Love for a Deaf Rebel: Schizophrenia on Bowen Island

by Derrick King

Love for a Deaf Rebel is the true story of a tumultuous romance. With pathos and nostalgia, the author recounts his roller-coaster ride with Pearl, a vivacious deaf maverick, who, unknown to him, had paranoid schizophrenia. We follow their encounters through actual notes written before Derrick learns sign language; we go on their motorcycle ride to Mexico and Guatemala; we watch as the happy couple moves to Bowen Island, a British Columbia community with just three paved roads. Pearl and the author marry and build their dream home and hobby farm. They encounter one obstacle after another while building their life together as Pearl’s perception of reality—and, crucially, their perception of each other—begins to change. The author learns what it means to be deaf, what it means to struggle with mental health, and what it means to love such a woman unconditionally—the ecstasy and the agony. There are other books about discovering schizophrenia in the family and about deaf woman-hearing man relationships, but none that tells the true story of a woman who struggled with both.

Available in ePub, PDF, and audiobook narrated by actor-director-writer Joe Vaz. As a tribute to Pearl, all editions are free, except on Amazon/Audible, which does not allow free books.

Copies of all editions are available at Internet Archive for DRM-free downloading, including the audiobook.

Genres: Memoir, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Relationships, Mental Illness, Disability

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2022

Reviews

[Yukai Lim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly I wanna thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this audiobook.
Oh boy where do I even begin? Pearl, a vivacious deaf individual who also had paranoia schizophrenia questions everything others do and on her disillusioned self thinks everyone is out to hurt even though they all love her and wants to help her. She is paranoid of everything and everyone . This was one of the hardest novel I had to read/ listened to so far on one hand I understand why she acts the way she acts and think but on the other hand am very frustrated and sad and even angry that Pearl is suffering and do not thinks there is anything wrong with her and refuses to seek help.
A 2 stars read for me.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having some family history of mental health issues, I could feel the frustration and confusion Derrick experiences in his relationship with Pearl who is diagnosed later in life with schizophrenia and is Deaf. This account feels very honest as he relates his experiences trying to maintain the relationship, fix up an old house and farm and considers starting a family with Pearl.

Thanks to Provenance Press and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

[Star Gater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coin toss for me. I don't reread a synopsis after choosing to read a book. I want a fresh take with no expectations. On occasion a life like this one filters in. The story is written chronologically, from first sight to last call.

The events (for lack of a better word) that transpired throughout the years, the silence from her family and people she knew was and will always be cruel. Many times as I read I had to shake my head. More than halfway through the story, I read the synopsis. I wanted to know what I was reading, what had appealed to me. Then, I saw it. Schizophrenia. My God -- yes it was.

The life that transpired should sicken people. Sadly, taking advantage of someone with a debilitating disease is not prosecuted enough in this country. My heart is full for the one man and his family that loved her, and all they did to get her treatment.

There is profanity, and as I had the audiobook, I would recommend using individual buds, as opposed to a room speaker.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review Love For A Deaf Rebel.

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would have loved this book more than I did. I feel slightly mislead by the title/cover. Signs of the author’s wife’s schizophrenia really only appeared during the last 20% of the book. I’m sitting here waiting patiently for signs of schizophrenia to appear…

Regardless of this oversight, I did enjoy the book. I didn’t feel forced to finish it. It was still interesting. I don’t know if I would own a physical copy for myself, but I would consider listening to the audiobook again, just to see if I missed any clues leading up to the schizophrenia diagnosis.


(ALC received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review. Thank you!)

[Shaena Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I listened to the audiobook version of the memoir. I did not connect with the narrator as much I would have liked.

Nevertheless, as a mental health professional myself, King’s account of living with a loved one with a severe mental illness is realistic as it is captivating.

[Jenntleh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love for a Deaf Rebel: The Unexpected Life of a Canadian Immigrant by Derrick King
📍 Set on Bowen Island, British Columbia (Canada)
📖 Memoir / Biography

I picked up Love for a Deaf Rebel for a reading challenge prompt that called for a book set in another country, and I chose Bowen Island specifically. The title intrigued me, and at first, I was hopeful.

In the beginning, the book introduces us to deaf culture, with the story starting in a sweet meet-cute at a food court. Through vivid descriptions and dialogue (written to reflect speech patterns and communication differences), we get insight into the highs, lows, divides, and inclusions that come with living in the deaf community. I genuinely enjoyed this part—it felt informative without being preachy.

But then came the Mexico trip, and that’s where it all went off the rails. Derrick attends a friend’s wedding and wants to travel Mexico beforehand. He leaves Pearl to come and go on her own because she can’t get the same time off as him. He proceeds to take cocaine before driving his motorcycle—definitely not romantic. When Pearl arrives, he’s suddenly cold and distant, not wanting any photos. The warm, loving tone from their life at home just vanishes during this trip.

And then there’s the tacky proposal: “Want to be married? Can you be my mistress so I can divorce my wife because her lover won’t acknowledge her, or his wife will find out?” How about dealing with your own personal mess before asking someone else to join it?

Later, they buy property and sign with a man who openly confesses he lacks proper qualifications, but hey—he’s cheap. What could go wrong? After that, Pearl’s mental health unravels, and the story shifts focus.

By the end, I was left wondering: what was the purpose of this book? Sadly, it’s not about advancing understanding of deaf culture or community. It morphs into something more about unhealthy relationships, personal dysfunction, and poor life choices. The admitted drug use had me questioning what else might be omitted. There’s no happily-ever-after here, and as a memoir rather than fiction, it offers little value beyond basic storytelling.

If you’re seeking insight into deaf culture, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derrick King writes an intriguing memoir about Pearl, a Deaf woman, and their true love story making a life together on Bowen Island in Canada. It normally takes me a while to get into non-fiction books, but the way this story is told hooked me from the beginning and kept me interested until the end. As the title suggests, Pearl has schizophrenia but lives her life undiagnosed and somewhat functional without medicine or therapies - which leads to some interesting encounters with Derrick and others.

As an ASL interpreter, I appreciated the inclusion of Deaf culture and ASL usage in the narrative and learned a bit more about the culture during the 1970s and 1980s. It was informative hearing the parts about the Alberta School for the Deaf and Pearl's experiences there. I enjoyed travelling along with Derrick as he learned ASL and the instances where he acted as an interpreter.

Most of this story takes place on their homestead on Bowen Island where they are working to build a farm. Growing up in the city with all modern comforts it was sometimes shocking to hear exactly what Bowen Island residents put up with as they built their homes and their lives.

The audiobook narration was easy to listen to, follow, and understand. The chapters were approximately 30 minutes long so it was sometimes hard to find a place to stop and would have to stop mid-chapter.

Overall, this book was worth the listen and will keep your attention and guessing what will happen with Pearl next.

[Almas Shamim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love for a Deaf Rebel by Derrick King
Narrated by @joevaz_actor

A very moving autobiography of Derrick's relationship with his 'deaf' wife, Pearl. This books traces the entire trajectory of his relationship..from the time they met for the first time till their very last phone call.

This book touches upon many topics most wonderfully ... We get to see the intricacies of being a person who cannot hear, how they adapt to so many circumstances which are so normal to most of us 'able' people. The different approaches their families may adopt, the relationships they forge with 'hearies', the paranoia which may creep in and how things can crumbling down.

Then this book gives a vivid description of life in a small island, it shows farming, it shows the whole process of a couple choosing to live in a certain place, adopt a certain manner of life, building a house...and being swindled in the process. And then it speaks of schizophrenia and how mentally ill persons, sick as they are, keep destroying their own lives and also, in ways, those of their loved ones. And while it's true that they are not to 'blame', that's how life turns out. Broken. And it is just so sad. My own grandmother had symptoms of schizophrenia and the mistrust and disharmony it brings, especially in the absence of a formal diagnosis, is tragic to say the least.

It's just sad. Everything. I am sad. This is one of the sad phases. Also, I am not well.

Anyway. Got it as an ARC. Thank you Provenance Press and @netgalley

🌟🌟🌟💫

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love for a Deaf Rebel is the author’s true story of falling in love with a Deaf woman, whom he later discovered also suffered from schizophrenia. King has changed people’s names to protect them but tells his experience of falling for Pearl, starting with writing notes to each other. Derrick goes on to learn sign language to communicate more effectively with Pearl. We see them fall more in love as the two take a motorcycle trip from Canada to Mexico and Guatemala. They eventually settle down in a house they bought on Bowen Island, and once there, things start to change.

It was hard listening to King’s efforts to help his wife when she so clearly was not willing to receive help. I never quite felt invested in their relationship before things went south. I think, even more than the relationship between Derrick and Pearl, I was really fascinated by the process of their trying to fix up the house they bought. It was crazy, the things that happened. Joe Vaz did a good job narrating the audiobook of the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, set in Vancouver in the early 80's, follows the relationship between author/narrator Derrick and Pearl, the "deaf rebel" of the title, a woman he falls in love with and will later marry. While Derrick begins to pick up on oddities in Pearl's behavior, he doesn't connect them to a mental illness, and only discovers much later that she has schizophrenia.

I appreciated Derrick's honesty; he walks the reader through his relationship as though we're right there with him. I only wish the publisher hadn't chosen to put Schizophrenia in the title. I think the book would have been more effective if the reader went along Derrick's journey in a state of ignorance, much as he did, so that we, too, could be surprised by the mystery of Pearl's increasingly irrational/paranoid behavior. Still, I felt sad for both Derrick and Pearl and moved by their story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Provenance Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Tracy Backer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topics, a deaf woman and deaf society in the 1980s, mental illness, Western Canada, hobby farming, are interesting, and when combined, are definitely unique and adding that it's a true story (not a novel as some reviews state), should make it an easy recommendation for me. Unfortunately, it falls down in the narration. The author would drop in a whole paragraph of an event and then leave it, never to return or discuss the significance, either at the time or later. When he tries to recount a conversation, I had to re-read some passages a couple of times to figure out who was 'speaking'. Maybe with some editing, I would give it another star or two to make it easier to read (the events are tough to read because it is true and we see the impacts of mental health more clearly in 2023).

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC!

Love for a Deaf Rebel is a heartfelt memoir that deals with some tricky topics. If you've never thought about how a relationship between a deaf individual and an individual that can hear, it may not seem like there's a lot of cultural differences to navigate. I certainly had never thought about it. The author does a great job of illustrating and educating about just how wide that culture gap can be. And then trying to deal with mental illness on top of that, I can just imagine the heartsickness and sorrow. I learned a lot from this book, and enjoyed the read in the process.

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would have loved this book more than I did. I feel slightly mislead by the title/cover. Signs of the author’s wife’s schizophrenia really only appeared during the last 20% of the book. I’m sitting here waiting patiently for signs of schizophrenia to appear…

Regardless of this oversight, I did enjoy the book. I didn’t feel forced to finish it. It was still interesting. I don’t know if I would own a physical copy for myself, but I would consider listening to the audiobook again, just to see if I missed any clues leading up to the schizophrenia diagnosis.


(ALC received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review. Thank you!)

[Marbea Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This maybe a true story, but the writing makes it hard to get into it as seriously and intuitively. I'm sure the author meant for the story to be introspective, but it reads immature and choppy in fluidity. It's not flowing well for me, and that makes it more difficult because I'm hearing impaired. I have mental health issues as well, and I also want to read more. But I had to actually force myself to keep reading, and actually getting to the part about Bowen Island was a struggle. I think I'll have to mark this book as a come back to later.

[Judi Politte-Downs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book. It was a great way to pass the time while driving for hours. The details of their marriage are both wonderful and terrifying. The insight into Schizophrenia was eye opening. I really felt for Pearl but her poor husband was unaware of what he would have to deal with. He knew Pearl was deaf and did all he could to enter that world but the mental illness was hidden from him. I was happy that he ended with a happy life.

[Reva Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derrick King … Love for a deaf Rebel

This story gave a ‘hearie’ an in-depth view of the life of a ‘deafie’. Too bad we later got another in-depth view of the terrible consequences facing someone who falls in love with someone who has inherited mental illness: they can.be so charming at the same time making disastrous decisions that cause so much harm to the one that has made a life commitment to them. Of course, it ends in tragedy!

[Ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about this book. The main point of the wife having schizophrenia didn't show up until the end and I wanted more. I feel like this could have been edited better or restructured I'm not sure.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful story. I am so touched by it. It is so sad that one single human, Derrick, had to love so hard and still go through all this. I hope Pearl can get better and live her life.

[J. Marchio · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good short memoir, loved the insight into the deaf world, asl and schizophrenia.
i shipped them so hard.....





alas.

[Aprile Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

a love that transcends language... A LOVE THAT TRANSCENDS COMMUNICATION. -- had some interesting takes on mental health, guilt, and gender

[Julie Vandewiele]

I felt many emotions.

This was a very good book! It read quickly and easily. It was very interesting and insightful. Thanks for the read!

[Kimberley H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and emotional reading. To be admired for continuing to try for so long and love unconditionally. Tragic story, but interesting to learn about deafness and the issues faced, but also mental illness and the impacts it has on others as well as the person experiencing it.

[Derrick King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This candid account of the author’s marriage to a deaf person vividly details their motorcycle adventure to Guatemala and life on Bowen Island. This poignant love story is well written and becomes a platform for facts about the life of deaf people, also delving into issues such as schizophrenia, blindness, and diabetes. Those interested in the stress that disabilities can place on relationships may wish to read this. Rating: RECOMMENDED.—The US Review of Books
www.theusreview.com/reviews-1/Love-fo...

The bond that grows between strangers living in two worlds is compellingly described, bringing revelations about prejudice, acceptance, handicaps, and equality. Deafness and schizophrenia are seen through intense love and personal growth that brings a “you are here” feel in a way few memoirs achieve. The role of friends and family is examined as King stands by her while her mental health collapses. Anyone interested in mental illness or in the interactions between deaf and hearing lovers will find the book infused with a passion that makes it a riveting adventure through life and psyche that proves hard to put down.—Midwest Book Review Bookwatch
http://donovansliteraryservices.com/j...

King’s powerful memoir is about the difficulty of dealing with a loved one’s mental illness and disability, and how falling in love with a deaf woman changed his life. His love for Pearl is well conveyed in concise, accessible terms that capture the challenges of falling in love with a person who sees the world in a different way. The coverage of the sexual, physical, and psychological abuse that she experienced is sobering. King’s narration strives to authentically capture his feelings in the moment. Rating: 4 out of 5.—Clarion Reviews Foreword
https://www.forewordreviews.com/revie...

King’s love story and memoir opens when he is approached by Pearl, a charismatic deaf woman. Their chat, scribbled on napkins, flows easily, and friendship blossoms. He learns sign language. They move together to isolated Bowen Island, sharing a life of livestock and ferry rides, where her behavior becomes increasingly erratic. King tells this honest and emotional story in crisp, quick prose, with insights and slight suspense, respecting Pearl’s story right up to its bittersweet finish.—Publisher’s Weekly Booklife
booklife.com/project/love-for-a-deaf-...

Love for a Deaf Rebel is an intimate memoir of King’s deep but doomed love for Pearl, a woman who spent a lifetime fighting the disability of deafness and unacknowledged devil of schizophrenia. It takes time for the couple to build trust and acceptance, especially for Pearl, who expects the worst of life based on experiences such as being raped. They buy a half-finished house on Bowen Island to create a country lifestyle for the children Pearl is desperate to have. While Pearl is dogged by paranoia, King takes evasive steps to avoid bringing a child into a troubled relationship. Her story is a fascinating tribute to a woman who brought joy to a man who chose to celebrate Pearl’s strengths and fought to understand and help a woman who could not accept that her twisted world perspective was self-destructive. Read Love for a Deaf Rebel for its authenticity—a loving relationship where anything seems possible.
https://manybooks.net/articles/editor...

[Jen Ifer's Inklings · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is always hard to review nonfiction/memoirs/biographies. How do you give a subjective review to someone's real life? Overall, this memoir was interesting, but I did not enjoy the telling of the story. That isn't to say that the story was bad or told badly. It was an intense story. Often times it was difficult to listen to due to the subject matter. I would advise anyone interested in this book to look into content warnings before proceeding.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tragic story that was well written. Derrick tells the story of how he met and fell in love with Pearl. Things seem to be going well until she can’t hide the symptoms of her mental illness. The narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job of inputting the emotions of the story.