book data
361 ratings, 3.40 average rating, 126 reviews
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published
September 4th 2007
by Nan A. Talese
binding
Hardcover, 304 pages
literary awards
Orange Prize Shortlist (2007)
isbn
0385520298
(isbn13: 9780385520294)
description
Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang, the daughter of shoe factory owners in rural China, has come to London to study English. She calls herself Z because En...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 571)
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 lust th...more
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 th...more
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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 even more strange. In Franc...more
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 Franc...more
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Love in a Second Language
In the last 20 years, the proliferation of Asian writers in Europe and the Americas has grown into a lovely chorus of voices, opening our eyes to the lives of people and cultures we've only known from a distance. Xiaolu Guo's debut English-language novel takes us a step further into the complicated landscape of the immigrant experience.
We immediately recognize the alienation of 23-year-old Zhuang Xiao Qiao, known as Z to Westerners who can't pronounce he...more
In the last 20 years, the proliferation of Asian writers in Europe and the Americas has grown into a lovely chorus of voices, opening our eyes to the lives of people and cultures we've only known from a distance. Xiaolu Guo's debut English-language novel takes us a step further into the complicated landscape of the immigrant experience.
We immediately recognize the alienation of 23-year-old Zhuang Xiao Qiao, known as Z to Westerners who can't pronounce he...more
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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 accuracy (not th...more
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 th...more
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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 eerily s...more
I loved Z and her practical wisdom. Her 5 week solo travel stint through Europe in many ways felt eerily s...more
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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 Chinese tra...more
I enjoyed this for the view it gave me of the English to Chinese tra...more
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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 ...more
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 ...more
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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 story or for th...more
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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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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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Read in November, 2008
Firstly, may I just say that I really dislike Z's lover in the book. He is meant to be an extreme example of Western life and for that it works very well, but he's clearly wrong for her almost from the start, from his stringent vegetarianism to his tiring political views.
But it still gets 4 stars from me for the beautiful and concise assessment on language and how they can impact and reflect on a culture as a whole. Z is a fantastic character, although she can feel meek and lost because of the...more
But it still gets 4 stars from me for the beautiful and concise assessment on language and how they can impact and reflect on a culture as a whole. Z is a fantastic character, although she can feel meek and lost because of the...more
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I fell in love with the back cover and the rest was okay. The writer has an interesting style, she writes in the progression of her own learning of english so there is a bit of pigeon english in there that made me think in pigeon english too much and when I was tired, it came out and was pretty funny. Like, are you meaning to be early at work? About a woman who moves to London to attend English classes so she can return to China with fluency. Sad love story. here’s what I loved: “Love,...more
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Read in July, 2008
Charming book that is worth reading on several levels. It is the story of a young woman, Z (people can't pronounce her name so she tells them to call her this), who is sent to London for a year to study English (by her parents who own a shoe factory in China). The book is her "notebook", which she is to keep for class, in English about her experiences so it starts out in very "broken" simple English and "improves" as she learns. By the end her prose is simply beauti...more
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Read in July, 2008
Z is so endearing. You can only assume she's a smart girl who traveled to the UK aspiring to learn English without fully realizing how little she knew about the culture. Reading this novel, it becomes clear how many phrases we do not use for its literal meaning. How did so many phrases gain alternate meanings? What is the source of those alternate meaning? It made me admire the risks that visitors or recent immigrants take in coming to the west without knowing the language or the culture. ...more
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Read in July, 2008
About one third into Guo Xiaolu's novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, a man at an English pub says to the confused protagonist, a young Chinese woman named Z, "English is a bloody nightmare, isn't it?"
Yet the author, who writes in her second language, is capable of turning a nightmare into muse. Have you ever talked to someone who did not speak your language very well and wondered about their innermost thoughts? By narrating those thoughts in semi-expressi...more
Yet the author, who writes in her second language, is capable of turning a nightmare into muse. Have you ever talked to someone who did not speak your language very well and wondered about their innermost thoughts? By narrating those thoughts in semi-expressi...more
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Read in June, 2008
A fast read for a cross-country airplane ride. Good if you can be distracted by turbulence, loud babies, and $5 cocktails.
The young Chinese narrator's romance with an aging, disenchanted British vegan would be tedious if Guo hadn't written the story in Chinglish. As her English develops and becomes more fluent and nuanced, the narrator becomes more aware of some of the problems of her beau. Her growing fluency also allows her to become more knowable to readers, through the words/concepts tha...more
The young Chinese narrator's romance with an aging, disenchanted British vegan would be tedious if Guo hadn't written the story in Chinglish. As her English develops and becomes more fluent and nuanced, the narrator becomes more aware of some of the problems of her beau. Her growing fluency also allows her to become more knowable to readers, through the words/concepts tha...more
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Read in June, 2008
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Read in October, 2007
Zhuang is 23 years old when she arrives in London to study English. She has a one-year student visa, is enrolled in an English language school, and has no idea how she will manage to function and exist in England. Since no one can pronounce her name, Zhuang goes by Z. Armed with her handy Concise Chinese-English Dictionary, she only hopes that she will manage to acclimate and learn in her new country.
After finding a Chinese family to stay with, Z is at the movies alone when she meets the man...more
After finding a Chinese family to stay with, Z is at the movies alone when she meets the man...more
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Read in July, 2008
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
everyone, particularly those with an interest in travel and different cultures
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