June 24, 2024
Rosenfeld debuts with an immersive and surreal tale of a 20-something woman grappling with hearing loss. Narrator Louise feels “orphaned”: “Not deaf enough to be a part of Deaf culture, not hearing enough to be fully within the hearing world.” When her hearing loss becomes severe, her doctor suggests a cochlear implant, and Louise weighs the cost of losing the sensations she hears inside her body and sees in her mind’s eye, sounds that magically “crashed against the dead eardrum” from across time. They include the sobbing of a soldier in WWI Brittany, and the barking of a dog named Cirrus who appears to her like a “cloud with long wisps.” As she continues to deliberate, she keeps a “herbarium of sounds,” cataloging each with a corresponding image (she records a fire truck’s siren as an “overtone song of Red Sea snails”). Rosenfeld artfully depicts Louise’s singular reality, revealing how “being ‘Louise’ is every bit as much who you were before losing your hearing as who you are now.” Readers will admire Rosenfeld’s sensuous writing. (Aug.)This review has been updated for clarity.