Online - August 03, 2004

Found in Translation

"Beijing Doll," by Chun Sue

It’s no secret that Americans are a little on the lingua-centric side.

Why put yourself through the trouble of subtitles or translations when there’s so much great stuff in your native tongue? (Heck, even Shakespeare spoke it.)

Because, doofuses, you’d miss out on groundbreaking books like Beijing Doll, which sold thousands of copies in China before the government banned it. Now hitting U.S. shores, the semiautobiographical novel by high-school-dropout-turned-journalist Chun Sue chronicles one teenage girl’s struggle to find herself through rebellion, sex, and hair-color changes (apparently the international symbol for teen angst). Like a punked-out Holden Caulfield, the endearingly crude protagonist navigates repressive conventions, societal expectations, and a rigid educational system — all in search of a way to express herself.

Given that Beijing Doll is now published in more than a dozen languages, it would appear she found one.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.