Book Review: Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok

Girl In Translation is a refreshing book, profound in its simplicity. Kimberley, the protagonist, migrated from Hong Kong to the U.S. with her mother at a very young age and lived in extreme poverty in the squalors of Brooklyn, with no heating in their roaches and rats infested apartment. To keep warm during the cold winter, they turned on the oven in the kitchen and piled layers after layers of clothes over themselves. They also did not speak much English and Kimberley struggled for a very long time in school. 


Although the characters and the plot are fictitious, nevertheless such extreme poverty exists. It's stark in its bleakness, but in the end, Kimberley triumphed and rose above her station to give her mother a better life, at the expense of her own love life.


In fact, when I read about the author's early childhood in her website, it was as if she had written a memoir in Girl In Translation, and just changed the name of the protagonist.


This book managed to transport me into a different world, and I was totally engrossed in the struggles of this young, brave, talented girl. I would not be surprised if some movie producer contacted the author for film copyrights. If a film is made based on this novel, I would definitely watch it. That said, I'm looking forward to more books from this author.