In the Stacks Episode 89: Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

A video book review of Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. Purchase the book on Bookshop here, and on Powells here.

"This debut novel is the coming of age story of Kim, who leaves Hong Kong with her mother and settles in Brooklyn with the help of relatives who run a sweatshop in Chinatown. Kim soon learns it was no favor. Their apartment is in the slums and doesn’t have heat, but does have plenty of roaches and mice. They will stay there for years while they pay back their relatives.

"Her mother works twelve-hour days in the sweatshop, and Kim, who’s a gifted student, joins her there after school, as much to keep off the streets as anything. When she wins a scholarship to a prestigious private school, she begins to live in two separate worlds." -- Michelle Z. from In the Stacks.tv


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