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Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love
Hands of My Father A Hearing Boy His Deaf Parents and the Language of Love
Author: Myron Uhlberg
By turns heart-tugging and hilarious, Myron Uhlberg?s memoir tells the story of growing up as the hearing son of deaf parents?and his life in a world that he found unaccountably beautiful, even as he longed to escape it.?Does sound have rhythm?? my father asked. ?Does it rise and fall like the ocean? Does it come and go like the wind...  more »Such were the kinds of questions that Myron Uhlberg?s deaf father asked him from earliest childhood, in his eternal quest to decipher, and to understand, the elusive nature of sound. Quite a challenge for a young boy, and one of many he would face.

Uhlberg?s first language was American Sign Language, the first sign he learned: ?I love you.? But his second language was spoken English?and no sooner did he learn it than he was called upon to act as his father?s ears and mouth in the stores and streets of the neighborhood beyond their silent apartment in Brooklyn.

Resentful as he sometimes was of the heavy burdens heaped on his small shoulders, he nonetheless adored his parents, who passed on to him their own passionate engagement with life. These two remarkable people married and had children at the absolute bottom of the Great Depression?an expression of extraordinary optimism, and typical of the joy and resilience they were able to summon at even the darkest of times.

From the beaches of Coney Island to Ebbets Field, where he watches his father?s hero Jackie Robinson play ball, from the branch library above the local Chinese restaurant where the odor of chow mein rose from the pages of the books he devoured to the hospital ward where he visits his polio-afflicted friend, this is a memoir filled with stories about growing up not just as the child of two deaf people but as a book-loving, mischief-making, tree-climbing kid during the remarkably eventful period that spanned the Depression, the War, and the early fifties.
ISBN-13: 9780553806885
ISBN-10: 0553806882
Publication Date: 2/3/2009
Pages: 256
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 14

4 stars, based on 14 ratings
Publisher: Bantam
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

kacey14 avatar reviewed Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love on + 47 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book tells the story of Myron Uhlberg who grew up the oldest son of deaf parents. The story is set in Brooklyn in the first half of the 20th century. It eloquently captures both the double-bind, and the beauty of being a hearing child of deaf parents.

My mother is the youngest of three daughters born to my deaf grandparents. She was born in 1940 (although in rural Idaho, not NYC.) I felt so many of the experiences that the author talked about my mother also grappled with. I was stung by the callousness of how society at large treated a deaf person during that era. (Calling them 'Dummy', and 'deafie'.) I know my grandparents experienced the same sort of treatment at the deaf school where they were not allowed to use sign language, and in general society. But my grandparents, and these deaf parents rose above that, worked hard and built a strong family.

The story tells about the struggle that the author has switching back and forth between the roles of interpreter for his parents, and child of his parents. He also beautifully captures the lyricism that is contained in sign language. It's a wonderful book, don't miss this one!
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reviewed Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love on + 72 more book reviews
I so enjoyed this book. It is funny, it is heartwarming and it is thought provoking. I recommend it highly.
reviewed Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love on + 65 more book reviews
Very well written.

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People/Characters
Myron Uhlberg (Primary Character)
Louis Uhlberg (Primary Character)
Sarah Uhlberg (Primary Character)

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