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This title in other formats:A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Loversby Xiaolu Guo
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"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." Gail Tsukiyama, Ms. Magazine (read the entire Ms. Magazine review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers heralds the American debut of a remarkably gifted young writer. 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 English people can't pronounce her name, but she's no better at their language. Set loose to find her way through a confusion of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps, she winds up lodging with a Chinese family and thinks she might as well not have left home. But then she meets an English man who changes everything. From the moment he smiles at her, she enters a new world of sex, freedom, and self-discovery. But she also realizes that, in the West, "love" does not always mean the same as in China, and that you can learn all the words in the English language and still not understand your lover. Drawing on her diaries from when she first arrived in the UK, Xiaolu Guo winningly writes the story in steadily improving English grammar and vocabulary. Freshly humorous, sexy, and poignant, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is an utterly original novel about language, identity, and the cultural divide. Review:"'A young woman from rural China learns how to comprehend 'love' and 'heartbreak' in English in this quirky, touching novel. Zhuang, or 'Z' to tongue-tied foreigners, arrives in London at age 23 after being dispatched by her parents to get an education. Her immersion and painful education are laid bare to readers, who witness Z's vocabulary, grammar and understanding blossom throughout her diarylike account, sped along by an intense romance with a man met at the cinema. Her consuming love begins promisingly, but her failure to interpret her lover's lifestyle as a hippie drifter (who's 20 years her senior) alerts readers to potential trouble in paradise, even while such a notion remains beyond Z's not-yet-jaded imagination. The novel overflows with gentle jokes about culture shock and language barriers including Z's inability to understand why Brits bother talking about the weather when it's obvious — but there are deeper observations beneath the humor. Z's comically earnest exploration of a sex shop illuminates the pathos of Western seediness, and her encounters with men reveal both the exploitative and meaningful sides of romance. Z's unique, evolving voice fits perfectly for a heroine whose navet is matched by a willingness to relay the truth. (Sept.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is original, humorous, and wise. Within imperfect language one can find many perfect truths of the human condition. The misunderstandings are really the understandings of the differences of the heart between men and women." Amy Tan Review:"Funny and charming...more than a love story; its psychology is politically acute, and things noted lightly in it linger in the mind." The Guardian (London) Review:"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers cleverly courts our assumptions about the chasm between Chinese and Western cultures, only to upend them. It is an utterly captivating, and disorientating, journey both through language and through love." The Independent (London) Review:"It is impossible not to be charmed by Xiaolu Guo's matter-of-factness. As A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers grows in complexity with [the main character's] growing vocabulary — the narration acquires fluency and tenses almost imperceptibly — it is equally hard not to be impressed by Guo's vivacious talent." Sunday Times (London) Review:"While Dictionary initially seems a fast, breezy read, don't be so easily entertained as to miss the many nuances. Just like the single-word entry markers, beyond the most obvious definitions are deeper, more satisfying meanings." San Francisco Chronicle Review:"How many times has the shoe been on the other foot? How many times have we read accounts of the Western gaze on the Eastern native? Countless, if I were to hazard a guess. It's just that this time the gaze is inverted, and it takes us into a new territory, all the more exciting for its virginity." Chicago Sun-Times Review:"An engrossing tale written with the novel approach of having the narrator's English growing increasingly better as the book progresses." Library Journal About the AuthorXiaolu Guo was born in 1973. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, she published a number of books in China. Since 2002, she has been dividing her time between London and Beijing. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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