Impossible Music

May 1, 2019
When Adelaide musician Simon experiences sudden deafness, he struggles to find where, or if, he belongs in the hearing and Deaf worlds. Narrated from 18-year-old Simon's point of view, this novel explores the anger, frustration, grief, and fear of two teens dealing with unexpected hearing loss and follows them as they learn what it means to be d/Deaf. Simon awakens one morning to find that he can't hear: A stroke has left him with an extremely rare case of cortical deafness. In Australian Sign Language class, he bonds with G, another teen dealing with her own recent deafness. Simon and G begin to build a relationship while trying to adjust to life without hearing and nursing a glimmer of hope for cures to their conditions. The author has taken a protagonist cut from the same cloth as many others --a moody teenage boy--and made him sympathetic and relatable. The search for identity is a universal theme, yet Simon's story of confronting deafness and Deaf culture feels fresh. Though the story centers on Simon's struggle to accept his deafness, it does not paint being deaf as a torture to be endured. It avoids both condescending pity and inspirational fluff, instead offering an unpretentious look at the process of losing and finding oneself after a life-changing event. Simon and G are white, and there is some ethnic diversity in secondary characters. An honest, satisfying, and surprisingly original coming-of-age story. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-adult)

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June 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-When Australian 18-year-old Simon wakes up after a stroke and is diagnosed with an extremely rare case of cortical deafness, he is convinced that the loss of his hearing means the loss of his identity as a heavy metal guitarist. As he grapples with the emotional fallout of his diagnosis in therapy and half-heartedly tries to learn Auslan (the language of the Australian Deaf community), he also connects with George, a troubled girl with tinnitus. Text message conversations with George, support from his bandmates, and reflections on the meaning of silence and sound ultimately inspire Simon to redefine his love of music on new terms. What he invents is a performance series to alter the way people experience music, creating something he envisions deaf and hearing audiences sharing equally-but even if Simon's postmodern "Impossible Music" series is good enough to get him into a composition program at university, his misuse of George's personal texts as part of the performance risks tearing their relationship apart. This book explores the early months of Simon's diagnosis, tracing his journey from anger and despair to reinvention of self and incorporation into the Deaf community, with nuance. However, Simon's overwhelming angst and lengthy musings on the nature and theory of music can be tedious, and some readers will be inclined to agree with George's mocking description of Simon's performance as "Imponderable Moodswings." VERDICT A thought-provoking examination of what music is and means through a well-researched portrayal of sudden hearing loss.-Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 24, 2019
Showcasing his skill at writing realism, Australian sci-fi author Williams (the Twinmaker series) creates a contemplative, sensitively written novel that takes readers deep into the mind of a young musician suffering an identity crisis. Simon, 18, has it all. He plays in a rock band and is looking forward to studying music at a university. Then, one night, he has a stroke and wakes up completely deaf. Suddenly, everything about his life is “thoroughly overturned.” Initially reluctant to attend Australian sign language classes, it’s there that he meets and falls in love with G, who is newly deaf through tinnitus. Whereas Simon hears nothing, G’s head is full of noise, making it impossible for her to discern external sounds. Intrigued by G and determined to continue his path in music, Simon divides his time between seeing her and composing, knowing that he could be setting himself up for romantic and creative heartbreak. Filled with philosophical ideas about the definition of music and its accessibility to the deaf, this thought-provoking love story considers how to move forward into a new reality. Ages 14–up.

May 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 For his whole life, music had been Simon's refuge. So when a rare kind of stroke takes away his hearing, the things that give him meaning?the band he's in with his friends, the famous guitar solos he's memorized, his prospects for studying composition at university?are robbed from him as well. Yet, his determination does not let him quit. Inspired by another newly deafened student named G, Simon embarks on a radical project he calls Impossible Music that attempts to bridge the gap between how the deaf and the hearing experience the visceral thrill of music. Williams deftly handles plotting that is constantly shifting in time, looking forward with Simon's bursts of energy and backward with his bouts of self-doubt to capture the confusion of his sudden hearing loss, as well as the elation born of creativity. The result is a profound slice of Simon's life as he comes to grips with his new multifaceted identity as a deaf person and musical artist. An inspiring read that is told with verve and depth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)