A review by angieinbooks
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

3.0

Kim and her mom immigrate to New York from Hong Kong for the chance to start a new life in America and live the American Dream. But life doesn't pan out for them the way they think it will. Forced to live in squalor and to work backbreaking hours at Kim's aunt's sweatshop, Kim and her mom find themselves in an impossible situation. And neither of them speak English. But Kim is clever, conveniently genius-level, but she works hard and not without mishaps and failures, and she shines despite everything she's up against.

This was exactly the book I needed to read right now: quick, enthralling, funny, heartwarming. Kim's story is not easy to read, but there's such a humanity in her narration. She maintains a great sense of humor and there are a few things to celebrate: her relationship with her mother, her friendships with Annette and Matt, the educators fighting for Kim even when she's not aware of it. But there is a lot that is hard to read. Life in the sweatshop is hard and dangerous, their apartment is uninhabitable, her aunt is vindictive, manipulative, just downright evil.

I loved this book. I loved the first two-thirds, but the last third really missed the mark for me. Kim, despite all the odds against her, thrives. She succeeds when it seems like nothing will go right for her. Yes, she's brilliant, but she works hard to achieve her success.

Spoiler

So it's incredibly frustrating that the last part of the story talks about her regret for letting Matt go. For not following her heart to be with him. This story turns into a sappy romance that it doesn't need to be. This is Kim's story. Hers and her mom's. I like Matt. I like that he was good to her and her mom, but their lives could not have worked in tandem. Kim ultimately chooses herself, and it's the right decision. She becomes a successful surgeon, going through Yale and Harvard medical school as a single mother, pulling herself and her mother out of poverty. She does this and meets Matt years later. He's married now and has a family. He still lives in Chinatown, as he told her he would. He's a success in his way, too, having pulled himself from poverty. But they wouldn't have made each other happy. Kim knows this. Matt knows this. And yet it the last moments of the book center on her regret. I was just frustrated by the message that sent--that despite all of Kim's triumph and success, she's still pining for a boy who would have held her back.