Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have worked with children who are developmentally delayed as well as those who are hearing impaired for over 30 years, so I know a thing or two about the field. I've been working long enough that I remember those institutions, how bad most of them were, how mistreated many of my students had been. So when I heard of this book, I was very interested in reading it. And in the end I was very disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the writer has done her research about the institutions, and has a lifetime of experience as a sibling of a person with a mental impairment. The writing though left a lot to be desired. I like for authors to show me, not tell me. There were too many times when she described what someone was thinking or what was happening, instead of showing me. I didn't think she fleshed out the characters in a way that I could see them living and breathing. Think 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - reading that made me see the people in the book. Here, they all felt cardboard and cliched- either good or evil, strong or weak. I also felt that the writing was rather juvenile; many times I wondered if the book was meant more for Young Adults. Then was the unbelievability of much of the plot. First, I questioned how much Lynnie would have been able to hide her pregnancy, and/or hide the fact that she just gave birth. Second, People can indeed be generous and giving. But I found that too often Martha was given a door to escape to with each conflict, someone on the other end who was going to be helping her make it. I wanted all the characters to succeed, but I felt too often it was via other people, not themselves. Finally, people who are deaf don't usually have the kind of language that Homan uses. If the writing is good enough, I can brush aside these anachronisms. But it wasn't, and I couldn't. I'm not looking for a literary masterpiece; I wanted a read that would pull me into that time and place, with characters I would remember long after I close the book. Unfortunately that didn't happen here. I am giving this book a 2* instead of a 1*, because I can see the promise of a good writer, and that I suspect her non fiction memoir was probably heads and tails better than this. I know I am in the minority, and fully expect folks to be up in arms, giving me 'not helpful' votes and making negative comments. So be it. I could care less about my rank here. What I expect from other reviewers are honest reviews. I hope at least I have written one.