LOVE IN ENGLISH by Maria E. Andreu is a young adult novel
which I am very happy to recommend for a number of reasons: plot, character
development, and extremely clever use of language. The story centers around high
school student Ana, a recent immigrant to the States who is trying to fit in. An
English Language Learner, Ana is torn between her attraction to popular
musician and fellow math student Harrison and to Neo, another recent immigrant
who becomes a true friend. Ana speaks Spanish; Neo comes from Greece so they
use halting English and translating apps to understand each other, eventually
bonding over American films like The
Breakfast Club. Andreu effectively conveys the confusion and frustration
which Ana and her peers face by inserting #### amidst the dialogue when a
teacher or other student speaks. The characters are appealing, especially Ana
who is a skilled poet:
… Everything is a riddle.
Content: the stuff that fills my ESL
notebook. The things I write.
Content: how I want to feel here.
Close: what my father wants me to do. Close
the door on everything that came before. Close: how I want to feel. To someone.
I want a piece of peace A week without
feeling weak A scene I’ve seen before.
I want to be whole, complete, unabridged,
intact.
LOVE IN ENGLISH received a well-deserved starred review from School Library Journal. It’s an
amazingly empathetic (Andreu herself is an immigrant) glimpse at fitting into a
new culture: “putting down a life to pick up another one is hard, a swirl of
regret and excitement and what-could-have-beens and what-will-bes” while also
reminding readers that “the stories we tell ourselves make us who we are.”
No comments:
Post a Comment