Impossible Music

By Sean Williams

In an emotionally compelling tale crackling with originality, when a teen musician goes deaf, his quest to create an entirely new form of music brings him to a deeper understanding of his relationship to the hearing world, of himself, and of the girl he meets along the way. 

Music is Simon’s life—which is why he is devastated when a stroke destroys his hearing. He resists attempts to help him adjust to his new state, refusing to be counseled, refusing to learn sign-language, refusing to have anything to do with Deaf culture. Refusing, that is, until he meets G, a tough-as-nails girl dealing with her own newly-experienced deafness.

In an emotionally engaging tale crackling with originality, Simon's quest to create an entirely new form of music forces him into a deeper understanding of his relationship to the hearing world, of himself, and of the girl he meets along the way. 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781328630063

Sean Williams

Sean Williams writes for children, young adults, and adults. He is the author of forty novels, ninety short stories, and the odd odd poem, and has also written in universes created by other people, such as those of Star Wars and Doctor Who. His work has won awards, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and been translated into numerous languages. His latest novel is Twinmaker, the first in a new series that takes his love affair with the matter transmitter to a whole new level (he just received a PhD on the subject, so don’t get him started).

Reviews for Impossible Music

[genieinanovel-389828 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What happens when a musician loses his hearing? Is he still a musician? Can he still even make music? That is what Impossible Music is about.

Simon suddenly loses his hearing in a rare way in which there is no recovery. The problem is that he lives and breathes music; he can’t imagine doing anything else. He shares his frustrations with a girl named G from his class for the newly deaf. They both are resistant in learning Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and immersing into Deaf culture. Their journey, especially Simon’s, in navigating this new way of life was an interesting read, and I really felt for the characters. I can’t imagine how frustrating it is to not only lose a sense, but one that is critical to your passion.

I saw that there was a lot of critical reviews of this book, for quite a few different reasons. Maybe I’m not as in-tune with Deaf culture as some of those readers are, due to me not knowing anyone who is fully deaf, but I personally felt like the author did a good job with writing a story that deals with this situation. As far as the timeline of the story – sort of jumping back and forth over the course of the months since Simon’s hearing loss – I didn’t feel like it was hard to follow. It was a lot easier than I expected, and it all flowed well to me in order to get a sense of his story.

I’m glad I took a chance in reading this book instead of listening to the negative reviews. I really felt this was a great story and it honestly rekindles my desire to be able to understand Deaf culture and learn ASL (American Sign Language) for myself, especially since I have some family members who are hard of hearing and partly deaf.