Five Flavors of Dumb (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Five Flavors of Dumb Karen Coats John, Antony. Five Flavors of Dumb. Dial, 2010. [352p.] ISBN 978-0-8037-3433-3 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10. Piper is angry. Her parents have raided her college fund to pay for her baby sister's cochlear implants, a double blow because not only does it interfere with her dreams of going to Gallaudet, the historic college for deaf students, but it also confirms how she's always suspected her family feels about her deafness—it's a defect, and one that must be "fixed" for her sister, no matter what the cost. Her general anger at her circumstances goads her into taunting the lead singer of a wannabe rock band at her school; he responds by challenging her to find them a paying gig in a month's time. She takes up the challenge, and through a mix of coercion, cagey recruitment, and salesmanship that often amounts to outright lies, she guides the disconnected band members toward a unified sound, making good on her commitments in surprising ways. Meanwhile, she works through the difficult and often frustrating task of getting her family clued in to the subtle and not-so-subtle ways they have been regarding her as damaged, and she comes to terms with her own jealousy of her sister. None of this emotional work approaches anything like sentimentality—Piper is too tough a customer for that, and her family is too used to operating in the registers of tension and anger to dissolve into tearful puddles of regret and redemption. Instead, hard-won concessions combine with begrudging acknowledgments and personal victories to give each family member a place from which to reach out to the others. Readers interested in any of the narrative strands—what it takes to make a rock band, what it takes to create mutual respect in a family, or how a characteristic can escape the complex categorization of disability—will find a solid, satisfyingly complex story here. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois