Date: June 24th 2014
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher for review
Charlie Wong is a twenty two year old woman who lives in New York City's Chinatown. She is a dishwasher at the noodle shop her father owns. Her mother, who sadly passed away when Charlie was young, was a professional ballerina back in Beijing. Charlie lives her days in the small community of Chinatown in the small apartment with her father and eleven year old sister. But then, it is time for her to get a job, and to step out of Chinatown and into the big world. She lands a job as a receptionist at a ballroom studio in Manhattan. She is terrible at the job, but somehow ''this other world'' then her world back at home in Chinatown, makes her grow as a person. She get's the chance to substitute when a dance teacher fall out, and then she finds out she has quite a talent for dancing and teaching.
But back at home, she doesn't dare to tell her father or her sister that she is actually teaching instead of being a receptionist at the studio. What would her very traditional father do or say when he finds out? The only thing he wants for her is to find a husband. Charlie has to hide everything and hides her dance clothes in the back of her closet so no one will find out. And while Charlie is blossoming in the dance world and even a romance between her and someone at the studio is about to start, Lisa seems to suffer from a mysterious illness which makes her weaker and weaker, while she is preparing for her entrance test for the prestigious Hunter High School. Her father doesn't want her to go to a Western doctor, and traditional Chinese cures and practices are tried without success. Charlie has to make choices in her difficult position between the Western and the Chinese world back home.
I was very curious for this new book by Jean Kwok, and it totally met my expectations! Just as in Jean's previous book, Girl In Translation, the story is set in New York's Chinatown. (Kimberly Chang has a tiny guest appearance in this book..). It was very entertaining to read about Charlies's progression and self-actualization from a dishwasher to an elegant dance teacher and find her true talents, and I loved the way the story ended. Just as in Girl in Translation, the books gives a good view how things work and are done in the closed community of Chinatown and its traditions, and how Charlie is living between two cultures. I also loved the romance part and the ballroom dancing that danced as a red line through the story. Mambo in Chinatown is a book I recommend as a new must read!
