A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard | Review

Title: A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Author: Sara Barnard

Release Date: January 12th, 2017

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Format: Physical Book (Paperback)

I have never read a book about selective mutism and deafness, so I was really interested In finding out how the author would explain their conversations in here. After reading this I discovered that Stefi’s selective mutism began since early childhood but it got worse with her anxiety. It was nice to know what was going on inside her head when she had a panic attack, the bad brain and the good brain that eventually turned both to bad thoughts. I really enjoyed learning a bit more about social anxiety, because, from the other reviews I’ve read, I understood that this book shows an accurate representation of it.

Another thing that was great in this book is the use of BSL (British Sign Language), I know the basics (the ones that are also universal) and it was great that sometimes I could actually pretend in my head the signs instead of making them up in my head every time Steffi and Rhys had a conversation (because I always start imagining the scenario in my head). The chapters were also in the sign language number, which I thought was so cute, and there were times where the author explained how you would do the sign, and I found myself trying to do it.

Now to what I didn’t like that much (but I also didn’t hate), which is not a long list. The arguments the characters had sometimes felt childish to me and I found myself thinking if they were really having an argument about that

All in all, this was a cute contemporary that kind of made me want to learn sign language (the Portuguese sign language), it was a fast-paced read and you learn more about selective mutism and deafness.

I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a funny and cute contemporary or if you want to learn a bit more of what going on inside characters with selective mutism and anxiety (Steffi) and deafness (Rhys).