B.A.B.A.E.L.

At times, novels set in a different culture from my own feel a bit inaccessible to me -- distanced. Culture, like a language, can sometimes be a barrier.

The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai is, essentially, a novel of barriers. Culturally between Americans and Chinese, older generations and younger generations, and even expats and visitors. But the major theme is that of language.

After Li Jing is injured in the collapse of a large hotel, he is diagnosed with aphasia, leaving him unable to communicate in his native Chinese, although he can understand it.

More bizarrely, he is left both able to understand and speak English, the language of his childhood, although he has not used it for many years. A specialist in what is known as bilingual aphasia is flown in from the United States in the hopes that her experience in the field, as well improving Li Jing's English, will help him re-learn his Chinese.

I liked that the novel made me contemplate the intimacy of communication, as well as the barriers the lack of it can put up. As the narrator was 3rd person omniscient, I experienced the interesting frustration of knowing what each character was thinking and seeing the consequences of their inability to express themselves.

I enjoyed contemplating what a lack of language might do to my own relationships. At first, I was almost puzzled by the difficulties Li Jing and his wife, Meiling, had communicating. After all, they had translators, both human and computerized. But slowly, I began to appreciate the intimate things that can neither be spoken to a human outside that relationship, nor fully communicated through a clumsy computer translator.

Li Jing's doctor, Rosalyn Neal, has arrived in Shanghai on the heels of a painful divorce, and finds that since she and Li Jing are two of the few English speakers. Because of this, she and her patient are beginning to share a very inappropriate bond facilitated by the fact that they are often living in their own private world of two. While language separates Li Jing and his wife, this forced intimacy inexorably draws Dr. Neal and Li Jing together.

While the premise is interesting and thought-provoking, the execution left me feeling as if there was a failure to communicate. After briefly considering that the differences may have been cultural, I rejected the idea. After all, Meiling, the most Chinese character in the whole novel, was also the character I connected with the most.

Unfortunately, Li Jing and Rosalyn are simply not deep characters, nor are they particularly likable or understandable. As the novel is largely character and not plot-driven, this lack of depth creates a barrier between the reader and the story almost as insurmountable as a lack of common language.

More depth and even length (to give the author time to more fully delve into each character) may have been the answer here -- or at the very least a stronger plot arc. I see potential in the writing, and, as stated, really enjoyed the questions the story raised, but was ultimately left unsatisfied.