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soyouwinagain's review
4.0
I had such a good time reading this and I thought it actually was very funny! Definitely my favorite Vintage Mini I’ve read so far and I might pick up the full book.
lienlovesbooks's review
4.0
I loved this! I love how Xiaolu Guo brings together two of my favorite languages: English and Chinese.
samstillreading's review
5.0
Readers of my blog will know that I simply cannot resist a book series due to prettiness, matching-ness or just because they are labelled a series. The Vintage Minis series takes extracts of work from a writer on a particular subject, and bundles them all up very nicely in a slim paperback (which is also sold at a nice price of $7.99 AUD). I recently had a dilemma of wanting to use a fashionable handbag and having a public transport commute and this book took up the challenge very nicely. (No, I wasn’t going to read on my phone).
I have read Xiaolu Guo’s novels before (I Am China) but I was captivated by the start of Language, which reads as a handwritten note on a single page: ‘sorry of my English’. I am a sucker for notes, pictures, letters or any kind of insert in a book. The chapters also start with an English word and the definition. This is apt as the story is told by Zhuang, who has moved to London from China at the request of her parents to learn English. Their aim is for her to become the international contact for their shoe factory. Zhuang is not overjoyed at this, particularly on landing when she finds the West is nothing like books or movies. It’s nothing like her dictionary either with funny requests and sentences that don’t make sense. She feels like she is only just surviving in a world that is the complete opposite to what she is used to with sentences focusing on the wrong parts and strange foods. But then she meets a man at the cinema, who teaches her about patisseries, plants and love…
Language is a condensed version of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. Reading this only makes me want to read the full book more – I don’t care that I’ve read some parts, I just want to know more about Zhuang’s story. (And is that truly the ending?) I loved how she tells the story in her disordered, broken English which sometimes makes more sense than ‘proper’ English. It’s easy to get into the swing of her way of telling things and interesting to see her perspective on things like scones and manners. Zhuang is charming, easy to like and it’s wonderful seeing her grow through love and improving her English.
I’m definitely planning to seek out more of these Vintage Minis – a great way to try a new writer, explore a familiar writer’s unread works or to slip into a bag for extra reading time.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
I have read Xiaolu Guo’s novels before (I Am China) but I was captivated by the start of Language, which reads as a handwritten note on a single page: ‘sorry of my English’. I am a sucker for notes, pictures, letters or any kind of insert in a book. The chapters also start with an English word and the definition. This is apt as the story is told by Zhuang, who has moved to London from China at the request of her parents to learn English. Their aim is for her to become the international contact for their shoe factory. Zhuang is not overjoyed at this, particularly on landing when she finds the West is nothing like books or movies. It’s nothing like her dictionary either with funny requests and sentences that don’t make sense. She feels like she is only just surviving in a world that is the complete opposite to what she is used to with sentences focusing on the wrong parts and strange foods. But then she meets a man at the cinema, who teaches her about patisseries, plants and love…
Language is a condensed version of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. Reading this only makes me want to read the full book more – I don’t care that I’ve read some parts, I just want to know more about Zhuang’s story. (And is that truly the ending?) I loved how she tells the story in her disordered, broken English which sometimes makes more sense than ‘proper’ English. It’s easy to get into the swing of her way of telling things and interesting to see her perspective on things like scones and manners. Zhuang is charming, easy to like and it’s wonderful seeing her grow through love and improving her English.
I’m definitely planning to seek out more of these Vintage Minis – a great way to try a new writer, explore a familiar writer’s unread works or to slip into a bag for extra reading time.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
jadzia's review
4.0
A fragment of a novel written by Guo - she writes a story of a Chinese girl, coming from the first time to London, getting to know a completely new and foreign culture, and learning to speak English - and describing this whole experience in a broken English - English of immigrants, of every day struggle. It may be a bit annoying but one can get used to it - I enjoyed it, and I'd definitely like to read the full novel. It's quite funny, a bit sad at times, melancholic, but who doesn't go through all these feelings, while being an immigrant and immersing oneself in an alien culture.
ttjna's review
4.0
I have never read anything like this. It gave me a deeper understanding of how our languages work and how different their logic is from other languages - such as Chinese.
nicolemillo's review
3.0
This was a subtly funny read. The narrator's broken English, which carried through the whole book, was really good for emphasising that feeling of grappling with a new language, though I can imagine it would be irritating to some readers. I could relate with the her in some ways with getting to grips with another language as well as, in a separate context, coming to a new country (in particular, the UK), but our experiences were, at the same time, so different. She was easily the most interesting character and the language barrier between her and the reader was engaging because you struggle through it (patronisingly entertained) to get to her thoughts and she draws you in more than other characters who are easier to understand (like her lover). Her wonder about the West is also a good perspective for Westerners to look at their world from a slightly different angle. I imagine/hope the full story gets further into that. It all ended too abruptly though and it might have been better to end it a chapter earlier for slightly more closure. However, as an excerpt from a longer work, it would probably be difficult to make this feel like its own full, concluded story. I might look into [b:A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers|665157|A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers|Xiaolu Guo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1404723729s/665157.jpg|879259] (even though I'm not a huge fan of romance and especially not romance with huge age gaps).
thebookelf's review
4.0
A light read. I love the way the author talks about the difficulties she faces trying to acclimatise herself to a new culture and a new and completely different language. I look forward to reading more of her work.
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