Apparitions

A beautiful novel by Adam Pottle from the perspective of a Deaf main character with a narrative originally relayed in ASL (American Sign Language). As the author’s note explains, this translation into written English “can only be a crude approximation of the original version” in ASL which the narrator signed with “a furious and beautiful physicality.” Escaping familial imprisonment and abuse, a Deaf teen without access to ASL escapes only to be institutionalized in a psychiatric facility in the Saskatchewan prairie where they find community and language but also another form of imprisonment.

Cover of the novel Apparitions by author Adam Pottle from Dark Hart Ink Press. The cover shows a two dimensional human face from profile on a dark blue background populated by drawings of eyes which look similar to the eye of the person in profile.

“Make a fist. Tight. Thumb crossed over your fingers, like you want to punch someone. Drag it upward from your gut. Drag it slowly. As your fist nears your heart, arc it outward and open your hand wide like you’re spreading something, sharing something. That’s my name.”