Listen To The Silence

By David W. Elliott and Elliot

Book Overview

Listen to the Silence is more than a novel. It is a poem, a bitter cry for help. It is the profoundly moving and shocking experience of an unwanted 14-year-old in the horror-filled halls of a state... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: B000JD4EU0
• Release Date: January 1969
• Publisher: Signet
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A stranger in a strange and dangerous land...

My copy of David Elliott's "Listen to the Silence" was published in 1971. I just finished it this weekend, and would not have known this was published 37 years ago; the setting could just as well take place in our current day and age. It is a good book. I've been a social worker for over 16 years, and have had dealings with "the system". I hate to say it, but this book is realistic in many ways. One reviewer gave a 1 star rating to the book; I don't think they gave it justice when they complained the book was rambling in parts. That's the point! This book is about 14-year-old Timmy, who appears emotionally immature and/or developmentally delayed. The book is written from his point of view, and it does ramble in parts because we're inside Timmy's head, and that's how he would think/talk - in an internal running commentary on things. There are no quotation marks in the book, even with dialogue from other characters! As an example of his thought processes, one sentence is over 1 page long, and it reflects his preference to make lists, and it is a list of his likes and some dislikes. It helps us with character identification. That's how he would think, that what we observe. It is a very effective writing tool, and works well with this story. There is irony at the end of the book that gave me a right turn when I expected a left; it made me think. Although it wasn't an ending I preferred, it was a good and effective story nonetheless.

a painful, harrowing, beautifully written book

I read this book when I was 15, and I never forgot it. It's a story of a 14 year old boy, living a cruel existance in a mental hospital and trying to make sense of the insanity of his life and others around him, and the inhumanity he suffers at the hands of those whom a child should be able to trust most.We understand his thinking, we are angry for him, and we want to reach into his nightmare of a life and pull him out. There are no happy endings here, he does not walk off into a fake sunset...but the book is written with an honesty and beauty that is not easily forgotten. I am 45 and have recently acquired a copy and it's just as gripping and touching now as it was then. (whoever gave this book only one star missed the point entirely...)

A book that makes you question yourself in every way.

This book is truly a masterpiece. This story allows you inside the world and the mind of an adolesent boy in a naturally confusing stage of life and an extraordinarily confusing envirionment. Written as the boy thinks, and much like anyone else thinks, it is easy to find yourself following the logic and resoning of those who's sanity is questionable. In turn, it almost makes you question your own sanity. I know that I did. When I first read this book, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It started by entering my life as a book that I got for very little cos it had an interesting title. It ended up changing my life. I know that sounds melodramatic, but it is true. It changed the way that I looked at life, and how I looked at myself. I recommend it only to brave souls who aren't afraid of what they might discover about themselves and the world around them.

Amazingly real terror and fear of pain in life!

This book is written like most people think and really talk out loud to themselves. It is poetry and shame. Horror and fear. You feel every sence the writter wants to envelope you in. It is real writting! If you can get your hands on a copy, you should find a quiet and warm place and allow this stranger in.