The Sign for Home was a pleasant surprise of a read.

At the onset, it was a bit of an awkward immersion, as the chapters are structured in a two person narrative with Cyril voiced in first person and Arlo voiced in second person. A second person POV is just such a rare thing. Even rarer is one that actually works...and this one did. Once I got past the oddness of the "you" voicing, I was able to read Arlo's sections as internal dialogue and it was effective in helping me feel things from Arlo's point-of-view quite well.

Arlo's situation is heart wrenching. There is so much that occurs in his life that really demonstrates how disabled individuals are often sidelined. He isn't able to fully advocate for himself or live as an independent adult. He is infantilized by his uncle and his life is controlled by those around him. As a result, he is terribly naive and unprepared for the real world. It was so sad to read his story and there were times that the situation elicited a very strong impulse to be livid with Brother Birch and his horrible treatment. The writing of Arlo's character is very well done and I truly felt that he was fleshed out like a real human. I would have liked to have a bit more of this approach with Cyril. He was a good character, but didn't get quite the same thorough exploration.

There is a lot of emotional and intellectual impact to this book. I was really surprised at how much is packed in this novel. It opened my eyes to the lack of fully efficient accessibility there is in our society.
I learned so much about the DeafBlind community. The depictions of struggles with every day life events that we often take for granted had me reevaluating how I see the world.

The depiction of the Jehovah's Witness religion was a mixed bag. It did illustrate the restrictiveness of the religion, but I think it also unfortunately portrayed the whole religion in a negative light. I am not JW myself, but it felt a little unfair to characterize the whole religion as bad. The sheltered life that Arlo led was well portrayed and did feel realistic, but there was just a twinge to things that felt like it was giving JW a bit of an evil feel.

The plot was well constructed and appropriately complex, but I was slightly disappointed in the ending. It felt like things went a little off the rails and the events were somewhat rushed and mildly unrealistic. I did enjoy the ending and found it appropriate given the arc of the story, but it didn't feel as carefully constructed and thought out as the remainder of the novel.

The Sign for Home is an emotionally impactful read with great characterization and a creative plot structure. It moved quite well, kept my attention, and had me experiencing an attachment to the realistic characters. An excellent debut and fantastic representation.