Book Review: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

Author: Guo Xiaolu

The English language in Guo Xiaolu’s novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers is so important that it takes on the role of a plot device and almost a character itself. Zhuang, a naive Chinese girl sent to London by her parents to study English, arrives with limited English ability, as clearly illustrated by the dense Chinglish of the first chapters. As the narrative progresses, so does Zhuang’s ability to comment on the environment around her, all of which she records in her diary.

Apart from linguistic challenges, Zhuang finds it hard to come to grips with the beguiling metropolis of London and the peculiarities of the British, constantly checking her dictionary to interpret the world around her. The mild misadventures described will endear Zhuang to the reader, but the trouble she encounters with language is frustratingly stereotypical; the use of an “l” instead of an “r” and the ubiquitous present progressive tense seem more like a foreigner’s painful imitation of pidgin than anything authentic.

After her first few months in London, a chance encounter with a fortysomething drifter leads Zhuang to the first meaningful romantic relationship of her life. Guo attempts to characterize the male character (referred to only as “you”) as a pained artist who is unable to settle down, but despite acting as a force for development in Zhuang’s life, he comes across as little more than a self-obsessed starving artist with few redeeming qualities.

Despite its weaknesses, the crowning achievement in this curious book is its ability to make the plight of Zhuang universal, and it will have specific appeal to anyone trying to come to grips with a language, city or lover from a different culture.

Movie Review: Rambo IV

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone’s inexplicable reinvention continues as he exhumes the character of John Rambo, the all-action Vietnam vet, for one final (or do I speak too soon?) slash-and-shoot rampage. Having single-handedly killed dozens of rednecks, Vietnamese and Russians in the previous installments, Rambo turns his attention to the totalitarian regime du jour: Burma. As always, Stallone (who has written or co-written every film in the series) brings his own particular brand of right-wing flavor to a visceral and glorified view of combat.

The plot follows a group of missionaries wanting to bring medical supplies to the people of Burma. They happen upon Rambo, seemingly retired and working as a snake catcher in the Thai jungle, and hire him to guide them up the river into the heart of darkness. Inevitably the group comes under attack from the Burmese army and become separated, and it’s up to Rambo and a team of grizzled mercenaries hired by the missionaries’ church to rescue them.

Rambo IV feels like a film groping for relevance; severed limbs flail, the blood flows freely, and the body count rises to new heights as if to court a younger, more desensitized audience. The big man himself is obviously getting on in years, and at points he seems to wear every one of his 60-plus years on his face. Still, amidst the action, popcorn history lessons, and wooden acting, Stallone nevertheless manages to conjure up images of the action hero he once was – but as he is running out of franchises to resurrect, it seems that this action hero might be on his last legs.