A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

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A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

3.36 of 5 stars 3.36 · rating details · 2,009 ratings · 344 reviews

When a young Chinese woman, newly arrived in London, moves in with her English boyfriend, she decides it’s time to write a Chinese-English dictionary for lovers. Xiaolu’s first novel in English is an utterly original journey of self-discovery.

Paperback, 256 pages

Published March 27th 2007 by Chatto & Windus (first published 2007)

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Dec 11, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, character-heavy, personal-favorite

(My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So first, a confession from my personal life that is relevant to today's essay; that like many others, I too once fell in love with someone while on a foreign trip, in many ways precisely because it was a foreign country and she was a foreigner within that country. And like many others, it wasn't just simple lust that ma...more (My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So first, a confession from my personal life that is relevant to today's essay; that like many others, I too once fell in love with someone while on a foreign trip, in many ways precisely because it was a foreign country and she was a foreigner within that country. And like many others, it wasn't just simple lust that made me fall in love with this person so intensely in such a short period, nor just a shared set of opinions and tastes; it was that I was feeling so scared and confused and alone in that foreign country, not able to even begin expressing myself adequately there about the emotions I was having, with this good-looking woman suddenly there and seemingly understanding everything I was going through without me ever having to say anything. In the middle of a very stressful international trip, she became a life preserver that I threw myself at, a small moment of calm in an unending storm that had been happening for nearly a month at the point I met her. And this of course is why the woman was ultimately not interested in a romance with me, because she understood where these emotions of mine were coming from, that for me it was all about the experience and little to do with her in particular; and she knew this of course because she had done some international traveling herself in the past, and had had the exact same experience that I was going through, but in her case did end up getting romantically involved with the person in question, which of course ended in disaster a few months later, such a surety that you didn't even really need me to mention it.

Like I said, it's a well-known story from the world of international travel, a situation that is tackled once again in the extremely delightful new novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, the first English-language book by Chinese-British author Xiaolu Guo, one that was short-listed for this year's Orange Prize and has gone on to become a surprise commercial hit. Based on Guo's own experiences when first moving to London at the turn of the millennium, the novel uses a personal-journal format to track the first year of a new immigrant, using only the words that immigrant knows at any given moment; it's a literary trick that could've been awfully gimmicky if flubbed, but here Guo uses it to profoundly comment on Western culture from the eyes of an Easterner, to use the difficulty of a new language to metaphorically examine the entire society that uses the language. It is a book simultaneously laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreakingly sad, a story that will strike a lot of powerful (and sometimes painful) chords among anyone who has done any amount of international traveling themselves; one of those books that makes you want to run out and buy a bunch of copies, so that you can slap them into friends' hands and yell, "See, this is why I go to all the trouble that I do so that I can travel. Read this and you'll finally get it." Oh, and did I mention that it's really freakin' dirty too? It's really freakin' dirty too, not in a shockingly pornographic way (as are many of the sexual projects that get reviewed here), but rather in a delightful and highly erotic way, with Guo again using the quirky details of the English language to get across some highly symbolic (and temperature-raising) mental images.

Like many travel stories, the actual plotline of Dictionary is a fairly simple one...(less)

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Jul 12, 2008 Vicky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, asian-slash-american, great-book-titles

Things I liked:

1)The title of this book, which is named after an actual Chinese to English dictionary.

2)Z's unintentional humor, like--"I not understanding what she saying. Mrs. Margaret have a neatly cut pale blonde hair, with very serious clothes. Top and her bottom always same colour. She not telling her age, but I guessing she from 31 to 56."

3)Z's language reflections, like--"I thought English is a strange language. Now I think French is even more strange. In France, their fish is poisson, t...more

7 likes · like · see review

Feb 28, 2009 Yulia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-to-me-by-frank, i-thought-i-hated-you, made-in-china

This is a charming and surprising book, but one that is also very frustrating to read (which is both a compliment and a complaint).

Note: It's best to read this book in the voice of someone struggring with Engrish. If you do so, it becoming easier adopting the tone and the mindset of the protagonist. (In my immigrant-raised habit of taking what is said and written with entire seriousness and my snobbery about proper grammar and pronunciation, I was initially offended by the author's choice to wr...more This is a charming and surprising book, but one that is also very frustrating to read (which is both a compliment and a complaint).

Note: It's best to read this book in the voice of someone struggring with Engrish. If you do so, it becoming easier adopting the tone and the mindset of the protagonist. (In my immigrant-raised habit of taking what is said and written with entire seriousness and my snobbery about proper grammar and pronunciation, I was initially offended by the author's choice to write in this broken voice, but then I saw that it couldn't have been otherwise and, really, would have been false if written correctly.)

Like the best travel writing, this book immerses the protagonist in the culture she's visiting, not as a tourist but an a true inhabitant. What results are amusing and sometimes quite mournful insights into culture an humanity. Her broken English belies her wisdom and awareness. But it is also about a girl who cannot go far enough from home to escape her insecurities.

In her not quite knowing how much she reveals in her confessions, the book presents an honest and stark portrayal of a girl-woman desperate for love, whether to escape her homeland or to escape her loneliness. I appreciated the stark honesty of her spoken words, as well as her jarring admission she wanted to isolate her lover from all his friends and to have him all for herself (which, to anyone aware of healthy relationships, can identify this as a paterrn of a dangerous possessiveness).

My main complaint is that her initial connection to "you," her English lover, is never convincingly established. They always seem to occupy different worlds, except perhaps when having sex. This is not a tale about meeting the right person at the wrong time or a tale of miscommunication due to language barriers or cultural differences. There is an inherent divide between the two lovers' needs and goals.

While I was constantly baffled by her asking him if they should be together forever (when he states repeatedly that he's a loner and can't make any promises about future), perhaps this was more skillfully done than I'd first perceived. Interestingly, it seems "you" understood this, but "I," the narrator, did not.

I was left very saddened by the story and I want to reread it one day, to determine which of my problems with the book were intentional choices on the writer's part and which should simply have been better explained (like her lover's not minding her moving in with her so suddenly, when he valued his personal space so much). But in the end, these are small complaints. I was very satisfied by this book and look forward to reading her other work. (less)

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Sep 24, 2007 Therese rated it 1 of 5 stars

YAWN.Couldn't finish it. The female protagonist, Z, is so feeble and boring. She has some kind of love affair with some old hippy guy. Blah. Am totally bummed cuz it was really horrible and maybe I'm just not 'getting' what it is all about to be an Asian woman in modern society. This made me angry with Z's timid comformity and neediness. And I thought the boyfriend was really annoying and disgusting. Meh. Read if you must. But there have to be better things out there to spend your time on.

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Aug 20, 2008 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just finished this quick read - it is interesting reading the view on the English language from Chinese that leads to confusion - such as why do we say "We are going to go..." why two verbs where they just have one? I also like how as the chapters progress the English of the narrator is becoming better. The definition of the word at the start of each chapters holds the deeper meaning of that short chapter theme.

I enjoyed this for the view it gave me of the English to Chinese translation and per...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Osho rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

Both funny and poignant, this novel uses a word and definition to open each chapter of the narrator's diary or notebook. A student from China in England, she writes in English, which improves over time, as does her ability to express more complex and nuanced ideas and emotions. At times it's hilarious and the observations pithy; at others it is a tale of protracted yearning. A very enjoyable novel, perhaps especially so for English as a Foreign Language teachers.

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Dec 22, 2012 Emelie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: england, uk, london, read-in-2012, diary, contemporary, 21st-century, published-2000s, romance, contemporary-romance, novels, literature, asian-literature, chinese-literature, adult-fiction

Hm.

This book took me through many stages of star-rating. It first begun with me thinking it a two star, then upgraded a bit to a three star and eventually landed me with the feeling it was worth four stars.

It's a well written tale of how a girl grows into a woman. It has interesting observations of cultural clashes, poetic wisdom and thoughts about life. The characters feels humane and real and the love relationship feels very realistic with it's emotions and pace.

I would recommend it.

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Aug 23, 2008 Gitta rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Craggy, life-size account of a Chinese woman's experiences when she arrives in London to learn English and falls in love with an English man.

I was a bit disappointed by the inconsistent use of 'bad' English; the conceit of learning vocabulary, grammatical rules etc doesn't work as well when, early in the book, she's using 'me' and 'I" quite well, and then lapses completely much later on when it's the focus of a chapter.
As a bilingual writer I would have expected more accuracy (not that I know a...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 30, 2008 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008-reads, favourites, china

I completely identified with this book because it brilliantly captures the feeling of immersing oneself in a foreign language and culture. What happens when you begin to fluently speak, live and love in another language is fascinating. What the author conveys so well here is how the beliefs impregnated within the language alter how you interact with people and conduct relationships.

I loved Z and her practical wisdom. Her 5 week solo travel stint through Europe in many ways felt eerily similar t...more

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Mar 04, 2008 brian tanabe rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a beautiful little book. What a tragic love story. What a sexual coming-of-age tale. What a narrative on the Everyman being a broken man. What an account of the cultural differences between the east and the west. What an illustration of an asian woman in western society.

This is a powerful book about love in a modern relationship told through a captivating narrative.

In the beginning and in the end it is a love story -- a very sad love story but a completely realistic love story, a true lov...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 16, 2007 Jessica Brockmole rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

A young Chinese woman comes to London to study English for a year. As she learns the language, she also learns about love and independence. The language in the book changes, starting with very poor, stilted English, peppered with errors, to near-fluent English at the end.

I really liked the concept of the book and it was a lot of fun to read the main characters language at the beginning, as she tries to learn English. Although I liked the style, I didn't care much for the story or for the charact...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Lily rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was interested in this book as an overseas Taiwanese / ABC (American-born Chinese). The style of writing may be trying for some, but for a Chinese person it's quite easy to read (although I wasn't sure if all the words and phrases she uses really reflect how most Chinese people learning English speak or write). It starts off promisingly and I could identify with some of the cultural issues the main character was struggling with. I also recognized some aspects of her from some people I have kno...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Kami added it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I love the core concept of this book: Chinese girl visits a Western land, learns some things and continues to find other things baffling. To that end this book is executed quite well: I really started to get into the broken English, although it made for a challenging read, and I loved the way Z comes up with the most beautiful and profound thoughts, both in her awkward English and the improved version she can speak towards the end of the book.

But then, there was the romance side of things, which...more I love the core concept of this book: Chinese girl visits a Western land, learns some things and continues to find other things baffling. To that end this book is executed quite well: I really started to get into the broken English, although it made for a challenging read, and I loved the way Z comes up with the most beautiful and profound thoughts, both in her awkward English and the improved version she can speak towards the end of the book.

But then, there was the romance side of things, which slowly slid towards awful. Z's lover is portrayed as a profound and world-weary man with twenty years of wisdom on Z. But he actually appears to be just a weak, pretentious dick. He accuses Z of being too clingy and needy all the time, something she reflects on herself and which is mentioned in many other reviews on this site.

However, his disinterest in her is probably a large part of her neediness. He nags her into travelling by herself because he doesn't want her dependent on him, which does enlighten her in some quite significant ways, but then chooses to invite all his friends around on the day she returns, as if he is entirely indifferent to whether she returns or not! He keeps her close enough for sex and for being his personal maid, then has the nerve to critique her cleaning abilities and answer her questions about where their relationship is going with vague philosophical mutterings! It doesn't seem unreasonable for a woman in Z's position to want to know where things stand a little earlier than would otherwise be normal. In any case, all this 'nobody can know the future' nonsense is a blatant cop-out. He's not fooling anybody; he's just as immature as she is. He blames her conversation and constant language questions for feeling creatively crushed, but it's clear he's just a not very talented or dedicated artist and the sort of person who is unwilling to do whatever difficult thing he needs to do in order to be happy. His claim to fame is, get this, leaving home. He doesn't seem to realise that Z has done this and more besides.

Z is at fault for sticking around for way too long when the relationship is clearly not going in the direction she wants, and for her majorly uncool skirting-around and actual infidelity. So this is an 'everyone is an idiot' story rather than a 'what a jerk dude' story. But I think it is a pity that any real depth that could be extracted from this collision of cultures is wasted by involving Z with a guy whose problems are eternally beyond her comprehension, who is not representative of the average adult guy, no matter what some would like to believe!(less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Cameron Mulder rated it 4 of 5 stars

I decided that I wanted to try reading something a little different than my usual non-fiction and scifi book so when a friend of mine from Taiwan recommend A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers I figured I might as well give it a try and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed reading this book.

The book is a diary of a young woman from China who goes to London to study English and ends up in a relationship with an older man. It explores the issue of cross cultural communication and more ge...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Alicia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiographical-fiction, romance, coming-of-age

First of all, I have to say that I enjoyed the ingenuity of the progression of language of this book. Not even that, I loved the format of this book as a whole. Xiaolu Guo begins the novel with the narrator using broken English, and as the story progresses, which corresponds with the main character's learning of English, the language flourishes and becomes more complex and what many may call "correct English". Also the chapters are broken down into months, and within these chapters are subsectio...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Zhuang Xiao Qiao (known in the book as "Z") is the only daughter of a lower-middle class family from Zhe Jiang, China. After giving up farming her parents open a small shoe factory; hoping language skills will improve their factory's prospects, they send her to London for a year to study. Z, born in July 1979, arrives in London in February 2003. The book's format follows Z through the calendar year she spends in London; each month is broken into short chapters titled with a new English word Z ha...more

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Mar 22, 2012 LindyLouMac rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first started to read this I was put off by the way it has been deliberately written in bad English. However once I got to grips with this and realised it was really a necessary and integral part of the novel I began to enjoy it much more, finding it both witty and charming.

Zhuang is twenty three years old and her parents have sent her to spend a year in London to learn English to enable her to return to China and help them expand their shoe factory business. The bad English grammar of th...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Maan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Book #16 for 2012: I loved the unraveling, learning and embracing of language, culture and self. Xiaolu Guo is one of my favorite writers ever.

Favorite Lines/Quotes:

I say I think you beautiful, ignoring the age. I think you too beautiful for me, and I don't deserve you.

I don't feel any real love in my heart.

"To me, to live life is to live in the present." OK, live in the present, and which direction you leading then?"

If no need struggle then we don't know how to live anymore.

The speaker on th...more Book #16 for 2012: I loved the unraveling, learning and embracing of language, culture and self. Xiaolu Guo is one of my favorite writers ever.

Favorite Lines/Quotes:

I say I think you beautiful, ignoring the age. I think you too beautiful for me, and I don't deserve you.

I don't feel any real love in my heart.

"To me, to live life is to live in the present." OK, live in the present, and which direction you leading then?"

If no need struggle then we don't know how to live anymore.

The speaker on the platform renounces something loudly. It is 20:11. The train will leave in four minutes. I look around and ready to get on train. Suddenly, somebody is running towards me. It's him. The man offered me coffee in front of his doorsteps. He is running on the platform, and he is running towards me. I am stepping into the carriage, so I drop my bags on the floor and come out the train again. He stops right in front of me, breathless. We stare at each other. I hug him tightly and he hugs me tightly. I bury my head into his arms. I see my tears wet his black leather jacket. The smell of the leather jacket is strange, but somehow so familiar.
I am crying: "I don't want to go... I feel so lonely."
He hugs me, even tighter.
"You don't have to go."
"But I Have to go," I say.

English told that French are arrogant they don't like speak English. So I didn't try talk to anybody in France. But that's good for me. I don't even need to remember how to speak Chinese there.

He tells me his girlfriend one day came to Berlin and knocked on his door. She told him she wanted to finish this relationship. So he finished it in pain, as she decided. And he decided to change his life and go to work in other countries.

"In the West we are used to loneliness. I think it's good for you to experience loneliness, to explore what it feels like to be on your own. After a while, you will start to enjoy solitude. You won't be so scared of it anymore."

"I want to find happiness."
"You can't have happiness at all times. Sometimes you will be sad. Don't you think?"

Love is time-limited thing. Not infinite. It only exists in particular period of time. In Chinese, Love is (ai). It has no tense. No past and future. Love in Chinese means a being, a situation, a circumstance. Love is existence, holding past and future.

If our love existed in Chinese tense, then it will last forever. It will be infinite.

The Universe continues to be in the present tense.

Gustave Flaubert said, "In Pericles' time, the Greeks devoted themselves to art without knowing where the next day's bread might come from. Let us be Greeks!"

Fatalism. The belief that all events are predetermined and people are powerless to change their destinies. (less)

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Jan 04, 2012 Aina Bauer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This turned out to be a surprisingly good book for me, as I didn't expect at first when I started reading it.

Guo has written this story about a young, curious, quirky Chinese girl (she insists that people call her Z, because her Chinese name is too complicated for them to pronounce anyway, but begins with a Z), whom meets an older Englishman in London, and through some language misunderstandings ends up living with him, and having an affair. The book is intentionally written with some typical C...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Vanessa Wu rated it 4 of 5 stars

My boyfriend (who is English and reads the Guardian) gave me this book. My flatmate (who is Chinese and reads Grazia) borrowed it without asking. That's the trouble with talking to your flatmate about books. This week she's gone off to Austria with my copy of Candy (by Mian Mian) because I made the mistake of telling her how much I was enjoying it.

Back to this one by Xiaolu Guo. I avoided it for a while because it's written in bad English. My boyfriend found this cute but it's not good for me. I...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 02, 2011 Kathleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

A new woman from our book club recommended this book. I'm interested in cross-cultural relations. Yup, this is about a Chinese young woman meeting a middle-aged (deadbeat?!) Englishman. Lots of miscommunication -- between cultures - British and Chinese; and men and women. At times, it was amusing as we read the story through the eyes of a Chinese woman learning English. Also, it's a story of sexual-awakening - yup, another awakening! I like this quote (from the back of the book) - "Love" this En...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Anna Pearce rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodfiction, 50books_poc, give-away

I've purchased this book twice and read it many times. It makes me sad to give it away, but I can't keep carrying it around the world.

This is a story about love, but it's also a story about culture clash, and language, and misunderstandings. The cover copy tells me it's a comedy, but I mostly found it sad, and it left me longing.

The story itself is about Zhuang Xiao Qiao (she calls herself Z), who begins by arriving in London for a year-long study abroad program to learn English. She's very quic

...more I've purchased this book twice and read it many times. It makes me sad to give it away, but I can't keep carrying it around the world.

This is a story about love, but it's also a story about culture clash, and language, and misunderstandings. The cover copy tells me it's a comedy, but I mostly found it sad, and it left me longing.

The story itself is about Zhuang Xiao Qiao (she calls herself Z), who begins by arriving in London for a year-long study abroad program to learn English. She's very quickly overwhelmed by information and the confusion of live in the UK after growing up in rural China - I suspect the humour is supposed to come out of the culture clash, and her confusion of words. After feeling increasingly lonely and isolated, she meets a man who, through a misunderstanding, she ends up living with and falling in love. The rest of the book is detailing out their complicated relationship, with the clashes between Western and Eastern ideas, and Z's increasing self-awareness and maturity.

I think part of why I like this book so much is because of the narrative of being a stranger in a strange land. Certain I haven't experienced anything like the confusion that Z does in the book, but that feeling of being in a place where everything is backwards and upside down, and people do things that leave you completely confused, and even time itself seems to run differently, is something I can completely understand. I think the author manages to capture that quite well.

I also find Z herself a very interesting character, and I enjoy seeing London, Whales, and then parts of Europe, through her experiences.

The writing style, I think, could take a bit to get used to. The novel is written through Z's point of view, and part of that is that her English is very poor at the beginning, and improves throughout as she learns new words. As well, her lover is never named - he is just "you" throughout, but not in a way that reads as though the reader is who she's addressing. It's like you're reading Z's diary, in a way, the diary she addressed to her lover.

There is a sex scene later on in the book that would probably be labelled "dubious consent", but it's not written in a way that's exploitive. It's also very quick - I think it lasts less than a paragraph.

As I said, I hate to let this book go, and I have a sneaking suspicion I'll come across it again sometime and end up buying it for a third time. It's satisfying to read when one is feeling at loose ends about identity and where one belongs in the world, and I don't think those feelings are going to go away.

(less)

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Aug 11, 2010 Judy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010, adult

I'm not quite sure how feel about this book. What I liked, as many people mentioned, was the style. I thought the Chinglish felt natural and I often laughed at how Z misplaced words or made silly assumptions. I liked the progression from broken English to someone with a basic grasp of the language.

What I didn't like at all was Z herself. Her personality and her actions repulse me on many levels. I'm not sure why a country girl who immigrates to England would simply move in with a man she just m...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

I was going to pick this up a while back but something held me back, until I found it cheap in sale. Portraying it as a romantic comedy is slightly misleading. There is humour, initially and broadly from the poor use and understanding of the English language from 'Z' and her unwitting observations and then later from more intricate understanding of nationality and individuality. But it's no rom-com.

The romance and indeed the central relationship between him and her never comes across as meaning...more

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Jun 27, 2010 Joon rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. As an Asian-Australian woman I am always on the look out for interesting books about Asian women. I suppose you could say its a way for me to connect and learn more about my heritage. This booked leapt out at me from the shelves at my local library when browsing for trashy romance novels.

This novel tells the story of a Chinese girl named 'Z' who travels to the UK to learn English. There she falls in love with an older man. This tragic story is told in first person and Z's angsting over her rela...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Ursula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, england

(I have a paperback Advance Reading Copy.)

I had picked up this book ages ago and read the first few pages, then been put off by the broken English the beginning is written in. ("Is unbelievable, I arriving London, "Heathlow Airport". Every single name very difficult remembering, because just not "London Airport".) However, when I picked it up again and gave it another try, I found it very easy to get into the rhythm of the writing. Particularly if you know a little about Mandarin as a language,...more

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Dec 01, 2009 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Actually three and a half stars. An extremely interesting book. The question is: who does one sympathize with in this love story? I can't figure it out, and my mind kept changing throughout the text. Is the young Chinese woman (abroad for the first time in London to study English and falling in love with an older British man) to be admired for the clarity and simplicity with which she sees the world? Respected for her earnest and hard-fought struggle with a foreign culture? And empowered by her...more

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Feb 26, 2009 Sonia Gomes rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like to know about immigrants !

Recommended to Sonia by: Got it from British Library

Shelves: lost-in-translation

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
Author: Xiaolu Guo

When Zhuang arrives in London for her studies in English, everything is so different for her, observations of her Hostel, food and London and even her teacher, Mrs. Margaret are extremely funny, everything is strange, everything is new, not always pleasant but new, there are phrases like
‘Sorry for my English”, or ‘ Now I am studying hard on English, soon I stealing their language too’
Soon she meets an older man at a movie theate...more A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
Author: Xiaolu Guo

When Zhuang arrives in London for her studies in English, everything is so different for her, observations of her Hostel, food and London and even her teacher, Mrs. Margaret are extremely funny, everything is strange, everything is new, not always pleasant but new, there are phrases like
‘Sorry for my English”, or ‘ Now I am studying hard on English, soon I stealing their language too’
Soon she meets an older man at a movie theater and moves in with him. Of course she now has someone to talk to, question him endlessly on the English language, be warm when she sleeps, and it is much more convenient financially too, she pays no rent and food is free. He on the other hand finds her a novelty, someone he can experiment with, teach and enjoy the freshness, like a flower or a juicy fig just waiting to be opened. This is in the first days when all they could think of was sex. Then the culture differences set in.
A talk on the concept of heaven ‘eastern and western’ elicits complete confusion from her, “ You look at me 'surprisely'. You know I like to fight. I am woman warrior. I like to do everything through fighting. I fight for everything. Struggle for everything. We Chinese are used to struggle get everything: food, education, house, freedom, visa, and human rights. If no need to struggle then we don’t know how to live anymore”
She looks down at the peasant class, because they do not work with their brains and marvels at how her lover cherishes those days when he used to tend sheep and cows in Wales. She cannot understand the concept of ‘self’ and ‘privacy’ because these are alien concepts in China, when he goes on a holiday and does not take her she is lost and reads all his books, diaries and letters to be closer to him but he is enraged, she says ‘first time, you shout to me like a lion !! She feels that people in the West grow apart as there is no intimacy, there is always ‘self’ more than ‘we’.
She goes on a holiday as he forces her to see something of the Continent as she might not have a future opportunity to do so. She does go very reluctantly and her images of Berlin, Amsterdam, Venice as well as Faro are very lackluster. She is amazed that her lover no longer needs her on her return, he in turn is quite fed up with her endless demands and questions, on the other hand she does realize that he gets ill constantly because he is not at peace with himself, he is a drifter trying out various types of lovers, sculpture of tortured forms of naked men, that never sells.
They decide to part ways, she leaves for Beijing, he does write to her but when he goes to Wales, he stops doing so and she realizes that he may be at peace at last close to nature. Like every experience in life, Zhou learns to be independent and does not need a man to run her life!
The idea of a secret language for women called Nushu enthralls me, it is nice to be able to express and for other women to understand a woman's intimate feelings.(less)

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Feb 10, 2013 Ideasmith rated it 4 of 5 stars

First, there's the name. This is not an actual dictionary. Though each chapter does begin with the definition of a word and explores the concept in some manner through it. The title is very clever, very cute and will probably appeal to the Lit Fic audience.

Then there's the cover. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but in this case, by all means, DO! A red backdrop, scattered with sundry green leaves surrounding an exotic, faceless and naked Oriental woman. Plants, China, the...more

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About Xiaolu Guo

Xiaolu Guo (Simplified Chinese: 郭小櫓 pinyin:guō xiǎo lǔ, born 1973) is a Chinese novelist and filmmaker. She utilizes various media, including film and writing, to tell stories of alienation, introspection and tragedy, and to explore China's past, present and future in an increasingly connected world.

Her novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers was nominated for the 2007 Orange Prize f...more

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“It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.” — 92 people liked it

“About time, what I really learned from studying English is: time is different with timing.
I understand the difference of these two words so well. I understand falling in love with the right person in the wrong timing could be the greatest sadness in a person's entire life.” — 48 people liked it

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