A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

by Xiaolu Guo

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543 ratings, 3.44 average rating, 167 reviews (more data...)

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4		35%
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2		11%
1		3%

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published

February 1st 2007 by Chatto & Windus

binding

Paperback, 256 pages

literary awards

Orange Prize Shortlist (2007)

isbn

0701180382 (isbn13: 9780701180386)

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12/11/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in December, 2007

(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 ...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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02/14/09

Yulia rated it:

bookshelves: i-thought-i-hated-you, read-to-me-by-frank

Read in February, 2009

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'...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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10/25/07

Vicky Lim rated it:

bookshelves: 2007, own

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in December, 2007

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 eve...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

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09/19/07

Therese rated it:

Read in September, 2007

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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03/14/09

Shoshanapnw rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, asia, fiction-literature

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.

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

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08/19/08

Tina rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278409)

Read in August, 2008

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 Chi...more

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08/23/08

Gitta rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2007

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 accu...more

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03/10/08

Lee rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-reads, china, favourites

Read in June, 2008

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 ...more

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02/28/08

brian tanabe rated it:

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 realisti...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

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06/16/07

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0385520298)

bookshelves: novels

Read in June, 2007

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 sto...more

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01/08/09

Adrienne added it

Read in January, 2009

My step-mother gave it to my sister for Xmas, but she had already read it, so she gave it to me. She says that she loved it though and it like changed her life, and she actually skipped class to read it. It's fun reading books that mean a lot to other people.

Twenty-three year old Z, of the unpronounceable (at least to British people) name, moves to London for a year to study English. Due to a linguistic misunderstanding, she ends up moving in with a British man in his forties, who beco...more

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02/23/09

Sonia Gomes rated it:

bookshelves: lost-in-translation

Read in February, 2009

recommended to Sonia by: Got it from British Library
recommends it for: People who like to know about immigrants !

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 s...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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04/07/09

Donna Jo rated it:

(review of isbn 0307278409)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in April, 2009

recommended to Donna Jo by: Bas Bleu

Written in first person in a series of monthly observations, this book is a love story as written by a twenty year old Chinese girl, sent by her parents to London to learn English to better herself and to make their shoe factory more viable.
She knows no one in England, speaks very little English, and is totally bewildered by the customs of such a foreign culture. She goes to the movies and connects with the man sitting next to her.
So far, a rather conventional love story. The conf...more

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01/04/09

Christy rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Ha ha! This book was fantastic and will be especially appreciated by anyone who has lived overseas and has had to adjust to the language and culture. There are moments where I laughed aloud and others in which I felt the utmost sympathy for the protagonist. One of the things that I liked best about the book is that it is based on the journal of the author while she was learning English and so the book reads like something one of my students would have written. The English is intelligible but ...more

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02/05/09

Bookmarks Magazine added it (review of isbn 0385520298)

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers remains light as it explores love across a cultural divide. The novel��Xiaolu Guo's first in English��was short-listed for Britain's 2007 Orange Prize and has charmed critics on this side of the pond as well. Inspired, in part, by Guo's own experience relocating from China to London, the novel is a moving and mostly humorous narrative of cultural dislocation. Some critics had difficulty adjusting to Z's initially halting English, but most agreed

...more

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02/17/08

Jesse rated it:

Read in February, 2008

This is really a beautiful book with a unique story. It's a quick read, the writing is simple as it is the diary of an ESL student living in England. But within that it is surprisingly complex. The subtleties of language and culture are amplified by the protagonist who is learning the words as the book progresses. I would recommend it to anyone.

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04/17/09

Vicki rated it:

bookshelves: borrowed

Read in April, 2009

This was an interesting book to read - the main character is a Chinese woman who is learning English, so at the beginning its written in quite broken English, but later on the spelling and grammar etc. improve. Its a neat gimmick, but seeing as the reasoning for that was that she was writing a journal in English, sometimes I did wonder if she would have been making such massive journal entries, sometimes in written in the present tense...but I think that's just nitpicking really.

Sto...more

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04/23/09

Milan/zzz Ranisavljevic rated it:

bookshelves: 2009-read

Read in March, 2009

Oh this is such a sweet novel! It was very enjoyable and fast read. I was more than once burst out laughing in the public transport! But humour is not everything and even not the main thing. This is story about extraterrestrial difference between two cultures told in very original (and undoubtedly very funny) way. Also this is story about love, its different forms and how love means one thing here and something very different somewhere else, even the word “love” doesn’t have the same weigh...more

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03/08/09

Amy rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This is a fictional book about a year in the life of a young Chinese woman (she calls herself "Z" because no westerner can pronounce her Chinese name) whose parents have given her an opportunity to study English in London. She meets an older man in London who becomes her
lover, and this book explores how she changes in that year. She matures sexually, she becomes more worldly, falls in love.

Since Z is in London to study English, she is very concerned with definitions of w...more

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12/20/08

Sharm Alagaratnam rated it:

Another book from last year's Orange Prize shortlist, this time by Xiaolu Guo. I read this one in a flash, due in part to the deliberately simplistic language used by the narrator, newly arrived in London from China. It has been a long time since a book has irritated me this much. The broken language did not ring true to my ear, suffice to say this conceit did not work for me.

Thankfully the heroine's language does improve, and with it the book and its love story, if rather marginally...more

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