Deafening - Couverture rigide

'A deaf woman teaching a hearing man to make sounds again is only one of the wonders in this book. Because Itani's command of her material is complete, the story is saved from being another classic wartime romance--a sad tale of lovers separated. It is a testament to the belief that language is stronger than separation, fear, illness, trauma and even death. Itani convinces us that it is what connects us, what makes us human.' - amazon.com

Souverän verknüpft Itani [...] ihre verschiedenen Textarten, die geschriebenen und die ungeschriebenen Briefe von Jim, die Innenwelt und die Außenwelt von Grania mit Erzählstimmen und dokumentarischen Fakten. Sie hat mit Betäubend aus der Kraft, Würde, Autonomie und Eigenart lautlosen Lebens ein literarisches Kunstwerk geschaffen: eine leidenschaftliche Botschaft von jenseits und diesseits der Stille. (Frankfurter Rundschau)

Itanis Stärke [...] liegt in der sensiblen, gleichsam lautlosen und doch sprachphilosophisch und neurologisch unterfütterten Einfühlung in eine dunkle Welt, in der Kinder und Frauen doppelt benachteiligt sind. In diesen Passagen öffnet der Roman dem Leser bislang verschlossene, buchstäblich unerhörte Räume, die seine "normalen" Erfahrungen, Werte und Begriffe nachhaltig zu erschüttern vermögen. Das Fehlen eines Sinnes, gesellschaftlich und individuell als Handicap empfunden, ist in der Literatur manchmal auch ein Gewinn. (Martin Halter, FAZ)

'There's not a single false gesture in Frances Itani's "Deafening." Despite its subjects - war, romance, disability - it's a story of careful, measured emotion, bleached of all sentimentality. The publisher has positioned the novel as a debut in America, but Canadians have been reading Itani for decades, and every page of this story betrays the hands of a mature writer who knows exactly what she's doing.' - Christian Science Monitor

'remarkably vivid, unflinching descriptions of his ordeal . . . eloquently expresses Itani's evident, pervasive faith in the unexpected power of story to not only represent life but to enact itself within lives. Her wonderfully felt novel is a timely reminder of war's cost, told from an unexpected perspective.' - Publisher's Weekly

'DEAFENING is a remarkable and absorbing first novel. Itani's writing is clear-headed and sure-handed; her strong characters will not leave you.' - Charles Frazier

'This exceptional novel moves from the silence of the deaf to the cacophony of "the front" during World War 1. In between are the hopes and dreams which define our humanity. There are scenes in Deafening which will never be forgotten. From the haunting effects of a childhood disease to the random horrors of war, the uncertainties that become our certainties have seldom been so well explored. A remarkable accomplishment.' - Alistair Macleod, author of NO GREAT MISCHIEF, Winner of the IMPAC Dublin Award 2001.

'DEAFENING has a very particular grace and eloquence, and the spareness of the writing beautifully complements the power of the emotions which Frances Itani describes.' - Helen Dunmore

'Deafening is a slow and graceful read, richly textured, keenly felt and witnessed and at times almost unbearably moving' - Quill & Quire

'Impressively daring . . . an artistic triumph' - Kirkus Reviews

Deaf since she was five years old, Grania has learned that watching is not always enough to survive in the world of the hearing. She has learned that words can often be impossible to see, their shape disappearing into a place where she cannot decipher their skittery ways. Sent to the Ontario School for the Deaf in Belleville, Grania must learn to live away from her loving family, lonely for the company of her sister and the secret language they shared. When Grania falls in love with Jim, a young hearing man from the east coast, her life seems complete, but the First World War soon tears them apart and sweeps him into the worst of experiences—trench warfare. At the Western Front, Jim is tested to his limit as he and his buddy Irish—both stretcher bearers—retrieve the shattered bodies of their comrades.

Fueled by tremendous word-of-mouth excitement at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Deafening has already become an international publishing phenomenon, with rights sold in over 12 countries so far. Author Frances Itani, the source of this unprecedented attention for a debut novel, has steadily been gaining a stellar reputation for her short fiction collections, her most recent, Leaning, Leaning Over Water, receiving ecstatic reviews. Touted as “writer to watch,” Itani has lived up to her accolades with Deafening.

Her depiction of a world where sound exists only in the margins is a singular feat in literary fiction, a place difficult to leave and even harder to forget. Elegantly written, with grace and precision, Deafening is, above all, a deeply moving journey through the strands of strength and vulnerability that weave heart and spirit together.