who uses them and why, very clearly marks the author as a hearing person. 

Now, let's discuss Dori, the hearing daughter. 

She was raised in a deaf household and not allowed to really socialize with hearing people, so of course she identifies as deaf and has deaf mannerisms, like many Codas (children of deaf adults) do. 

Somehow, school officials get the idea that Dori is autistic. It is never made clear why they wouldn't assume she is deaf. A social worker does a whole case study on her and everything, and is widely discredited when it's discovered that Dori is not neurodivergent or disabled. It's never made clear how he even came to get in touch with this family and get permission to study Dori for his thesis. Anyway, school officials decide to come over and observe Dori, which is the point they realize she's a hearing child being "cut off" from the world. 

After this visit the family moves away, but social worker keeps coming. This move doesn't stop the government from kidnapping Dori to a boarding school, where it’s decided her intellectual capacity was stunted by a signed language that rendered her mute. They treat her like an infant (helping feed and dress her) until they realize the helplessness is rebellion (as Dori wants to go home). It's not clear why Dori wouldn't have been sent to one of her hearing uncles to be raised/schooled. 

Dori's family never visits, and in fact, Lili insists that Dori is dead. The rationale behind this is never explained. It's not like Dori betrayed them or anything. What gives? 

Meanwhile, Lili is forced to wear hearing aids and go to school. She almost never speaks. She pretends to be a deaf-mute and sits and smiles even though she can hear people whispering and gossiping around her. People find her mystical and she becomes super popular. This is weird, for a variety of reasons. The most prominent being that children are horrible and generally aren't going to fawn over someone who never communicates to them (which I know from firsthand experience!). 

After graduation, Dori decides to pretend to be deaf and become a deaf peddler--selling sign language cards to people trying to enjoy their coffees at the cafes around town. She eventually teams up with a deaf man named Dima. They rely on Dori's hearing to know when it’s time to leave the area. 

Lastly, the reason Shehori can't keep hearing and deaf identities straight: she wants to show the fluidity of identity. Dori struggles with identity, still thinks of herself as deaf, whereas now Lili considers herself hearing post-surgery. And blah blah blah. But Shehori could have done that while being respectful and accurate to the deaf experience and culture, which she wasn't. 

 Link to ranked list of deaf characters in fiction:  https://modcast.blog/2022/12/17/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction/