Girl In Translation
Jean Kwok
It is hard for me to believe that this is just a novel after reading Kwok's brief book jacket biography, which is curiously similar to the tale in the pages in between. The story details young Kim's life after emigrating to Brooklyn from Hong Kong. She arrives at age eleven with minimal English and dives into full throttle NYC, where she is forced to work in a sweatshop alongside her mother, a professional classical musician. Kim, through her academic prowess, propels her family into the environs of the American Dream by attending an elite private school in the city, and then Yale. Perhaps more interesting than her ascension through the socioeconomic ranks are Kim's cultural and pubertal snafus, including a timid but beautiful first love.
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