No, No, Bad Dog

This book is three decades of my clinical work in one fictitious story. It is based on the marginalization of deaf individuals and is about Mary, a hearing child born to deaf parents. The difference however is that Mary is the outsider as the majority of the world is deaf. Her parents Ellen and Ben feel completely overwhelmed and her siblings react with anger and confusion that their sister is different. Mary’s life is set in a history of her grandmother’s life lived with love, sorrow, and mystery. Their stories will ask you to think outside of all you know and to imagine life as you never thought it.

Dr. Cathy Chovaz, an internationally recognized Clinical Psychologist, has published and presented widely over three decades about the complexities and inequities regarding mental health and deafness. She is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at King’s University College at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.This debut fiction novel departs from Cathy’s professional and academic publishing. She has embraced the freedom to tell a story from her core, as a woman deafened in her early adulthood, and from the generational-spanning stories shared with her from the countless deaf adults, adolescents, and children that she has been privileged to work with clinically, and the abundant friendships fostered through time and trust. This book challenges readers to view the world, and their own place in it, in ways not contemplated before.She lives in a lakeside Ontario community with her husband and one “perfect” and one “promising” Labrador retriever, and two feline friends.

Customer Reviews

5.0

1 reviews

Lin

No, No, Bad Dog provides an interesting insight into Ellen, and her elderly mother, Sarah’s lives and how they navigate with their families, situations related to a family member who is “different” and how conflicted they feel about the “difference”. The story also involves other characters in both Ellen and Sarah’s families who are also affected by the deaf and hearing discord on the use of communication modality - sign or spoken, and how quickly the discord escalates into conflict. The topic of mental health is explored, with the characters finding ways of coping with mental health issues. The backgrounds of two Canadian provinces are described beautifully, with Newfoundland being a safe refuge for the families. The phrase No, No, Bad Dog is repeated throughout the story as to underlie how those who are “different” must behave like the majority, and how those in authority exert their power over those who are “different”. After every chapter, there is a one-paragraph anecdote that tells a third-person perspective on human behavior towards dogs. Although complex with themes related to deaf and hearing, family relationships and attachment, along with unexpected twists of the plot, the book is a riveting read and keeps you turning the page over and over. This book makes you feel confused, frustrated, angry and grief throughout the story with an unexpected ending with good feelings. The book ends strongly with the author conveying an universal message that transcends across all humankind globally and underlies the main theme of the story and the dog anecdotes. I encourage you all to read this book and consider the true meaning of compassion for others, whether human or animal.

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Lin

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