Book Review: The Words in My Hands / Future Girl
[ID: A book with an illustrated portrait of a girl holding art supplies sitting on a rock wall in front of a long expanse of desert, lake, and red-blue mountains.]
Written by Deaf activist and artist Asphyxia, this YA sci-fi book follows a Deaf teenager in a near future dystopia as she fights against governmental corruption, struggles to survive through environmental collapse, and explores her culture.
“Imagine: If the GDP was replaced with a contentment index.”
THE WORDS IN OUR HANDS (also published under the title FUTURE GIRL in Australia) was an interesting and riveting read. I was by turns impressed and unsettled by the world-building. (This was the first time I had read about Covid as a component of sci-fi backstory and it was unnerving to say the least.) With supply chain issues, food shortages, oil inflation, and big business controlling the government, the dystopia felt all too possible.
I enjoyed watching Piper find her voice through gardening and learning sign language. If you love survival stories you will definitely appreciate this one! It was also incredibly fascinating to learn more about Deaf culture and I appreciated how the author portrayed Piper’s journey. The author’s illustrations added another layer to the reading experience that made the book feel fresh and creative. (Please be warned that there is some partial/side nudity in a non-sexual context in one of the illustrations.)
Although for the most part it was a really enjoyable read, there were a few things that I didn’t love. Piper is 16 and some times the teenagerisms felt a bit much.
If you’ve read this book I would really love to hear your thoughts and chat about a few things!
I couldn’t tell if some things were meant to be ironic or if I was just missing something. One of the quotes near the end of the book weirded me out to the point where I don't know if I was supposed to laugh or consider it seriously. (If you’ve read the book, please drop me a line so we can chat about this!)
I did appreciate how Piper's romantic relationship was explored but I feel like the power dynamic could’ve been addressed more. There’s a big difference between 16 & 19 even when the world is falling apart not to mention for part of the novel he's her boss. I did like how they had real issues and conflicts as a couple like Marley's struggle with being Piper's interpreter.
Two titles, two covers, same book:
FUTURE GIRL published by Allen & Unwin in Australia ISBN 9781760294373
THE WORDS IN MY HANDS published by Annick Press in the US ISBN: 9781773215280
Recommended read for the #ChronicallyIconicReadingChallenge for the prompt Illustrated Book or Graphic Novel!
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it’s worth the difficult journey to track it down in the US. I recommend it if you’re tackling the #ChronicallyIconicReadingChallenge on Instagram!