I finished Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok a while ago, yet it still has me thinking. The main character, Kimberly, is so strong throughout the story and, in the end, makes a very tough decision. Ultimately, I think she made the right – and least selfish decision – and I wonder if I could have done the same myself?
The few characters in the story are well thought-out, from Ma to Mike to Annette. It's fun seeing Kimberly progress from 11 or so with minimal English abilities and new to the country to a fully integrated and confident teenager to a successful adult who had fulfilled her goal of providing a better life for herself and her family.
I loved watching Kimberly's relationship with her mother unfold. I enjoy reading stories about generational cultural clashes – my all-time favorite is Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – generally, these stories are filled with angst on behalf of the child when dealing with their parent's language limitations or cultural insecurities. In Girl in Translation, Kimberly rarely seems to experience that frustration and doesn't seem to begrudge taking care of her mother and making sure they eventually have a better life. She goes to a fancy private school and receives the best education among Brooklyn's elite during the day, and then works in the factories all night to help her mom earn more money. When they earn just 1 cent per garment that they work on, they need all of the extra hours they can get. Kimberly lives this double life until she goes off to college and rarely complains; instead, she's just thankful that she even has the opportunity to receive the good education and that they're making those pennies at the slum factory that her own aunt and uncle run.
All of the odds are against Kimberly and her mother after their move to the United States, yet they make it through by having faith that things will get better and being resourceful when necessary. I'm not sure I'll ever forget them finding the leftover stuffing and coverings from stuffed animals and using those to sew robes and sweaters so that they could keep adequately warm during the winter when their slum apartment had no heat. This scene was alternately happy and heartbreakingly sad. It was happy because finding the fabric ensured they would survive the winter and not freeze to death, and heart-breaking because, without the find, they surely wouldn't have made it through the winter, as they didn't even have enough money to buy a proper winter coat or get an apartment with heat.
As for the romantic elements of the book, I couldn't help but root for Kimberly because she was always in control. She made the choices in her relationships, and it was refreshing to see that she wasn't passive in this regard.
It's cliche, but this is one book I could not stop reading once I started. An easy 5 out of 5 stars.
