Girl in Translation: A Story Of Sacrifice And Growing Up
By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on May 10, 2011 3:40PM
Author Jean Kwok will be in Winnetka tonight.
When Kimberly and her Ma move from Hong Kong to New York, they expect to start a better life. But from their first night in their crumbling and rodent and insect-infested apartment with broken windows and no heat, it’s clear a better life is still very far away. Kimberly and Ma must pay off their debt to the family who sponsored their trip to America. And the only was to do that is to work in their family’s not-so-legal clothing factory, where they’ll only get paid a penny or two per garment. Kimberly, who was the top student at her school in Hong Kong, is expected to perform just as well in her American classes.
New York is so strange to Kimberly and Ma, and their poverty is so extreme. They cannot afford simple necessities such as blankets and store-bought underwear. They had not even known America would require these things. While Ma’s new life is limited to the countless hours she spends at the sweatshop working with other Chinese immigrants, Kimberly is the only Chinese student at school. At first, she does not understand much of what is being said. “This is a pop quick,” her teacher says the first day of school. “Fill in allde captal see T’s.”
Although learning English is one of Kimberly’s biggest challenges throughout the book, her simple and colorful language make her an excellent narrator: “The boy next to me had hair that was the pale yellow-orange of boiled octopus.” Her observations may seem strange, but at the same time are completely logical considering her perspective. For example, she measures the cost of things by how many skirts her and Ma will have to make to pay for them: “In those days, the subway was 100 skirts just to get to the factory and back, a package of gum cost 7 skirts, a hot dog was 50 skirts, a new toy could range from 300 to 2,000 skirts. I even measured friendship in skirts.”
As Kimberly grows up, she becomes less naive, and her observations become more astute. She takes great care to keep her poverty hidden from her peers and teachers at school. It’s frustrating that she does not ask people around her for help. But she never asks. As she works to earn extra pennies at the factory for hours after school and tirelessly works to improve her English, it’s easy to forget how young Kimberly is. She does not attempt to make readers feel sorry for her. She does not even feel sorry for herself. Kimberly’s focus on her goals — to go to top schools and land a job that pays well so she can look after Ma — never waivers. She quietly suffers under Ma’s strict rules and dedication to traditional Chinese values, but she understands why she must follow them; she will never be successful otherwise.
Though Girl in Translation sounds like a heartbreaking read, at the same time, it’s a very hopeful story, too. Thanks to her candid narration, readers grow up beside Kimberly, feel her poverty, feel exactly what it’s like to learn English with no formal training, and discover the strange world of America with her. Her dedication and sacrifice to her goals are inspiring, especially considering how little she has to start with. Throughout the book, readers are cheerleaders for Kimberly, standing behind her to support her in achieving everything she sets out to do. The end is bittersweet though, which makes for a conflicted close to the story. But, whether readers agree with Kimberly’s decisions or not, they will have spent enough time as her sidekick in her world to understand why she makes the decisions she does.
Jean Kwok will be at the Book Stall in Winnetka tonight, 811 Elm St. The event starts at 7 p.m.