Aquarium: A Novel
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A debut novel following two sisters, both deaf and raised in seclusion by deaf parents, and the shattering consequences that unfold when that isolation comes to an end.
Sisters Lili and Dori Ackerman are deaf. Their parents—beautiful, despondent Anna; fearsome and admired Alex—are deaf, too. Alex, a scrap metal collector and sometime prophet, opposes any attempt to integrate with the hearing; to escape their destructive influence, the girls are educated at home. Deafness is no disability, their father says, but an alternative way of life, preferable by far to that of the strident, hypocritical hearing.
Living in a universe of their own creation, feared by and disdainful of the other children on their block, Lili and Dori grow up semi-feral. Lili writes down everything that happens—just the facts. And Dori, the reader, follows her older sister wherever she goes. United against a hostile and alien world, the girls and their parents watch the hearing like they would fish in an aquarium.
But when the hearing intrude and a devastating secret is revealed, the cracks that begin to form in the sisters’ world will have consequences that span the rest of their lives. Separated from the family that ingrained in them a sense of uniqueness and alienation, Lili and Dori must relearn how to live, and how to tell their own stories.
Sly, surprising, and as fierce as its protagonists, Yaara Shehori’s Aquarium is a stunning debut that interrogates the practice of storytelling—and storyhearing.
ASIN : B088DS8RMD
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : April 13, 2021
Language : English
File size : 3.9 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 274 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0374720834
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,627,830 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #509 in Fiction on People with Disabilities #723 in Disability Fiction #1,486 in Sibling Fiction
Customer Reviews: 2.4 2.4 out of 5 stars 39 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
8 reviews for Aquarium: A Novel
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Original price was: $17.00.$10.99Current price is: $10.99.
Kathi –
How did this get published?
This book was not worth my time to read. I would like my money back. How did it get published? Disconnected in every way. At book club It got a .018 minus! We never ever have rated a book under one star. There are 10 of us and we all felt the same. Refund please.
Elle –
Incredibly slow with writing that didn’t always make sense.
I was expecting much better from this one. The original version (this was translated from Hebrew) has won awards and been highly praised. However, I just did not connect with it at all.The premise was really good and there were parts of the story that I think gave the structure some excellent bones, but the execution was just not there for me. The writing was choppy and sometimes made absolutely no sense. The word usage was often a bit awkward and sentence structures did not feel right.The organization of the plot caused me a lot of problems and I think kept me from bonding with any of the characters. Things moved so slowly that I just couldn’t connect or be bothered to care. I wanted this to be a lot more than I was given. The outline version would still draw my interest now that I know how the book goes, the writing just didn’t flesh the story out in a way that worked for me. I think it had promise, but just did not get there. Once again, maybe if I had been able to read it in the original language my experience would have been different.* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *
DJY –
Not worth the time
This book was poorly translated to English. It was very hard to follow the story line. If it wasnât the book chosen for a book club I would not have read it. Honestly, only 2 of 14 finished the book.
Kathleen M. –
Worst book
I read this book for our book club. It had really good reviews, but it was hard to follow. Also, only two of us even finished the book.
Kat P. –
Beautifully written
Loved this novel – well done!
Danielle –
What am I reading?
I couldnât get very far into this book, too many descriptive words that I couldnât figure out what was going on.
Paul Anderson –
Paul
Read for our book club. I finished it but it is a terrible book. Should get a negative star. Can you direct me to a book burning.
DTReviewer –
Laborious Read
While the story subject is interesting I could not bear the telling of it, the writing style is not to my liking. I found this style to be too wordy and overly descriptive, I prefer stories told in narrative. I donât know if itâs because I scanned through the book or the writing style but half of the time I didnât have a clue what the author was talking about. Nope not for me.