Synopses & Reviews
Li Jing, a happily married businessman, is dining at a grand hotel in Shanghai when a gas explosion rips through the building. A shard of glass pierces Jing's forehead, obliterating his ability to speak Chinese. He can form only faltering phrases in the English he spoke as a child in Virginia, leaving him unable to communicate with his wife, Meiling, or their young son. Desperate, the family turns to an American neurologist, Rosalyn Neal, who finds herself as lost as Jing--whom she calls James--in this bewitching city, where the two form a bond that Meiling does not need a translator to understand. With gorgeous prose and a dazzling sense of place, The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai introduces a brilliant storyteller, who shows us the power of language in both our public and our private relationships.
Review
Advance Praise for THE LOST AND FORGOTTEN LANGUAGES OF SHANGHAI:
"From the explosion of its first pages to the searing emotion of its last, The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai is a novel that burns with the heat of clashing cultures and love transformed. Ruiyan Xu is a wonderful writer with a perfect ear for both the words and the silences that define us." --Peter Manseau, Author of Songs for the Butchers Daughter
"What a gem of a debut. This is the most literary kind, rarely found in fictions about new China. There is such deep silence in her prose, hinting at the depth of human suffering, anguish and hope. A gifted novelist, she gives us the insight into a Shanghai that is at once strange, and familiar, old and new, creating a literary landscape for its dwellers that is vast and beguiling, which is precisely the spirit of this metropolis, and of this fine fiction." --Da Chen, Author of New York Times bestselling memoir Colors of the Mountain and Brothers (chosen as one of the best novels of 2006 by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Miami Herald, The Salt Lake Tribune, and Publishers Weekly)
"One part medical mystery, one part love story, THE LOST AND FORGOTTEN LANGUAGES OF SHANGHAI is an engrossing novel that will enchant you from beginning to end." --David Ebershoff, New York Times bestselling author of THE 19TH WIFE and THE DANISH GIRL
"In her captivating debut novel, Ruiyan Xu paints an absorbing portrait of modern Shanghai. When a terrible explosion leaves husband and father Li Jing without the language in which to communicate, the Li family must rediscover who they are and how to live. The LOST AND FORGOTTEN LANGUAGES OF SHANGHAI is a richly nuanced and compelling story of loss and grief, betrayal and redemption by a gifted new voice." --Gail Tsukiyama, award-winning author of THE SAMURAI'S GARDEN and THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS
"This is an intelligent and thoughtful exploration of the terrifying isolation that can come from loss of language. The novel skilfully examines the complex relationship between language and identity, seeing beyond the words themselves to the way in which they mould our thoughts and shape our personalities. With sensitivity and perception, Ruiyan Xu penetrates right to the heart of the dilemma of translation, the etiquette that is embedded within each language, the nuances of tone. This is a novel which makes us think beyond our boundaries, that opens up a fresh understanding of our relationship with language." --Clare Morrall, author of the Booker Prize finalist ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR
About the Author
RUIYAN XU, who was born in Shanghai but came to the U.S. at age 10 without speaking a word of English, graduated from Brown University with honors in creative writing. She won the 2004 Hochstadt Award from Hedgebrook and a 2005 Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists; and has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Jentel, Ragdale and the Anderson Center. An excerpt of The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai was published by the Great River Review. Xu lives in Brooklyn.
Reading Group Guide
1. How do you think your life would change if you suddenly lost the ability to speak your primary language? Would you still be able to hold your current job? How would your relationships with your loved ones change?
2. Rosalyn comes to Shanghai partly as a result of her divorce. She says that in Shanghai, she has “found a whole new solitude.” What else does Rosalyn find in Shanghai?
3. What do you imagine Rosalyn to be like in her normal life, in the United States? Do people behave differently when they travel? Have you ever taken the opportunity to behave differently when you were away from familiar surroundings?
4. Meiling thinks: “Love is about taking care of someone without being asked, about sacrificing yourself...words have nothing to do with love. [But] perhaps in English, with an American woman, the concept of love is entirely different. Perhaps love, in a different language, rushes through and spills out more easily, the words carrying the feelings along.” How might Meilings concept of love differ from Rosalyns? Do you think the concept of love is different in different languages and different cultures? Have you ever had an experience where love meant different things for you and someone you were close to?
5. Professor Li passes away in the middle of the novel. Would the lives of Li Jing, Meiling, and Rosalyn have been different if Professor Li stayed alive? Why might his presence have made a difference in their lives?
6. A fter Li Jings accident, Meiling tries to keep his company afloat, but does not spend a lot of time with Li Jing himself. Discuss the relationship between Meiling and Li Jing after the accident. Why do you think they grow apart? What could each of them have done to change this?
7. Meiling invites Rosalyn to come to a spa with her. Over the course of the afternoon, each woman judges the other harshly. Are Meiling and Rosalyns differences the result of different cultures, different languages, or different personalities? Why cant they get through to each other despite the presence of Alan the translator?
8. A t the end of the book, Meiling and Li Jing seem to reach a tentative reconciliation. Do you think they would have stayed together if they didnt have a child together? What do you think their relationship will be like going forward?