As someone of Chinese descent, books about people with similar backgrounds often interest me.  When I was sent an email author Jean Kwok’s publicist regarding her 2010 novel, Girl in Translation, I replied quickly with interest.  The story centres around a young girl, Kimberly Chang, who emigrates to New York City with her mother in what seems to be the 1980s (there was a reference to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which came out in 1984).  Mrs. Chang works in a sweatshop under the watchful eye of her abusive sister, Paula, while living in an illegal apartment in the slums (Paula and her family, on the other hand, live in the suburbs).  Kimberly, who spoke little English, transforms from being one of the worst students (on the account of not understanding the language) at a predominantly black and not-so-great public elementary school to a star as a bursary student at a predominantly white, New York prep school.  All the while living a double life, hiding the fact that she and her mother lived well below the poverty line even from her best friend, Annette.

This book, while similar to many other immigrant stories of struggle did not have as much resonance to me as it should have.  While I understand the issues of having to deal with cultural difference between the home and school, trying to fit in with either (having experienced it myself), I felt that the Changs’ extreme poverty was more of an exception to the rule rather than something that was typical in the 1980s, at least for immigrants from Hong Kong.  In fact, I assumed that the novel took place in the early 70s until there were references to Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  In the book, Kimberly makes references to the fact that they had no camera in Hong Kong nor did they have a refrigerator and that it wasn’t “typical” to have them there due to price.  She also said that birthdays were not commonly celebrated save for the Lunar New Year.  As a child of parents from Hong Kong, a great deal of these comments seemed extremely foreign.  Western style bakeries there and Chinese communities in the west, after all, do sell birthday cakes (and have for a very long time).  And considering that Mrs. Chang was classically trained in and taught children western music, it just seemed a bit…unusual.  In fact, those comments would have made more sense for immigrants who came directly from the mainland or refugees from Vietnam.  However, there were some realistic anecdotes, too.  For example, Kimberly was used to drinking boiled water rather than directly from the tap, which I, too, often drink.  There were also references to girls having to be “lady-like” and being confused about physical education (my grandmother was not a big fan of North American style gym classes).

While Ms. Kwok did do a good job with the book overall in discussing the struggles of immigration and immersing oneself in a new culture, especially when one is so young, it would have been a bit more realistic had the setting been even one decade earlier.  A 1980s immigrant experience from Hong Kong is not typically one of extreme poverty.  Sure, Aunt Paula’s family was portrayed as being middle to upper-middle class, they had also been in the country for a much longer period.  It would have been interesting to see a character who had been in the United States for as similar amount of time, yet were at least solidly middle class.  Though I understand that the story was loosely based on Ms. Kwok’s experiences in New York as a child, it was not necessarily a “typical” experience of immigrants from Hong Kong in the 1980s as implied in the book.  Of course, books where the central character suffers extreme poverty and struggle, while at the same time overcomes the issues by being a genius somehow sell better – especially if it’s about the immigrant experience (there are two “immigrant” plots in the west – the first being one seen in Girl in Translation and the other (perhaps more common one) tends to be more like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Bend it Like Beckham.  Anything else is seen by The Powers that Be as “unrealistic.”)  Sad, if you really think about it.