Louise has always felt adrift between communities: not deaf enough to be a part of Deaf culture, not hearing enough to be fully within the hearing world. Hearing, for Louise, is inseparable from reading other people’s lips. Through sight, she perceives words and strings them together like pearls to reconstruct a conversation. Then an audiology exam shows that most of her hearing has gone, and her doctor suggests a cochlear implant. With this irreversible intervention, Louise would gain a new, synthetic sense of hearing but she would lose what remains of her natural hearing, which has shaped her unique relationship with the world, full of whispers and shadows. As she weighs the prospect of surgery, she must also contend with the chaotic reality of her life as she falls in love, suffers through her first job, and steadies herself with friends. A masterclass in wordplay and language’s possibilities and limitations, this fiercely original debut plunges readers into Louise’s world as she grapples with loss, and considers what she might gain in the process. Translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman.
