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A review by emreadslotsofbooks
Chinglish by Sue Cheung
4.0
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.
It took me longer than usual to read 'Chinglish', not because of the writing style, which was always fluent and engaging, but because I just so desperately wanted Jo and her siblings to completely escape from their toxic environment and the fact this this is partly autobiographical made this even harder to bear.
This was an informative and heartrending read in equal measure, especially with the initial focus being Jo's desire to record only "positive" events, to her acceptance and realisation that ignoring her current reality won't cause it to change.
The book conveys the still very important message of working hard to change the future yourself through effort and determination (the poor pets within this book aren't always so lucky, however...).
I quickly found myself rooting for Jo, Simon and Bonny to find their own paths and resist being chained to the takeaway and just hoping that they would succeed.
While this is not always a cheery read, Jo's illustrations and journal entries offer a balance to the darker nature of events and provide much needed moments of hope.
Overall, this was an engaging, bittersweet read and I highly recommend it to anyone intrigued by the synopsis and gorgeous front cover.
It took me longer than usual to read 'Chinglish', not because of the writing style, which was always fluent and engaging, but because I just so desperately wanted Jo and her siblings to completely escape from their toxic environment and the fact this this is partly autobiographical made this even harder to bear.
This was an informative and heartrending read in equal measure, especially with the initial focus being Jo's desire to record only "positive" events, to her acceptance and realisation that ignoring her current reality won't cause it to change.
The book conveys the still very important message of working hard to change the future yourself through effort and determination (the poor pets within this book aren't always so lucky, however...).
I quickly found myself rooting for Jo, Simon and Bonny to find their own paths and resist being chained to the takeaway and just hoping that they would succeed.
While this is not always a cheery read, Jo's illustrations and journal entries offer a balance to the darker nature of events and provide much needed moments of hope.
Overall, this was an engaging, bittersweet read and I highly recommend it to anyone intrigued by the synopsis and gorgeous front cover.