"𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙨 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚." -page 226 😭

I absolutely loved this book. I won a copy at YALC last year, thanks Andersen Press. It's written in diary form and is based on the author's life. Jo is a young British-Chinese girl, growing up in the 1980's. It starts off quite light-hearted with cute illustrations. But the more you learn about Jo the harder her story is to read.

Jo is constantly bullied at school and her living conditions are horrific with an abusive father who gambles. You join the family as they are moving to a new place. Jo has high hopes that this place will be better where they lived before, but no. They live in a two roomed flat above their new Chinese takeaway where Jo ends up working there for HOURS.

She's surrounded by extended family and NO ONE HELPS HER. Her older brother has worked hard to escape and Jo realises that the only way out is to help herself. The characters are so courageous and the book does end with hope for Jo and hopefully her younger sibling too. I would love to find out more, what happens to Jo and her siblings next?

Thank you to the author for sharing her story through words and illustrations. It's a fascinating read with 80's/90's nostalgia (pixie boots!). This story will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to Penguin Random House UK Children’s for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.http://conqueringtsundoku.com/2020/06/23/chinglish-by-sue-cheung/

When I requested this book, I thought it was for older teens but I think it’s probably aimed more at the younger teen/tween audience - think Jacqueline Wilson age group. The story follows Jo, a young British Chinese girl growing up in the 1980s. As an 80s kid myself, a lot of Jo’s experiences really clicked with me and there are some real laugh out loud moments, particularly in the first part of the book. The text is interspersed with Cheung’s illustrations which are quirky and fun and really enhance the narrative.

This book reminded me a little of the Diary of Adrian Mole, it had that same kind of self-deprecating humour to it. Although there are a lot of really funny moments in the book, it also explores some seriously dark themes including domestic abuse, addiction, animal cruelty, bullying and racism. I’ve seen some criticism directed towards the author for this but she has based this book on her own experiences growing up so I don’t see how it is for us to say whether or not they should have been included. A lot of what Jo goes through might seem unbelievable to modern audiences but stuff like this was often not concerned a big whoop-de-doo in the 80s I am afraid.

Overall, it was an interesting read. I am not sure how much it will appeal to what I perceived to be its target audience, but parts of Jo’s story were a fun trip down memory lane for me. As a warts and all portrait of a working class British Chinese family in the 80s, I can’t fault it.

Unfortunately I did not get on with this book and therefore cannot rate it very highly. I really struggled to connect with the characters and storyline.

I thoroughly enjoyed Chinglish. I was a bit taken aback at first, having not realised it was set in the 80s, but as an 80s kid myself I found so much to connect with. It really was like that, and the first half is laugh-out-loud funny. The story takes a darker twist in the second half, which seems to have upset a lot of reviewers, but again I found it true to history. Abuse was massively shuffled under the carpet, written off, talked down as "not that bad" - remember this was a time when smacking your kids was normal and schools had only just left off corporal punishment, really. Rape within a marriage was only criminalised in '91. Anti-bullying campaigns were barely a thing and we certainly weren't told to "be kind" and "celebrate difference" at every turn. The kind of abuse Jo Kwan went through would have been more or less ignored and definitely not dealt with by a bevy of counsellors and social workers. If you're reading this as someone in their teens and twenties it will no doubt feel like a foreign country, but if you take the time to appreciate the historical perspective, Chinglish is all the more powerful for it.

I'd seen this at YALC and didn't manage to get a copy so I was intrgued when I saw one here. I am glad that I read it as it was something so very different for me.
Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents' Chinese takeaway. Parents who don't speak English and Jo doesn't speak Chinese.
The story,m in the form of a diary and doodles tells of the generation gap between the two as well as growing up in the 80s.
As a child of the 80s I remember a lot of what was mentioned and it was filled with nostalgia for me.
Chinglish also made me laugh out loud several times. Especially Jo's adventures with her pets. But there was a darker side and I liked the way that the author explored important topics that were perhaps a little on the uncomfortable side. Topics like diversity, child abuse, domestic violence and bullying were brought out with humour as well as with realism.

I lioked this book.. at first. In fact I loved it, thought it was a great YA book that focused on a lot of prevalent issues honestly. But then it became a bit too much for me. I felt like it didn't really take itself seriously some of the time which was disappointing. I've come away with no idea what I thought or how or felt about this book.

At first, I quite enjoyed this quirky novel that read like younger YA and reminded me of the Georgia Nicholson books with its lightheartedness and diary entries.

But it quickly became apparent that the book also dealt with some heavy topics, that became more and more prevalent the further the book went on.

Ultimately, I just didn't know what this book was trying to achieve by portraying such horrible abuse in such a quirky format. The result was that any real emotional depth went missing, and it just seemed like the subject matter wasn't taken seriously. It really felt like this book was having some sort of identity crisis.

Rep: Chinese MC

CWs: parental abuse & neglect, violence, animal death & abuse, (internalized) racism and racist slurs

Loved this book, it's really funny in the first half and really sad in the second. Really kooky in its formet and perfect in its portrayal of teenage life.

This reminded me so much of my beloved Judy Blumes from childhood! As an old duffer now, I find it fascinating to see things from a young person's perspective and Sue Cheung does this very well through Jo Kwan. It puts me in mind of the saying about not expecting your child to tell you the big stuff if you don't listen to the small stuff, for that was the big stuff to them all along. As adults, I think we forget the way that children see the minutiae we often overlook. I guess we are too busy sweating our own small/big stuff. I loved the illustrations throughout. I didn't realise this story was partly autobiographical. The author is a true inspiration and I have no doubt that this book, and the humorous and engaging manner in which it is written, will help others in similar circumstances. Ditto the signposting at the end. I hope it was cathartic to write. Overall a great read. More please, Sue Cheung!

Chinglish is written in the form of a diary, Jo Kwan's diary, it's set in the 1980s and it has such an old school feel to it. Diaries were one of the only ways to vent and express your emotions before social media and technology took over.

I really liked how this book was formatted, with sporadic diary entries and brilliant illustrations. It was brimming with hilarious and awkward moments as well as occasionally touching on more serious and sensitive topics.

I loved the honest portrayal of a teenage girl growing up, the author has included general teenage insecurities, issues specific to being Chinese as well as scenarios relating to a toxic family environment. We get a real feel of how Jo Kwan copes with these issues through her diary entries, I was cheering her on the entire time.

From finding new friends to first dates, through Chinglish we're given a window into Jo Kwan's intriguing life. It's a mostly fun and fresh take on growing up in the UK with some difficult scenes. I thoroughly hope you enjoy it if you decide to pick it up.

It took me longer than usual to read 'Chinglish', not because of the writing style, which was always fluent and engaging, but because I just so desperately wanted Jo and her siblings to completely escape from their toxic environment and the fact this this is partly autobiographical made this even harder to bear .
This was an informative and heartrending read in equal measure, especially with the initial focus being Jo's desire to record only "positive" events, to her acceptance and realisation that ignoring her current reality won't cause it to change.
The book conveys the still very important message of working hard to change the future yourself through effort and determination (the poor pets within this book aren't always so lucky, however...).
I quickly found myself rooting for Jo, Simon and Bonny to find their own paths and resist being chained to the takeaway and just hoping that they would succeed.
While this is not always a cheery read, Jo's illustrations and journal entries offer a balance to the darker nature of events and provide much needed moments of hope.
Overall, this was an engaging, bittersweet read and I highly recommend it to anyone intrigued by the synopsis and gorgeous front cover.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book!

This book had its highs and lows. Let's start with the highs: I'm a sucker for a diary format and an even bigger sucker for a diary format with illustrations. The illustrations are at times hilarious and definitely shows the age of the protagonist (this is a downfall however because at times the protagonist may sound quite young for their age!).

I think there is a solid family story in there and the story doesn't hinge on any big mystery to propel it forward. Jo is a funny character that many teens will be able to relate to - she hates her parents, obsessed with her looks, stubborn, and very well-rounded. But she's also vulnerable. It is those moments when she's most vulnerable that I connected with her. I would have really liked to have seen more of that but I do understand that this is a very personal piece for the author and as such they may not have wanted to give that part of them away.

My biggest issue with this novel is the treatment of the dad.
SPOILER FROM NOW ON
There is the issue of abuse which arises and it's not really dealt with in the novel. The abuse is horrifying and impacts not only Jo but also her sister, mother, and brother. But, again, this was during a time when abuse was overlooked and a personal matter to the author so fully respect how she's dealt with it and not tampering with the story just for the sake of it.

Overall: a wholesome story.