I liked this book.It started off as a stereotypical story -- Chinese girl arrives in London & feels disoriented in the west. The narrative style I thought was cliched-- broken English; spoken like a Chinese. And the naivity of the girl was over-done; she came across as a moron.
But somewhere around pg # 100, the English got better, the writing was more heartfelt; her wistfulness more acute. I felt for Z & her claustrophobia in London; I was tickled by the "lost in translation" moments; I was touched by the love story of the two diametrically opposite lead characters; and the small everyday observations about the contrasts in the Chinese & Western cultures made it an interesting read.
4 comments:
Interesting cover. Do you think the cover relates at all to the book?
Good you pointed this out. So far the only novels to hover on my radar are those that deal with South Asian diaspora.
Sneha,
Yes, very much does relate to the book.
Parth,
I know! There's been an overload of Indian-immigrant stories since Salman Rushdie & Vikram Seth, I guess.
sorry-- i say whites for whites and orientals for orientals
surely that's fair, is it not?
Post a Comment