Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168927 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-31
• Released on: 2007-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 272 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–Joey Willis is deaf, and her mother won't allow her to learn American Sign Language. Her isolated existence is turned upside down, however, when she meets her elderly neighbor, Dr. Charles Mansell, and his sign-language-using chimpanzee, Sukari. Against her mother's wishes, Joey begins to learn to sign, and Charlie, whose parents were deaf, opens her eyes to a future filled with possibilities. When he dies, Sukari's fate is left in Joey's hands. Rorby has clearly done her research. From the dialogue gaps that allow youngsters to share the frustration even a skilled lip reader feels, to a brutal scene in a chimp-filled research facility, the wealth of details support but, unfortunately, often overwhelm the story. The tale is so dense that many plot threads are abruptly abandoned, and the narrative skips ahead at random intervals. Laden with issues–parent-child relationships, the treatment of research animals, and child abuse (Joey's deafness is the result of a beating by her father)–the book often gets bogged down in its own seriousness. However, the writing shines when Rorby focuses on what is obviously her true passion: Sukari and the fate of chimpanzees like her.–Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

About the Author

Customer Reviews

HURT GO HAPPY
As an eighth-grade English teacher, I read young adult novels in hopes of finding a piece of writing that I can offer to my students -- one that they will enjoy, learn from, find easily, and connect to whatever else I am teaching at the time. I will admit that I don't read as many books as I should, but I do a lot of research on the prospective books in advance by reading reviews from others (thanks, Amazon!), so I can use my limited reading time wisely.

HURT GO HAPPY came to me as one of Florida's 2008-2009 Sunshine State recommended texts for students in grades 6 through 8. Researching these fifteen titles to find the couple of diamonds among them requires the use of feedback from Amazon reviewers, and this book came with glowing recommendations.

I was worried by the description that this book would be one of those formulaic, teen adventures, in this case with a deaf girl trying to save a chimpanzee -- NOT what I would call a genre I was giving much hope to. Luckily, these other reviews dispelled that dread, giving me hope that there was something more to this interestingly titled piece.

As an English and Drama teacher, I have to admit that my favorite part of what I teach is the subject of Theme (not as in "essay," or "recurring motif," but "the lessons, morals and wisdom a story has to offer"). I embrace books that come to their themes honestly, creatively and passionately. The greatest works offer themes that sink so deep into our minds, hearts and souls that we cannot remove these lessons from ourselves, no matter how hard we try. You don't have to read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD more than once to feel that the power of its lessons will NEVER leave you; you only have to think about this type of book years afterward, and you can still feel the impression it has left on you without even trying. These are books we love and consider our favorites.

I didn't think that this book would be anywhere nearly as successful as it turns out to be. Its multiple themes (primary and secondary) are all, oxymoronically, both bold and subtle. However, it is the major theme of HURT GO HAPPY that stays and drives the entire work: We must live up to our responsibilities -- to each other, to our world, to ourselves. This theme shows up in HURT GO HAPPY in each of the key relationships in the story, as well as in some of the minor ones. Some characters have lived up to their responsibilities and others have not. A strong writer will show you both sides of the coin, as it were. Author Ginny Rorby has wisely allowed us to see how our actions (and inactions) affect us and others, sometimes in an intensely painful way (both emotionally and physically). Great authors tend to not shy away from the ugly side of life, and Rorby has written a book that has a tremendous number of layers to it (both beautiful and ugly).

Deeply, deeply felt, HURT GO HAPPY is powerful, and surprised me greatly. The relationship with Joey and her mother seems very one-dimensional at first, but drives the theme in a devastatingly real way as it proves to be very much three-dimensional. Joey's mother Ruth spends her life avoiding her past and, apparently, the future, as well. Her denial for Joey to live in the world in which Joey actually exists (deaf, friendless, and wanting) is painful for us, and when Joey tries to break out of this awful reality, Ruth insists that that cannot be. We begin to see Ruth as selfish, and she is, but as Ginny Rorby develops this magnificent tale of a young girl finding that her responsibilities are to be the driving force of her life, we get to see Ruth as a hurt, wounded creature who has failed in her own life. A small, but beautifully poignant moment in the middle of the book started me on the path to getting excited about HURT GO HAPPY. The rest of the book only heightened that initial excitement.

Joey is a magnificent protagonist, one of my favorites of the past few years, who has to fight to be heard (yeah, I guess that pun is intended). Her observations and reactions to life are pieces of gold for teachers like me. Metaphorically speaking, this is a treasure trove as well -- a trove of metaphors, that is. Rorby has developed wonderfully subtle metaphors as well as bold metaphors that should shake a student's understanding of what finely crafted writing is -- so much so that any student should be able to truly understand and appreciate that the best writing requires great thought, constant planning and driving passion.

Perhaps I fell in love with this book when the meaning of the odd title revealed itself late in the text. It made wonderful, heartfelt sense on a very basic level, but it really sank into that part deep within my heart, soul and mind when I understood that it was the PERFECT title because, metaphorically, it dealt not only with Sukari the chimpanzee, but far more importantly, it spoke of Joey and Ruth and of their failures of the past. At that point, this became the book I was looking for. I can't imagine that any other book I read in the next year will be able to compare.

You MUST read this book.

(And as a side-note, I will be using this book as a companion piece to THE MIRACLE WORKER -- not only because of the subject of deafness, but because I teach THE MIRACLE WORKER to explore metaphor and deeper meanings. I can't wait!)

I wanna be just like you
There are children's books that are enjoyable. There are children's books that stay in your mind long after you've read them. And there are children's books that contain excellent writing in terms of story layout, themes, and rock solid emotions. You are lucky if you can get a combination of two of these requirements. You are blessed beyond words if you somehow manage to find a book that fulfills all three. Pick up a copy of "Hurt Go Happy" and you can actually tick off these requirements one by one as you read the first chapter alone. Funny, horrifying, intelligent, and full of more twists and turns than you could hope to expect, "Hurt Go Happy" is without a doubt one of the strongest children's books of the year.

Joey wasn't always deaf, but at the age of thirteen she has been for seven years. Things wouldn't be so bad either if not for the fact that her mother is overprotective towards her and refuses to let Joey learn American Sign Language. Depending on reading lips only, Joey feels isolated from the world around her. That is, until she meet Sukari and Charlie. Charlie's an elderly caregiver to Sukari, a chimp with a knowledge of sign language. Instantly Joey bonds with the two, in spite of her mother's disapproval, and her world begins to grow larger as a result. Yet when Charlie dies and Sukari ends up in the hands of a research lab that tests pesticides on animals, it seems the only person who can save her is a nearly deaf girl who isn't sure she has the strength to go it alone.

Now, to be blunt with you, this doesn't really sound like a book that I would have enjoyed reading. I was never one of those kids that thought monkeys and apes were fascinating creatures. Yet as an author, Rorby wins you over. Suddenly I found myself re-intrigued by the whole concept. Animals that can communicate with humans through a kind of language? How cool is that! Kids that love animal stories will gravitate to the book all on their own. But the fact that what we have here is something interesting AND really well written just bowled me over. Can I tell you how many "good" books I've read this year that'll make kids' eyes glaze over before they reach page three? In "Hurt Go Happy" Rorby introduced Sukari on page 22 and that's still just the first chapter! A well put together work, this.

I loved that the mother in this book was such a complex individual. On the one hand she has really denied her only daughter the chance to communicate freely with the world around her. By preventing her from learning sign language the book makes it clear that Ruth (her mom) is working on a couple different levels. She'll adamantly tell you that it's for Joey's own good that she not learn to sign. Ruth says it's restrictive. It takes Charlie to point out that the real reason may be buried deep in Ruth's psyche. On some level Ruth believes that if she allows her daughter to sign, people will come to question how Joey lost her hearing in the first place (a secret that Ruth isn't eager to share with the world). She just wants her daughter to be "normal" and she's convinced that if Joey reads lips she'll attain that. Characters in "Hurt Go Happy" can grow and change, and that's something you don't see nearly as much as you should in children's literature. Nine times out of ten the good guys are always good and the bad guys are always bad. What's wonderful about Ruth is that even when she's repented and allowed Joey to learn sign language she still doesn't let her daughter know that Sukari was left to her in Charlie's will. Three steps forward, one step back seems to be the motto with Ruth.

As for Rorby's grasp of language, if you read her Afterword you'll see that she sells herself short. In discussing where this book came from she mentions entering a creative-writing class. "I enrolled and learned in short order that I was a dismal failure as a writer - except when I was writing about children or animals, the powerless and dependent." Ms. Rorby needs to cut herself some slack. Consider the following sentence: "If she took a book, she could completely lose herself in its pages, then look at the waterfall and the leaves trembling in a breeze and fill her sight with sound." That's descriptive writing of a particularly nice nature. The book contains the same.

The plot is a bit of a roller coaster ride, but I didn't think that hurt its power in any way. "Hurt Go Happy" is adamantly anti-animal testing, so bear that in mind as you purchase it. Still, it doesn't get preachy. And though I mentioned earlier that most characters have seveal dimensions to them, the villains in this book, pure and simple, are the people in white lab gear. They hurt animals and they are bad and that's all there is to that. There's also an odd moment where a homeless man stalks Joey just to see her scared. It's a peculiar writing choice and probably one that I would have cut out of the book, but Rorby at least makes the distinction early on that not all homeless people are creepy drunks like this guy. Joey and her mother, after all, had to survive while homeless for a while, so there you go.

I would definitely recommend "Hurt Go Happy" alongside Delia Ray's excellent, "Singing Hands". The books complement one another with one told by a deaf girl in a hearing family and one a hearing girl in a deaf family. The attitude against signing is also present in both, in spite of the fact that one book is set in the past and one in the present. I consider this book to be one of the small jewels of the 2006 publishing season. Consider yourself lucky if you happy to get your hands on a copy. This is an author to watch out for.

Moving, Well-Written, and Intelligent
I happened to hear the author read two selections from this book at our local library last weekend. Intrigued, I bought the book on the spot and had it read by 9:30 the following morning. That's how compelling this story is. I totally enjoyed it. Not only did I like the story, which was inherently interesting, but I enjoyed the wealth of natural detail and the fully-wrought characters. What was particularly compelling for me was the skillful presentation of the complexities faced, not only by the deaf, but by all of us, in all conditions, and all ages, things like anger, ambivalence, change, and courage in the face of adversity. How do you face these problems down, and keep your spirit intact? Without being preachy, the young heroine succeeds in doing just that.