Synopses & Reviews
Language and love collide in this inventive novel of a young Chinese woman's journey to the West and her attempts to understand the language, and the man, she adores.Zhuang - or “Z,” to tongue-tied foreigners - has come to London to study English, but finds herself adrift, trapped in a cycle of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps. Then she meets an Englishman who changes everything, leading her into a world of self-discovery. She soon 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. And as the novel progresses with steadily improving grammar and vocabulary, Z's evolving voice makes her quest for comprehension all the more poignant. With sparkling wit, Xiaolu Guo has created an utterly original novel about identity and the cultural divide.
Review
"Funny, childlike and wise all at once." Los Angeles Times
Review
"What makes this novel winsome is hearing the authentic voice of a young woman — bewildered, self-deprecating, funny, wise &mdashl; as she navigates the world on her own." USA Today
Review
"Endearing....Concise takes us into a new territory, all the more exciting for its virginity." Chicago Sun-Times
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 and the narration acquires fluency and tenses almost imperceptibly — it is equally hard not to be impressed by Guo's vivacious talent." Sunday Times (London)
Synopsis
From one of our most important contemporary Chinese authors: a novel of language and love that tells one young Chinese woman's story of her journey to the West and her attempts to understand the language, and the man, she adores. Zhuang or Z, to tongue-tied foreigners has come to London to study English, but finds herself adrift, trapped in a cycle of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps. Then she meets an Englishman who changes everything, leading her into a world of self-discovery. She soon 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. And as the novel progresses with steadily improving grammar and vocabulary, Z's evolving voice makes her quest for comprehension all the more poignant. With sparkling wit, Xiaolu Guo has created an utterly original novel about identity and the cultural divide.
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About the Author
XIAOLU 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. She has written and directed award-winning documentaries including The Concrete Revolution; her first feature film, How Is Your Fish Today?, was screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 International Womens Film Festival. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, her third novel, is the first book she has written directly in English; it was short-listed for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Reading Group Guide
1.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is written in steadily improving English vocabulary and grammar. Why do you think the author chose to write the novel in this way? How does Z's learning of the English language mirror Z's personal growth?
2. From the opening pages, Z's story is funny and charming, full of humorous observations about Western culture as well as amusing grammatical mistakes. Yet, as the story progresses, we also see that Z's journey is filled with many poignant moments of sadness and deep longing as she struggles to overcome her vulnerabilities. On the whole, which parts of the story stay with you most by the end of the book?
3. Z falls in love instantly and becomes dependent on a man who is starkly different from herself. Discuss their differences and how her dependency may be more attributed to her effort to want to fit in than to her loneliness? Alternatively, why do you think he—a confirmed bachelor—lets her move in? Is he intrigued by her “exoticism” or do you think that he loves her?
4. Her lover persuades Z to travel around the continent alone. She's reluctant but he tells her she needs to “find herself.” He's hiding the truth that what he really wants is a break from her and the relationship. Do you think Z is aware of this? When she is in Portugal, she goes off quite impulsively with a Portuguese man who seemingly traps her in a sexual encounter. Do you think this is Z's ultimate act of independence or defiance, or do you believe that there is a sense of violence in the act?
5. “Privacy” and “individuality” are completely new and foreign concepts to Z who's coming from China where the collective and collectivization are preeminent. Discuss how she comes to grasp their meanings.
6. Z was a young child during the Cultural Revolution, yet her observations are politically acute. She refers to passages in Mao's Little Red Book. She says: “In West, Mao's words work for me, though they not work in China now.” What do you think she means?
7. Do you think the author wrote the novel more for Western or for Chinese readers who may see themselves in some of Z's experiences? Do you find many of Z's feelings and observations about love and life to be universal?
8. In literature and film, do you believe Westerners tend to romanticize the East, drawing more on China's ancient past of emperors and concubines and traditional ceremony? In what ways do we see a very different China through Z's eyes?
"Funny, childlike and wise all at once."
—Los Angeles Times
The introduction, questions, and suggestions for further reading that follow are designed to enhance your group's discussion of Xiaolu Guo's touching and innovative debut A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers—where readers will see Western culture and the nuances of romance from a fresh, curious perspective and will find a heroine unlike any who have appeared in contemporary literary fiction.
1. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is written in steadily improving English vocabulary and grammar. Why do you think the author chose to write the novel in this way? How does Z's learning of the English language mirror Z's personal growth?
2. From the opening pages, Z's story is funny and charming, full of humorous observations about Western culture as well as amusing grammatical mistakes. Yet, as the story progresses, we also see that Z's journey is filled with many poignant moments of sadness and deep longing as she struggles to overcome her vulnerabilities. On the whole, which parts of the story stay with you most by the end of the book?
3. Z falls in love instantly and becomes dependent on a man who is starkly different from herself. Discuss their differences and how her dependency may be more attributed to her effort to want to fit in than to her loneliness? Alternatively, why do you think he—a confirmed bachelor—lets her move in? Is he intrigued by her “exoticism” or do you think that he loves her?
4. Her lover persuades Z to travel around the continent alone. She's reluctant but he tells her she needs to “find herself.” He's hiding the truth that what he really wants is a break from her and the relationship. Do you think Z is aware of this? When she is in Portugal, she goes off quite impulsively with a Portuguese man who seemingly traps her in a sexual encounter. Do you think this is Z's ultimate act of independence or defiance, or do you believe that there is a sense of violence in the act?
5. “Privacy” and “individuality” are completely new and foreign concepts to Z who's coming from China where the collective and collectivization are preeminent. Discuss how she comes to grasp their meanings.
6. Z was a young child during the Cultural Revolution, yet her observations are politically acute. She refers to passages in Mao's Little Red Book. She says: “In West, Mao's words work for me, though they not work in China now.” What do you think she means?
7. Do you think the author wrote the novel more for Western or for Chinese readers who may see themselves in some of Z's experiences? Do you find many of Z's feelings and observations about love and life to be universal?
8. In literature and film, do you believe Westerners tend to romanticize the East, drawing more on China's ancient past of emperors and concubines and traditional ceremony? In what ways do we see a very different China through Z's eyes?