Five Flavors of Dumb

Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John, is a book that looks at the world from a whole different perpesctive . . . a completely silent one. 
      Piper is deaf.  She got her hearing aids when she was six, and since that time all she's wanted to do is get into Galludeut.  But her parents have removed money from the bank account her grandparents set up for her to pay for a Cochlear Implant for her six-month sister.  Her life couldn't be any worse--her father thinks she disabled, her dreams of collage are swirling down the drain, her sister has stopped being the one person she can relate to, and her besr friend moved away to San Francisco ages ago. Now the only deaf girl in a mainstream school, Piper has a month to find the school's biggest band a paying gig. But how can she do that when she can't hear or understand a thing they're playing?  Pushing past the bias, Piper finds away to prove to people that she is not defined by her hearing impairment--and that she can rock her own life. 

I have personal intrest in this book because I know people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  It gave me a new look on what it must be like to be alone in a nearly silent world, though. 
    I really like the character of Piper, because her gall alone is amazing.  Really, I don't think I could muster up half her courage. And she is amazingly alive too.  Every feeling she feels is plausible, and it doesn't seem fake or, well, like the author was trying too hard to make her feel a certain way.  It came naturally and smoothly, and if someone told me they met Piper Vaughan on the street I wouldn't be surprised.
    The other characters are much the same.  Very real, very alive, though you can't always detect their motives.  But isn't that better?  In real life you can't always tell why people act the way they do, and sometimes in books they spell it out too clearly to you. 
    My favorite character is Piper's little brother, Finn.  When you first 'meet' him, he seems to be the typical little brother you meet in books--the one who makes life miserable for the big sister, the one who's in trouble 24/7, the one who wants to blow off his family and go do what he wants to do . . .  Of those criteria, Finn meets 1 out of those 3.  I'll leave you to imagine the rest.
     The book is also about independence.  From the rules that have bound Piper since she was a kid, from sterotypes, from her shell.  Or maybe it's more about being yourself and sticking it to everyone out there.  It could be about sticking with it and not giving up, or about how there is more to it than the money.  I don't know, and I don't care.  I couldn't care while I was reading, because I was too absobed in watching people gain their independence, being themselves, sticking it to everyone else, sticking with it, and learning that it's more than money.  When you pick up this book, don't expect to put it down any time soon.  You'll find that your caring more about the future of Dumb than the time of dinner. 
      And since I haven't exactly finished the entire book yet, I'll leave the rest up to you.  Just know that so far its been a fantastic testament to the human spirit, even when it's being crushed my society's 'norms' and high school.  I can only hope I'll be like Piper when  I'm where she is.