Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a scattering of brown slowly recede into the walls as we walked into the next room: live roaches. Pa, I thought hard, Pa. “But we cannot be a burden to you. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok is a moving novel about a young girl and her mother immigrating to New York in order to achieve a better life after the untimely death of the child's father. I turned around and the adults had already unloaded our few possessions, which were now piled by the boarded-up storefront. I learned later his name was Mr. Bogart. I wound up with this: minced meat in the form of a saucer, potatoes that were not round but had been crushed into a pastelike substance, a sauce similar to soy sauce but less dark and salty, a roll and milk. “Now we have to go. I wished she’d just let Aunt Paula speak. Most of the people on the street were still black, but I saw more whites and lighter shades of black people, possibly Hispanics or other nationalities I couldn’t identify yet. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok is a moving novel about a young girl and her mother immigrating to New York in order to achieve a better life after the untimely death of the child's father. “May your business be good,” she said in Chinese. Ma was terrified of them. In Brooklyn, we hoped they would keep any thieves away. I had seen black children clambering in the rubble, searching out bits and pieces of old toys and bottles to play with. Every single kid at my old school had been openly envious when they heard we were moving to the U.S. Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2020. I’ll practice.”, Aunt Paula was still smiling. The second day into our cleaning we needed more supplies and roach spray, and Ma decided to make the trip to the convenience store a bit of a celebration, for all the work we had accomplished. “I’ve heard about what a bright child you are.” Ma smiled and nodded; I’d always been at the head of my class in Hong Kong. I stopped banging and said nothing, even though I suspected we were the only tenants in the building. My hair had been cut by my mother, unevenly and too short, parted far to the right and swept over my forehead in a boy’s hairstyle. It was bare except for an old ceramic pot and a box of inexpensive green tea. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. In Hong Kong, I’d always dried the dishes and folded our laundry. For Erwin, Stefan and Milan, and to the memory of my brother Kwan S. Kwok. Please try again. I knew Ma would never let me join them. I sighed. When I looked up, her face was calm and she meant what she said. Their health has always been delicate.”. You can be more in love with someone in your mind than with the person you see every day.” ― … The date for our journey to America had been postponed twice before she got clearance from the doctors and the immigration department. She took three-year-old Godfrey’s hand and nudged Nelson toward me. I could make out a picture of strawberries and the words “Made with real fruit” and another word, beginning with a “yo,” that I didn’t know. “I got cha moves, don’t I? Ma paid without looking at the man or me, and we left. I scanned our luggage to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon. It had blue and green stripes and was stained. We hadn’t been able to pay for the actual photo, so we’d kept this sample they’d sent home. “What did you do today?”. Great migrant story where the narrator is incredibly good in picturing a kid's perception of a foreign country. When Ma and I were alone, we mostly watched television in color, which was exciting even if we couldn’t follow it. I think she had never heard a non-Chinese person trying to speak our language before. “Can’t you speak English? I realized the truth. Girl in Translation. Images of the tough kids at my old school in Hong Kong flashed through my mind: Fat Boy Wong and Tall Guy Lam. I’m sorry forscaring you ladies. What about taking care of little Godfrey and picking Nelson up from school? Ma actually giggled. “Ah-Kim,” Ma said, “you’ll disturb the neighbors.”. Please try again. At the time when it seemed that everything I’d ever wanted was finally within reach, I made a decision that changed the trajectory of the rest of my life. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. I took Ma’s broom, which she was still holding, inverted it and slammed the handle hard against the floor. I knew he wasn’t calling me a hero, like Superman. Like most people in Hong Kong then, we didn’t have luxuries like a refrigerator, but Ma had kept our leftovers in a steel-mesh cage underneath the table and cooked every meal with fresh meat and vegetables just bought at the street market. “You will have to fix it up, of course, but real estate in New York is so expensive! “You will have to fix it up, of course, but real estate in New York is so expensive! Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok is a moving novel about a young girl and her mother immigrating to New York in order to achieve a better life after the untimely death of the child's father. I strained my ears, listening for a gasp or a thud. I wasn’t as afraid of rodents as I was of roaches, because mice are at least warmblooded. Dislike. When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn, Kimberly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker at night. “You might attract their attention.”. In Hong Kong, she’d refused to have a cat because she was afraid that they would bring her offerings of their prey. A good, heartwarming, read but could have been so much more, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2014. As we drove, the highways turned into impossibly broad avenues, stretching out into the distance. The first snapshot taken of me in the U.S. was a school photo, from the year I came to America. He must have been told to speak the language because of us. “It’s pee.”, Aunt Paula laid a gloved hand on our shoulders. I thought he was stopping to make a pickup of some sort, but then everyone had gotten out of the car onto the icy pavement. Girl in Translation - Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis Kwok, Jean This Study Guide consists of approximately 60 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Girl in Translation. I knew that was so I could run for help. We had three tweed suitcases, Ma’s violin case, a few bulky packages wrapped in brown paper, and a broom. However, success in America isn't as easily gained as the mother hoped it would be. Nelson rolled his eyes. According to feng shui principles, the door to the bathroom cast a ray of unclean energy into the kitchen. “The factory is impressive, isn’t it?”, I could see this wasn’t the response she wanted. And here are the pans. You could practice ten thousand years and never be fast enough. “Ma, I want to go home,” I said. You don’t need any skills for that, just to work hard.”, Ma’s face was pale and strained, but she said, “Thank you, older sister.”. Ma hadn’t seen Aunt Paula, her oldest sister, in thirteen years, not since Aunt Paula left Hong Kong to marry Uncle Bob, who had moved to America as a child. The people in line were waiting to go into the doorway to our right, with a sign that said “Department of Social Services.” I wasn’t sure what that was. “It’s pee.”, Aunt Paula laid a gloved hand on our shoulders. Together. He leaned in to pretend to kiss my cheek and said softly, “You’re a rake filled with dirt.” A stupid country bumpkin. This new neighborhood was cleaner than the vacant lots and empty storefronts that I had seen closer to our apartment. It’s not actually necessary any longer.”. I’d never seen such a thing. We lit incense and poured tea and rice wine before the altars. We set out a handful of mousetraps and quickly caught a few. “It will be all right. I must work.”. I've no doubt she has embellished parts of it for the sake of storytelling, but overall there's something very *real* about the poverty Ah-Kim endures and the obsessive diligence with which she applies to her work. It was quite busy, with some mothers and working people, but mostly groups of young men who swaggered as they walked. I think she had never heard a non-Chinese person trying to speak our language before. I’ll practice.”, Aunt Paula was still smiling. Images of the tough kids at my old school in Hong Kong flashed through my mind: Fat Boy Wong and Tall Guy Lam. I could not put this book down. There was also a low coffee table with one leg that didn’t match, on which I would later do my homework, and a dresser that was shedding its lime paint like dandruff. The bathroom was in the kitchen and its door directly faced the stove, which any child knows is terrible feng shui. “No, no.” Aunt Paula scratched the side of her neck, something I’d seen her doing before. “Don’t worry,” she said, although I didn’t find her expression reassuring. We would buy some ice cream, she announced, a rare treat. Those who are strong-willed may fight the storm and possibly choose their own road, while the weak must go where they are blown. When he rang up the price, it was three times more than it said on the carton. I huddled closer to her and concentrated on learning the stops and transfers so I wouldn’t get lost by myself. The last woman who had my job had two sons who came to work with her. When Ma and I woke from our night sleeping on the couches, Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob had left to take their kids to school and attend to their work managing the clothing factory, but a note said Aunt Paula would be home at noon to arrange things with us. Aside from Mr. Al’s store, many of the storefronts we could see were empty. However, success in America isn't as easily gained as the mother hoped it would be. Suddenly, he leaped up in front of us and sprang into a one-legged martial arts pose with his arms outstretched. When Ma and I moved to the U.S., I spoke only a few words of English, and for a very long time, I struggled. Shaking his head, Mr. Bogart turned back to the blackboard. “Aunt Paula wouldn’t send us anywhere unsafe,” she said, but her low voice was laced with a thread of doubt. “Very sorry.” That was about the limit of her English, so then she glanced at me. “What does that mean?”, I told him in English, “It is to wish your store much money.”, His face broke out in the biggest, whitest smile I had ever seen. Ma shrank back when she saw the limp bodies, and I wished desperately that Pa were alive so I wouldn’t have to do this. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Welcome her to America,” Aunt Paula said. Grayce Wey's performance as immigrant Kimberly Chang feels absolutely authentic. We moved the stove a few inches, as far away from the bathroom’s pathway as possible. Almost everyone was black. She looked uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed. You see? I have a lot of head pains.” Aunt Paula had already let us know that she was very important, managing the clothing factory and a number of buildings for a distant relative of Uncle Bob’s, a businessman in Taiwan she called “Mr. When she finally cracked the door open, the weight of it seemed to resist her until finally it gaped wide to reveal a bare lightbulb glowing like a tooth in its black mouth. Behind the grimy windows, we could see the walls of the tunnels speed by in a blur. “I imagined that bringing you here would help with the children. That evening, she sat down with me on the mattress. As soon as we left an area or became too quiet, they approached. I don’t like to think about what happened when we slept. Unable to add item to List. I looked at my piece of paper and then, in desperation, glanced at the white girl’s sheet to try to see what we were supposed to do. I liked seeing the world through Kimberly's eyes and reading about her harsh experiences of working in a factory and trying to fit into American life. The lunchroom ladies roamed from table to table, yelling instructions no one heard. He was writing English words on the blackboard, from left to right. We’d had to sell it when we came here. “You are my family!” She laughed. His green eyes seemed unnaturally light to me in his wide face and his stomach stuck out from under his shirt. We were given a tour. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. My name is Al.”, Ma, who hadn’t understood a word he’d said, grabbed my jacket and said to me in Chinese, “This is a crazy person. Ma gestured at the counter. Best-quality steel, wonderful for frying and steaming.”. It was obvious I was late—the yard was empty of people—and we rushed up a broad flight of stairs and pushed open the heavy wooden door. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2019. Nelson was eleven years old like me, and I’d been told he would become my closest friend here. After a bit of searching, I found the classroom and knocked weakly on the door. I was standing in the kitchen. . I missed our neat little living room with its red couch and piano, on which Ma used to give lessons to kids after school. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. “I always laughed at those little dresses you tried to make. The air was thick and tasted of metal. I turned around and the adults had already unloaded our few possessions, which were now piled by the boarded-up storefront. “It is not easy to understand Chinese. Ma was terrified of them. I must work.”. “I know,” she said. I hadn’t even said good-bye. We took the elevator upstairs and exited. “ ‘I’mmm,’ ” he said, pressing his lips together. To my surprise, Ma’s face flushed, as if she were about to cry. “I’ve gone to great lengths and gotten you a job at the clothing factory. I longed to see the New York I had heard about in school: Min-hat-ton, glistening department stores, and most of all, the Liberty Goddess, standing proud in New York Harbor. A deep, muffled voice came from behind the door. Being an ethnic minority, I've always enjoyed reading books about the immigrant experience. I’d never seen black people before, and a woman near the front, whom I could observe most clearly, had skin as dark as coal and gold beads gleaming in her cloudlike hair. 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