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Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok gave me all of the things I look for in a book: great writing, interesting and strong characters and a bit of learning about something outside my immediate experience. As Kimberly Chang went through the challenges of learning and living in a new country, I kept rooting for her. Her strong-willed mother pushed my buttons, but it was interesting to watch their dynamic.
The book rolled on quiet easily for me. The writing was great, the story was incredibly interesting and I simply had to know what happened. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. Well, I should probably rephrase, the book rolled on quite easily until I slammed into the last few chapters.
Spoiler alert! I hate spoilers, but this was what really shaped my reading experience. Read on at your own risk!
Kim gets pregnant near the end of the book.
I wasn’t that surprised. Kim was a good, intelligent girl and the good, intelligent girls always get pregnant. I know because I was one of those girls. When the story began to drift in this direction of unexpected pregnancy crisis, I started to feel anxious.
Like a reader of Caleb’s Crossing who is caught off guard by child death in books, I am caught off guard by the topics of unplanned pregnancy and the talks that come after that revelation that revolve around abortion and adoption or parenting. And so, I had just read through a fascinating book only to be smacked over the head with my own personal triggers around page 278.
Thankfully, Kwok handled the topics with care. I won’t tell you what Kim’s choice ended up being, but I will let you know that I wept quietly as I read through the last few pages of the book. Kim’s strength that brought her through all the challenges of her schooling in the earlier pages of the book brought her through the last few challenges just as gracefully. I said a silent thank you to Kwok for not drawing out some of the issues or mangling them as badly as some other works of fiction have done to the topics.
I ended Girl in Translation with a smile, even though I was certain as soon as an unplanned pregnancy entered the plot that I would certainly end up hating the book. This book is a rare gem that features a woman with strength beyond her own understanding... and one that handles an unplanned pregnancy without making me want to toss the book out the window. Trust me: That’s a glowing recommendation from me!
