Girl in Translation

by Jean Kwok

Hardcover, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Riverhead Hardcover (2010), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 304 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. HTML:From the author of Searching for Sylvie Lee, the iconic, New York Times-bestselling debut novel that introduced an important Chinese-American voice with an inspiring story of an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures. When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life�like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family's future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition�Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles. Through Kimberly's story, author Jean Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely hear about. Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant-a moving tale of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in translation.… (more)

Media reviews

Chinese Culture Center

Through Kimberly's story, author Jean Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely

hear about. Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant—a moving tale of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in translation.

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Library Journal

Kwok adeptly captures the hardships of the immigrant experience and the strength of the human spirit to survive and even excel despite the odds.

User reviews

LibraryThing member TooBusyReading

I can't do justice to this book, you need to read it for yourself. A novel told in the first person, it is a simple story. Eleven-year old Kim Chang and her mother come to Brooklyn from Hong Kong while they can. They work hard, live in desperate poverty, and are hurt by the family already in

Brooklyn who should be helping them. Kim tries to be a good student despite the language barrier and students and teachers who treat her badly and contemptuously. After school, she helps her mother in her illegal and obscenely low-paying sweatshop job from which she can't escape. Her mother never quite gets the hang of American language or culture, and Kim is her interpreter. She is a child who must behave as an adult much too soon, and doesn't always succeed at it. This is the story of her childhood in America.

It is a story of love, pride, friendship, stereotypes, culture clashes, betrayal, and determination. The characters become real, and some of them I want to hug, some of them I want to slap, especially Mr. Bogart and Aunt Paula. It is written without sentimentality but with great heart. The story will stay with me for a long time, long after I've read and forgotten many other novels.

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LibraryThing member pdebolt

Jean Kwok has written a captivating novel about an 11-year old girl, Kim, and her widowed mother who immigrate from China to the United States. They are sponsored by her Aunt Paula, whose demands upon the two define the meaning of "pound of flesh." Through Aunt Paula's "generosity," they live in an

apartment in a soon-to-be-condemned building in Brooklyn, and Kim's mother works in a sweatshop owned by Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob for meager wages, out of which she repays Aunt Paula (with interest) the debts they owe to her. Kim's stellar academic performance eventually provides a way out of their poverty-stricken life.

I really liked the premise of this book. I found myself wondering how many Americans would have the courage and resolve to survive if transported to China under similar conditions. The conclusion is both affirming and heart-rending.

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LibraryThing member julierenee13

I won an early copy of this book and am so glad I did! This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is the coming of age story of Kimberly and her mother as they arrive to the US from Hong Kong. From their living conditions, work conditions, to Kimberly's schooling, no detail is

left out and the reader feels as though they are living this hard life. A beautifully written novel. I highly recommend it to anyone and to any book club.

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LibraryThing member varwenea

In this book about immigrants, the 11 year old Kimberly Chung moves to Brooklyn from Hong Kong with her mom, sponsored by her mom’s elder sister, Aunt Paula. Language barriers, financial struggles, school/life acclimations and young love are all the normal topics du jour. Tricked to live in

abandoned housing by Aunt Paula, Kim and ma worked endless hours at the clothing factory that Aunt Paula owns, repaying the debt of ma’s tuberculosis treatment costs in HK, the immigration fees (both with interest!), and rent plus utilities for the unlivable housing. Paid at per piece wage (an illegal practice) of $0.015 to bag skirts, their life seems doomed, and Kim was determined to help her family with her one tool – her brains.

I really wanted to like this book more – be touched by it and especially to relate to it. (I was a nearly 9.5 year old immigrant to SF from HK.) There are definitely the heart-tucking moments, the relatable events, with a few “I don’t need to be reminded of this” cringes. Being able to translate the Cantonese terms, such as heart stem, into the exact Chinese characters was a bonus. But it lost me along the way.

The Good:
- I LOVED the way Ms. Kwok used misspelled or incorrect words to denote the vocabulary that Kim didn’t know. That was exactly how I heard sentences, with gaps and/or incorrect fillers guessing at the meaning hoping I’m answering correctly.
- Kim excelled in math and sciences while failing vocabulary heavy classes such as social studies. I stumped a teacher or two with my A’s and C’s/D’s/F’s between the two categories of classes. The evil Mr. Bogart gave me some laughs/cringes too.
- It is very accurate that the child (or the eldest of the children) becomes pseudo adult upon arriving in the U.S. They learn English faster, and they acclimate faster than the parents. I forged every single parental signature that I can remember from 5th grade onwards.
- Needless to say the cultural divide is a transition that requires compromises between Kim and ma and some creative lying on Kim’s part. Been there, done that.

The Bad: Many of these books have a common error where they take everything to the extremes of all possible situations. (Amy Tan’s “Kitchen God’s Wife” is guilty of this too.) This book has these moments too.
- Living in crammed dilapidated housing is pretty common; living in condemned housing with broken windows and no heat is not. (I certainly have seen more cockroaches than I ever want to see for the rest of my life.)
- Working in clothing factory and being paid at per piece are both fairly common. Having the workers’ children also work is kind of iffy since space is a luxury. The flow of untrained labor hungry for a few dollars doesn’t necessitate the need for child labor. They tend to get underfoot and is problematic for efficiency.
- Kim’s super intellect gives the novel its main plot, but it makes her less real too.
- The twist near the end which I won’t reveal was a bit of “let’s throw the kitchen sink at it also”. Argh.

Maybe I’m too close to the subject at hand. I wonder if this would be a better book if Kimberly Chung is a bit more ‘normal’ smart, which makes her more relatable, and the story more realistic. In the end, I’m glad I read it. It reminded me that my childhood could have been worse, and I could have struggled even more.

Some Quotes:

On homework – argh, I remember these. I was also lucky, surrounded by immigrants. Teachers were more aware of our limitations. (The most difficult was college when I couldn’t afford lab materials.)
“It seemed Mr. Bogart went out of his way to choose assignments that were practically impossible for me, although now I think that he was simply thoughtless: write a page describing your bedroom and the emotional significance of objects in it (as if I had my own room filled with treasured toys); make a poster about a book you’ve read (with what materials?); make a collage about the Reagan administration using pictures from old magazines (Ma bought a Chinese newspaper only once in a while.) I did my best but he didn’t understand. Half-hearted attempt, he wrote. Incomplete. Careless. A pictorial collage should not by definition include Chinese text.”

On unhappiness:
“Our living conditions didn’t change but with time, I stopped allowing myself to be conscious of my own unhappiness.”
And:
“What Annette didn’t understand was that silence could be a great protector. I couldn’t afford to cry when there was no escape. Talking about my problems would only illuminate the lines of my unhappiness in the cold light of day, showing me, as well as her, the things I had been able to bear only because they had been half hidden in the shadows. I couldn’t expose myself like that, not even for her.”

On abstract art:
“Because when something is not realistic, it becomes a container for whatever you want it to be. Like a word or a symbol or a vase. You can pour anything you want into it.”

On a broken heart:
“When she saw us, she seemed heartbroken, her grief so complete that it left no room for anger. I thought, I never want to love someone like that, not even Matt, so much that there would be no room left for myself, so much that I wouldn’t be able to survive if he left me.”

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LibraryThing member Soniamarie

Remember the popular song in the 90s, It's a Hard Knock Life? That song kept popping into my head as I read this novel. For Kimberly, a Chinese immigrant residing in the slums of Brooklyn, it's a hard knock life indeed. Her mother and her come from Hong Kong when Kimberly is approximately eleven

years of age and fully dependent on Aunt Paula, a jealous relative, they find themselves living intimately with roaches and rats in a garbage-bag-in-place-of-windows, illegal apartment with no heat or air. While struggling to learn English in public school, Kimberly also helps her mom work in Aunt Paula's sweatshop.

Kimberly soon realizes that the only way to turn her sob story into a success story is thru education. This novel is all about her school years from the age of eleven to the time of graduation when a very adult Kimberly tries to get her mother and herself out of the roach infested apartment and far away from Aunt Paula's control and wrath. It's a journey full of hard knocks, but this gal doesn't let life knock her down. Reading about Kimberly growing up, finding herself, and growing a backbone was like watching a flower evolve from a bud to a fully opened delight.

Can this girl that barely speaks any English and curls up with blankets from a dumpster while stomping on the floor to scare off roaches achieve the American dream? Can a young immigrant dressed in rags and castoffs find love? Scholarships are great, but they don't guarantee happiness...

I really enjoyed this. I enjoyed seeing American public school from the eyes of an immigrant. I even found bits of humor here and there. (The Sahara pipeline.. LOL) I found myself cheering for the heroine constantly. This is one that is staying on my bookshelves.

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LibraryThing member Copperskye

Girl in Translation is a lovely coming of age/immigrant story. Kim and her mother, who had enjoyed a comfortable life in Hong Kong, immigrate to the US and find themselves living in a Brooklyn slum and working in a Chinatown sweatshop, both complements of a bitter relative. Some aspects of the plot

shifted the credulity meter into the red but still a wholly engrossing read, filled with characters with whom you’ll find yourself caring about and rooting for. This a good book to settle in with and enjoy.

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LibraryThing member Carolee888

From the first page to the end, I felt at home with the characters, the mother referred to as "Ma" and the eleven year old Kimberly Chang. Emigrating from Hong Kong to Brooklyn, they were under the rule of Aunt Paula. She found housing for them, in a horrible apartment filled with roaches, mice and

peeling walls. The heat was did not work. Her mother wanted something better for her daughter than in their small apartment with concrete floors in Hong Kong. To pay off the cost of the trip to Aunt Paula, the mother had to work very long hours in sweat shop with terrible health conditions. The lint from the cheap materials was thick on the floors. Aunt Paula paid wages by the piece which is illegal. The people operating the steamer risked permanent injury to their hands. The little girl, Kimberly had to join her mother in the sweat shop after school.

This book takes Kimberly from eleven years old to adult life. It shows the turmoil of trying to fit in and grow up emotionally, what it is like to hide an important parts of your life from both your Chinese and your school friend.
Jean Kwok used many of her own experiences writing this insightful book. The author also worked in sweatshop. This book demonstrates the love, determination, persistence and fortitude of the Chinese mother and daughter. It also shows the living and working conditions that poor immigrants still face today. It shows that double life the children have to live, not only going to school that only speaks English but hiding the facts of their living conditions from their closest friends.

The ones who succeed like Jean Kwok and her family must be very strong to struggle against these conditions and ultimately triumph. I recommend this to everyone who wants to know the story of America.

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LibraryThing member JolleyG

Jean Kwok has written an intensely evocative story of the Chinese immigrant experience. What saves this story from being a depressing exposition of the usual sequence of events is that her heroine is an exceptionally gifted person with the force of personality to change her life. In this regard, it

is instructive to reread the prologue after you finish the book.

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LibraryThing member bookaholicmom

This is a nice coming-of-age story. It's also a debut novel but sure does not read like this is the author's first novel. Kimberly Chang and her mother immigrate from Hong Kong to New York to what they hope will be a better life. However, they are sponsored by Kimberly's aunt and uncle who put them

to work in their sweatshop as repayment for their trip to America. They are put up in an abandoned apartment building owned by the aunt and uncle. They live in squalor among roaches and rats with the oven providing the only heat in the apartment. It doesn't take Kimberly long to realize the only way out of their situation is through her education. Kimberly studies hard and is given a scholarship to a top school where she excels. Kimberly, who is quite mature for her age, is caught up between the world of poverty in which she lives and the world of her classmates, who mostly come from well to do families. She struggles to keep her life at home a secret from her classmates.

I really appreciated the relationship between Kimberly and her mother. They both counted on each other to survive. When life took a bad turn they were really there for each other.

I liked this book a lot. It wasn't a rosy coming-of-age story like one might think it would be. I could feel the struggles, pride, and heartbreak that Kimberly and her mother both must have felt. I highly recommend this book

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LibraryThing member anovelsource1

Girl In Translation is about a young girl, Kimberly - aged 11, who moves to the United States with her mother from China to begin a new life away from Communist rule. Paula is Kimberly's aunt, her mother's sister, who has paid their passage to the U.S. Unbeknownst to Kimberly, her mother, or "Ma"

as she calls her, was going to have to work in the garment factory owned by Aunt Paula and her husband in order to pay off the debt of their passage AND the care she received while Ma was ill from tuberculosis.

It was heartbreaking to read the first several chapters and know without a doubt these things happen to immigrants. No matter how you feel about the immigrant situation in the United States, or whatever country you are from (I'm sure most countries have immigration problems), reading the horrors of the winter months endured under every stitch of clothing, fabric, newspaper, etc. on a bare mattress in the floor while roaches crawled up the wall does not sound like my idea of fun. And to have suffered through this winter after agonizing winter while Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob silently watched and gloated over their own prosperity is sick, just sick.

Girl In Translation is about a young girl who moved to the United States with her mother, learned the English language both in self-defense and offense, was both child and caretaker to a mother who found it too difficult to learn the language, had to work in the garment factory alongside her mother just so they could survive, and in the short span of a year proved to a school how brilliant she truly was.

My Final Thoughts:
I did get frustrated with Kimberly's actions and segments of the plot toward the end of the book; however sharing plotline frustrations are definite spoilers. I'm going to be very interested to see what other reviewers say about this book.

The author was incredibly talented in creating the dialogue of the characters. It was so pitch perfect I truly felt I was in China Town in New York City!

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LibraryThing member THEPRINCESS

Quick, easy read about a mother and daughter who immigrated to NY thanks to the mother's cruel sister who treats them terribly, puts them in abominable housing (actually almost unbelievable) and makes them work in her sweatshop for years. In the mean time the daughter, who is a genius, tries to

navigate the new country and language and provide services to her mother while trying to get a education that seems the only way out for them. There are many interesting events and people in this story but some of them are such a stretch of the imagination as to be unbelievable almost to the point of a fairy tale. Interesting reading but not something I would recommend to anyone over 14.

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LibraryThing member ofabookworm

As Kimberly and her mother fight to get out from under the grasp of their jealous and somewhat despotic relative, Aunt Paula, readers are taken along on Kimberly's journey of growth and discovery. Through the use of subtle and clever language translations, Kwok brings to life the difficulties of

reconciling one's heritage with modern American life; through stark descriptions of the poverty of the Chang family, Kwok reveals the startling realities of meager living. The novel moves somewhat slowly through the beginning, but Kwok really finds her feet on the ground by the last few chapters, giving readers a fascinating and heartbreaking tale of immigration, poverty, aspirations, friendship, love and sacrifice. Definitely recommend.

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LibraryThing member amandacb

Overall, I am pleasantly pleased with Kwok's contemporary fiction about Chinese immigrants struggling to survive in New York's gritty underbelly. Kwok spent much of the novel focusing on Kimberly's younger years, fleshing out the trials the mother and daughter faced as they barely spoke English and

as Kimberly spent the day in school and the nights helping her mother in a factory.

The ending felt extremely rushed, which is my only complaint. The novel, if fleshed out as evenly as the first three-fourths of the book, could easily have been another 200 pages; however, Kwok quickly cut to Kim's later life. It felt unevent and strange to accept this precocious teenager as the woman she is sketched out to be at the end. At any rate, the first 3/4 of the novel is highly enjoyable.

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LibraryThing member efoltz

I received a free early reviewer copy of Girl in Translation and fell in love with the story. Kimberly and her mother arrive in the US from Hong Kong with help from Kimberly's aunt. This coming of age story details the trials of their living conditions, work conditions, schooling, and family

obligations/debt.

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LibraryThing member Jeanomario

Simple, direct and unencumbered, I love the clarity of Kimberly and her American experience. This book reads very fast in a straight-forward narrative style. The movie in my mind, created by Kwok's story-telling, is vivid and realistic.

LibraryThing member shearon

Back in 2000 when my daughter was in sixth grade I started a mother-daughter book group. We read a number of coming of age novels: stories about girls growing up and discovering the world and themselves, and the strong and smart ones overcoming all kinds of adversity, and often with bittersweet

endings of lessons learned and prices paid for (ultimately) good, but hard life decisions. Girl in Translation fits that description perfectly.

Kimberly Chang and her mother arrive in the United States in the mid 1990's when she is eleven. Poor and owing money to unscrupulous relatives, they are set up in a horrid apartment and her mother is given a job in a sweatshop clothing factory. Kimberly is a very smart, driven girl and strives to overcome language and cultural barriers. She eventually gets into a private school where her intellectual abilities are recognized and nurtured. But outside school she leads a very different life from her privileged New York classmates: she works at the factory for hours every day after school to help support herself and her mother and then comes homes to an unheated, insect and rodent infested apartment where they are forced to keep the oven on just to keep from freezing to death.

Kimberly is also straddling the differences between the insular Chinese culture of her family, the factory and Chinatown and the broader world that her exceptional intelligence opens up to her. She finds love with a Chinese boy, also struggling to support his family, but whose aspirations for his own life and theirs together are so less ambitious and more traditional than hers that she has to make a heart-wrenching and life altering decision as to which path to follow.

I highly recommend this book for young adult readers, especially young women, although other readers will enjoy it too. The author creates believable and interesting characters. We get a look into the immigrant experience, including the reality for many of prejudice, poverty and sweatshop employment. And the story ends not happily ever after, but reflecting the joys and sorrows of life's choices.

And as for my book group: the girls went to college in 2006 and will be graduating this spring. But even after ten years, the mothers still meet just about monthly to drink wine -- and discuss books. I think we will read this one.

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LibraryThing member mzonderm

For some reason, I was surprised that I enjoyed this book so much. Perhaps my surprise came from the fact that I thought it would be very predictable, but it wasn't. Each time I thought I knew the directions in which Kwok was going to send her characters, I was wrong. Add to that the excellent

writing, which pulls you into the story immediately, and I was really impressed by this book.

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LibraryThing member labfs39

What a fabulous novel by a first time author! I had just finished reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy "another" Chinese American immigration story. I couldn't have been more wrong. The story line can break your heart with its clear, unpitying description of the

utter poverty and isolation some new immigrants face, and yet never does the plot cross the line into maudlin sappiness. The heroine of the story, 11-year-old Kimberly, is brilliant and hard-working, but saved from the stereotype of "hard-working immigrant makes good" by her confused efforts that sometimes make things worse and her adolescent angst. I honestly had no idea how the book would end and enjoyed it to the last page.

In addition to a great plot, Jean Kwok is simply a fantastic writer. From concise description to well-drawn characters to dialogue devices such as the use of italics in conversations to show words that Kimberly misunderstood, Kwok is a master of her craft. I can not wait to read more from this talented new author. Kudos!

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LibraryThing member kakadoo202

nice but not the level of Lisa See. The characters are black and white, bad or good, nothing between. The girl is lucky to be smart to have all the doors opening for her. Not very realiztic, but a nice story to read for a lazy afternoon.

LibraryThing member revzonian

I love coming-of-age novels and Asian authors, so this was the perfect book for me from the get-go. Thank you, Penguin Group, for the uncorrected proof. I really, really enjoyed this novel about a Chinese girl from Hong Kong who enters the 6th grade in a public school in Brooklyn knowing very

little English and works in a sweat shop in Chinatown. This may be cliche, but she is hard-working and intelligent, and she wins a full scholarship to the top schools, but still has to work alongside her mother in order to repay their debts to her aunt and uncle, their sponsors for immigration. It is so well-written that I finished the book in 3 days. The characters were very realistic, as are the challenges that Kimberly, the main character, faces: fitting in, keeping secrets, respecting others, gaining power, pursuing dreams, and being in love. Being Chinese myself, I had fun trying to figure out how things would have been said in Chinese, like "How dare you give me so little face?" Many of the other sayings that are phonetically written in English are translated. What grabbed me the most, is the love story between Kim and Matt. While I can't say I'm happy with the ending, I am content knowing that Kim survives and almost has it all.

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LibraryThing member Laurenbdavis

Jean Kwok has talent - a nice voice, a sense of humor, and a knack for creating sympathetic characters. This immigrant coming-of-age story has much to recommend it. Some of the ways in which Ms. Kwok plays with words, particularly in the beginning of the book, are quite lovely. Her ability to draw

the reader into the world of someone struggling with culture and language is impressive.

It's a quick and engaging read, with a plucky and courageous female point of view character. However, it suffers from a few problems. First, Kim, the POV character, is SO brilliant and resourceful that by mid-point in the book she begins to lack credibility. The plot is predictable, while at the same time somewhat implausible. The conditions under which Kim and her mother live (in excruciating poverty, with no heat, no hot water, in a rat and cockroach infested apartment), while possibly realistic, lead this reader to conclude there would be far more consequences. My own experiences with poverty (although not nearly so extreme) have been filled with illness, crime, despair, and exhaustion. Kim excels at school, even while working long after-school hours in the same sweatshop as her mother, to the degree that she wins scholarships to one great school after another.

Then, too, some of her behavior later in the novel, seems out of character given her previously established obedience and doggedness. The love interests, while often nicely written, seem too-familiar, and the ending was too predictable, convenient and ultimately unsatisfying.

In the end, I found the book a pleasant read, particularly in the early to middle sections. The last third, however, failed to maintain the book's early promise.

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LibraryThing member lahochstetler

The coming of age story of a young woman who emigrates from Hong Kong to New York City, this book follows Kimberly Chang as she tries to make her way in a foreign country. Upon arrival Kimberly and her mother find themselves adrift in a world of poverty and sweatshop labor. Kimberly's saving grace

is her tremendous intelligence, which she quickly realizes is her only ticket out of the sweatshops. Following Kimberly from age eleven through high school, Kwok provides a stark portrait of the challenges faced by American immigrants: systemic poverty, intolerance, language barriers, exhaustive work schedules, and cultural traditions which allow respect to some of the worst offenders here, personified by Kwok in Kimberly's aunt, a slumlord who lords over the sweatshop where her niece and sister toil. All of this misery aside, this is a story about people, and Kimberly is an engaging character, who engages the reader in her efforts to make friends, navigate teenage love, and pursue a way out of the sweatshop through academic excellence. In some ways this is a classic story of American immigration, much like many others, but compelling characters and several intertwined plots make this fresh enough to be well worth reading.

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LibraryThing member kitkeller

This arrived as an "Early Reviewer" book and I have thoroughly enjoyed the story. Kwok tells a compelling story about what it's like to try to fit in when nothing about you is typical or routine. Her casual descriptions of the poverty and grinding schedule this young girl and her mother endure are

authentic and wrenching. I highly recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member jyothisays

really enjoyed this touching story. I read it in one sitting so it was quite an emotional roller coaster. It's a very compelling read.

LibraryThing member browngirl

Kimberly finds herself trapped in the jealous grip of her mother's sister as they work for peanuts in her clothing factory (read sweatshop) to repay the expenses of their move to America that include squalid living conditions. She initially struggles in her new school as her teacher has no empathy

for his students' struggles with language, poverty, or any other hardship. Kimberly soon realizes that education is her and her mother's salvation. While she focuses on her studies which lead to her exemplary turn at an exclusive private school for gifted students, she also finds herself falling for one of the boys who works in the factory.

Kwok's beautifully written debut novel is such a refreshing take on the immigrant story. I felt like a voyeur as I watched Kimberly triumph over innumerable obstacles with an amazing unwavering determination but without some neat bow tied ending. The author's command of language leaps off the page in her use of colorful Chinese colloquialisms and Kimberly's early attempts at decoding many of the new English words she hears. I can't say more without obnoxious babbling. But, I am gushing over Jean Kwok's Girl In Translation. I just adore this novel immensely and how I was allowed to become invested in such a remarkable character's life.

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