A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

Written in deliberately bad English, this is a wonderful comic romance – Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *Without doubt the most enjoyable – hilarious, brilliant and poignant – novel I read this year – Geoff Dyer * Observer, Books of the Year *An utterly captivating, and disorientating, journey both through language and through love * Independent *Guo uses her minimalist messed-up prose not just to tell an affecting coming-of-age story but to ask deep questions about the real differences between Chinese and British culture and language * Independent on Sunday *Funny and charming…more than a love story; its psychology is politically acute, and things noted lightly in it linger in the mind * Guardian *It is impossible not to be charmed by her matter-of-factness. As the story grows in complexity with Z’s growing vocabulary - the narration acquires fluency and tenses almost imperceptibly - it is equally hard not to be impressed by Guo’s vivacious talent * Sunday Times *A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is original, humorous and wise. Within imperfect language one can find many perfect truths for the human condition. The misunderstandings are really the understandings of the differences of the heart between men and women – Amy TanCaptivating, charming and bittersweet…the culture clash is beautifully drawn and utterly convincing…a memorable take on East meets West * Daily Express *This is a troubling, humane, and emotionally provocative novel which possesses the unusual quality of forcing the reader to think * Irish Times *A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is an intriguing, funny and unusual novel about what gets lost in translation * Herald *

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include- Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover’s Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.

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