True Biz is a novel published in March, 2022 by Sara Nović. It is the follow-up to her debut novel Girl at War published in 2015. With her other life as a noted activist for the rights of the deaf and hearing-impaired, it should come as little surprise that both novels center around protagonists living within deaf culture. And, indeed, in several interviews, the author has explicitly asserted her intention to pursue the theme of deaf culture in a way that illuminates its vital significance within that the world of the hearing impaired in a way that readers who are likewise impaired will come to understand and appreciate more fully.
The seriousness with which Nović is devoted to this issue and surrounding concepts is framed by the very title of second novel. “True Biz” is jargon within the American Sign Language which is an indicator from the speaker to the listener that what they are saying is to be taken seriously. It is something equivalent to saying “I’m not joking” in order to get across the point that what is being communicated should not to be taken lightly. Which is exactly what the novel itself seeks to do, though without pedantry and with a dose of well-intentioned humor.
As with any sub-culture which covers a broad spectrum of individuality, the deaf culture is not a monolithic one in which membership requires identical experiences. The spectrum is presented through a narrative which reveals that even within the deaf community there exists prejudices, myths, and misconceptions. These ideas are presented through the conflicts established by various approaches to facilitating communication including learning sign language, reading lips, cochlear implants and the disheartening reality that only a fraction of parents who children are taught American Sign Language take the time to actually learn the language themselves.
Upon publication, True Biz became a New Times Bestseller and in April 2022 was chosen by Reese Witherspoon as her pick of the month for very popular book club. The high profile and subsequent success of the book was also doubtlessly buoyed by the fortunate timing of appearing shortly after the similarly themed film CODA shocked the Oscars by taking the Best Picture prize over an assortment of films with much higher profiles and expectations. Even before the book was actually published, a deal was already in the works to adapt True Biz into a limited TV series with deaf actress Millicent Simmons—of the A Quiet Place movie franchise—mentioned as most likely to play the story’s main character, Charlie.
