The House With All The Lights On (Jessica Kirkness, A&U)

Jessica Kirkness weaves each page of her memoir The House With All The Lights On with care, offering a deeply personal glimpse into growing up as a hearing child with deaf grandparents. Kirkness writes lyrically, with intention and perceptiveness, offering compelling insights into Deaf culture, history, the intricacies of sign language and the impact of non-verbal gestures. The memoir is primarily about her grandparents’ experiences in the hearing world, which is at times hostile and unaccommodating to them, with even hospitals struggling to provide adequate care for her grandfather; but it’s also universal in its tender exploration of complex family dynamics, which it approaches with a unique acuity. While the memoir can sometimes feel meandering and repetitive, it is also deeply effective in creating a palpable warmth through the family bonds it shows and the interactions between her grandparents and the author, both bridging linguistic gaps to care for and connect with each other. Even when certain family members struggle to bridge the gap between their hearing world and her grandparents’ Deaf one, Kirkness is nuanced and compassionate in her exploration, even as she grapples with her own frustrations with them. Kirkness signs up for a sign language class, her grandfather films every moment, her grandmother is wounded most by a scowl, and a powerful intimacy is born out of the tender silence between them.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Shivani Prabhu is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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