Listen... Can You Hear Me Now?

This fascinating one-woman memoir by actress Gloria Rosen is about growing up with two deaf parents. Being a hearing child created an oppressive atmosphere for a young girl and the story of how she managed to survive her harsh mother is both shocking and amusing. It is a glimpse into a silent world that imprisons all who inhabit it in one way or another. Her mother forbade signing – she was a brilliant lip reader - but that cut young Gloria off from her father and created other problems. Still, I was saddened that as a writer Rosen did not let us appreciate her mother’s dilemma. How, in order not to feel handicapped her mother, born deaf, needed to make the whole people, the hearing ones, seem stupid. I’d like to have seen more compassion fo... full review

Rosen effectively conveyed the hazards and challenges of being a hearing child surrounded by the deaf, a community that can be very cold to, and untrusting of, those who can hear. I felt her frustrations, her struggles, and her triumph as she was able to move on with her life, never forgetting the lessons her parents taught her. Above all, this is a lesson in tolerance with those who are different, and an object lesson on making the best of whatever circumstance in which we find ourselves. ... full review