Stephanie Jane reviewed Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
A wonderfully insightful novel
4 stars
Searching For Sylvie Lee is a wonderfully insightful novel of a fragmented family divided not only by their physical distance from each other, but also by language. Jean Kwok's use of different mother tongues really made this novel memorable for me because I love understanding how languages influence culture and vice versa. Within the Lee family Grandma speaks her Chinese dialect and perhaps a smattering of Dutch because she lives in the Netherlands with the cousins who took in her granddaughter Sylvie. Sylvie speaks Dutch first and Chinese second. Sylvie's birth mother, Ma, however, immigrated to New York and speaks Chinese, with English as a non-fluent second language. Ma's younger daughter, Amy, speaks American English first and Chinese second. Throughout the novel, which is written entirely in English, Kwok deftly switches points of view between these women and I was amazed at how they each convincingly speak in their own …
Searching For Sylvie Lee is a wonderfully insightful novel of a fragmented family divided not only by their physical distance from each other, but also by language. Jean Kwok's use of different mother tongues really made this novel memorable for me because I love understanding how languages influence culture and vice versa. Within the Lee family Grandma speaks her Chinese dialect and perhaps a smattering of Dutch because she lives in the Netherlands with the cousins who took in her granddaughter Sylvie. Sylvie speaks Dutch first and Chinese second. Sylvie's birth mother, Ma, however, immigrated to New York and speaks Chinese, with English as a non-fluent second language. Ma's younger daughter, Amy, speaks American English first and Chinese second. Throughout the novel, which is written entirely in English, Kwok deftly switches points of view between these women and I was amazed at how they each convincingly speak in their own language to us readers. Through the use of different proverbs and maxims, rhythms and word orders I could instantly identify each language and, often, the speaker too. Searching For Sylvie Lee is a masterclass in writing communications!
That said though, what drives the mystery element of the story is a gaping lack of communication because no one knows why Sylvie has apparently disappeared from her perfect life. I was fascinated by how none of Kwok's characters seem to see themselves in the same way as their friends and family see them. This is particularly true of the sisters Sylvie and Amy who in some ways are reflections of each other, both envying their sister for qualities they fail to recognise in themselves.
So why not a full five star review? I did feel that the story lost its pace through the last quarter and, while it was still a good read, something of the spark was lost for me, especially through the whole Venice escapade. I had really grown to love the characters in their near-Amsterdam locale and was keen to try and unravel the ever more complex links woven between them, however I felt taking a group of on holiday negatively affected the narrative pace. This was a little disappointing because I then wasn't completely able to get myself back into the atmosphere in time to fully appreciate the ending. Overall, however, Searching For Sylvie Lee is an excellent portrait of human relationships and exploration of personal identity. Well worth a read!
