Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky
Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky
List: $7.99 | Sale: $5.60
Club: $3.99

Deaf Republic
A Lyric Essay

Author: Ilya Kaminsky

Narrator: Ilya Kaminsky

Unabridged: 1 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2022

Synopsis

Finalist for the National Book Award; finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award; finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award; winner of the National Jewish Book Award; finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; finalist for the T. S. Eliot Prize; and a finalist for the Forward Prize for Best Collection

Ilya Kaminsky's astonishing parable in poems asks us, What is silence?

Deaf Republic opens in an occupied country in a time of political unrest. When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the gunshot becomes the last thing the citizens hear—they all have gone deaf, and their dissent becomes coordinated by sign language. The story follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence: a newly married couple, Alfonso and Sonya, expecting a child; the brash Momma Galya, instigating the insurgency from her puppet theater; and Galya's girls, heroically teaching signing by day and by night luring soldiers one by one to their deaths behind the curtain. At once a love story, an elegy, and an urgent plea, Ilya Kaminsky's long-awaited Deaf Republic confronts our time's vicious atrocities and our collective silence in the face of them.

About Ilya Kaminsky

Ilya Kaminsky was born in the former Soviet Union. He is the author of a poetry collection, Dancing in Odessa, and coeditor of The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry. He was a 2014 finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

Reviews

Goodreads review by s.penkevich

At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this? And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this? What is the language of resistance? Deaf Republic, the much anticipated and long-awaited--fifteen years since his last collection Dancing in Odessa--new collection of poetry by Ily......more

Goodreads review by Roxane

Ambitious, intelligent parable about the ways we are complacent in the face of things we should be up in arms about. Very interesting, both in terms of content and craft.......more

Goodreads review by Dave

Our country woke up the next morning and refused to hear soldiers. In the name of Petya, we refuse. At six a.m., when soldiers compliment girls in the alley, the girls slide by, pointing to their ears. At eight, the bakery door is shut in soldier Ivanoff’s face, though he’s their best customer. At t......more

Goodreads review by Candi

This is a powerful book of connected poetry that speaks volumes, especially in light of current events. What happens when we don’t speak up about the atrocities committed against our fellow humans? Or perhaps we speak, but those words are hollow when not followed up with action. Or, maybe we do have......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List