A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

A heart warming book that shows how two different cultures can come together as one and fuse a future together. It is, maybe, an example of how a post multiculturalist society can progress. This is a good book that shows the differences between English and Chinese cultures. If any readers are seeking a similar tale, albeit a true one, I heartily recommend the book 'One Love Two Colours - the unlikely marriage of a Punk Rocker and his African Queen', by Margaret Oshindele.

Not so much a dictionary as a parody (0/1 people found this helpful)

Sorry, for me it just doesn't ring true. Not only does "Z" speak a form of Chinglish that I have never heard a Chinese person use in real life (and I know many), but she also professes to think that the action of squatting (as in sitting on one's heels) would be painful and uncomfortable, whereas in real life squatting comes /far/ more naturally to the Chinese (and adjacent races, such as the Vietnamese) than it does to we spoiled Westerners who are never far from our comfortable chairs.

Very refreshing style (0/0 people found this helpful)

This was a fantastically refreshing change from the usual stuff on the shelves (which I am incredibly bored of!), so I just had to read it from cover to cover in one sitting!
I found that this book had the ideal balance in poking fun at British customs & sayings, the hilarious mispronounciations made by foreigners, the joy of falling in love (but without being sickly), the fear of losing that love, and the frustrations in carving out an identity in a foreign country.

If you like your novels written with long sentences and lots of multisyllabic words, then this might not be your cup of tea - this really is a 'concise' book and the way it is written is blunt (yet delicate) and in short sentences. There are no flowery descriptions here, but the author still provides enough information for you to clearly imagine on the smells, tastes, sights and sounds of the things that 'Z' experiences and shares with you.
I also actually LIKE Z's 'accidental' bad grammar, which improves in sync with the growth of her relationship with the man she calls 'you'. I think that it is the concept and the story of the book that matters rather than how similar the grammatical 'mistakes' are to those made by the real English-speaking Chinese (see earlier comments by others).

I did get niggled by a couple of points though: sometimes the book makes Z's lack of experience seem virginal (in both sex and relationships), so the speed of her progression towards intimacy with the man 'you' at the beginning of the story would be very unlikely in real life. Ironically, the fact that she jumps headlong into this new relationship without hesitation does greatly highlight her naivety, though - so perhaps this is intentional.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, particularly if they are looking for a read that thinks outside the box slightly, in both its writing style and its story.

A Concise Chinese-English love story? (0/0 people found this helpful)

As a librarian (!) and having read Guo's first novel `Village of stone' and loved it I was always going to pick this one up. I'm married to an Asian girl and have had a number of Chinese female friends so this novel struck a chord with me. I would say that the main character wouldn't have thought like she did at such a young age - Chinese girls are often very naive and to become so worldly wise in such a short space of time was slightly far fetched, she was also not an overly sympathetic character and didn't behave particularly well towards her `boyfriend'. The style didn't put me off one bit though and was a story in itself as the English improved through the course of the novel. The humour was the best part and was also quiet touching - `no plugging in' was a darkly comic description of intercourse and made me chuckle. I'd describe it as a coming of age novel with difference and while not as good as `Village of stone' is a book I'd recommend.

Coy and annoying (2/5 people found this helpful)

I found the faux-naif style in which this was written enormously irritating as well as entirely unconvincing. There was scope for this to be a much better book but as it is, it's artificial and contrived and that is a problem because it means you don't really care about the artificial and contrived characters.

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

Xiaolu Guo

Reader Reviews:

Interesting culture clash. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Not so much a dictionary as a parody (0/1 people found this helpful)

Very refreshing style (0/0 people found this helpful)

A Concise Chinese-English love story? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Coy and annoying (2/5 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories