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Remember back in high school, when you thought you had it hard because you were wearing the wrong brand of jeans? Imagine not only having the wrong brand of jeans, but no jeans at all -- and a mother who is so poor and so alone in the world, she has to make your underwear for you from scraps of fabric stolen from the sweatshop where she works. And so we meet Kimberly Chang in Jean Kwok's Girl in Translation.
Describing a period of suffering is difficult, after the fact. Kwok does an amazingly good job with it, without sentimentality or gross exaggeration. Though the book is a work fiction, it’s easy to tell that Jean has walked the walk and definitely talked the talk. One of my favorite parts involved Kim, the main character, visiting a wealthy schoolmate’s house for the first time and trying to write down what she heard. The English language does not come easily to strangers.
Though the topic of the book sounds depressing and sad -- a daughter and mother come to New York to escape the poverty and hopelessness of their Hong Kong life, only to find themselves basically enslaved by a family member in their sweatshop -- Kwok writes with tenderness, awe, and honesty. From describing the cruel behavior of her aunt who brought them to America, yet keeps them trapped in unthinkable living conditions to a rare outing with her mother and friend to see the “Liberty Statute”, Kwok hits it out of the park every time.
As a privileged American teen, I found parts of the book hard to read. Listening to a high school friend complain about how boring life is in the suburbs, completely unaware that Kim has been living in roach and rat-infested condemned building, with no heat, makes me as a reader excruciatingly uncomfortable. As her other friends complain about boys or clothes, Kim and her mother raid a dumpster of fabric remnants (in this case, discarded material for stuffed animals). These remnants provide some comfort against a bitterly cold Brooklyn winter and are the only blankets they have.
Kim and her mother have one major weapon: Kim’s amazing brain and her ability to work incredibly hard. Instead of the usual American teenager’s life, Kim goes to school, excels in her classes, gets a full scholarship to a prestigious private school, works in the sweatshop until late in the evening, studies, and sleeps a few hours a night. Kim and her mother both know that in order for them to escape the crippling poverty and the debt -- emotional and financial -- to Kim’s aunt, Kim must succeed.
What struck me so much was Kim’s attitude to her relationship with her mother. Nowhere was she angry or bitter that her mother couldn’t provide for her the way “normal” kids lived. They supported each other, a team of two, and both literally and figuratively survived by huddling together for warmth. Mother-daughter relationships are complex by their very nature, and Kim and Ms. Chang are no different. What IS different is the incredible bond between them that makes both of them strong and quite frankly, invincible.
Days after I finished the book, I kept shaking my head in disbelief. Is it possible that nice neighborhoods in New York -- or anywhere -- be close enough to places like where Kim grew up? Is it possible for well-fed, healthy and happy children to sit at a desk right next to an Asian girl who is undernourished, forced to work for illegal wages in an illegal operation, and no one be the wiser? Are these places really in existence? Although the reality of the truth cannot be disputed, it is painful for me as a human being AND a mother to read about a daughter who lives in these conditions and whose culture shuns weakness or asking for help.
Throughout the book, there are many close calls for Kim -- having a classmate find out where she lives, or a classmate’s mother nearly figure out she’s working illegally. I found myself holding my breath, waiting for some “rich American” to discover the truth and whisk the Changs away from their slum and into the good life they thought they would get. And it doesn’t happen. The only way the Changs make their way out is hours of back-breaking labor for Ms. Chang and extremely hard work on Kim’s part to get an education.
It’s a fast read and it breaks your heart while lifting it up at the same time. Pick it up -- you won’t be disappointed.
