Jenny Spinola's Special Review of Found in Translation
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WARNING: Don't read this review until you've read Found in Translation. Otherwise, it may spoil some of the surprises. If you've already read Found, though, see if you agree with what this young lady wrote.
- love Kim! Love the way they call her Kimmy! Love her character, her childlikeness, the way she grows and how she carries herself so transparently, making mistakes but becoming more and more lovable along the way. Her transformation is sensational and believable.
- love Aleesha! What a great friend! She's hilarious!
- love the way the group changes as they get to know Kim better, and transformation (true transformation) on their part!
- love the character of Neil
- he may be my next favorite after Kim and Aleesha. Just a sweet, adorable character.
- love how Kim follows God to read the Bible in Spanish even when it made no sense to her. This was hands-down my FAVORITE part.
- love Anjelita (appropriate name!) and got tears when I finally realized she and Kim both had one working arm. I love how you brought in the parts about her being "cursed" (what people have always thought through the centuries) and in the end she's the one who's blessed. Love how she memorized the parts of the Bible (Kim being unaware) and was so helpful, sticking close to Kim (who so desperately needed a kind friend) and becoming a leader among the other children.
- love the scene on the bus at the end where they cry, the three of them sit together and read Rosa's amazing, touching letter. Of course I cried! Who WOULDN'T??! :)
- love the descriptions of the cacti, the flowers, the desert, the deserted church-like building, the potted meat and Kim's reactions to the food! :)
- love the real-life scenarios like 1) Betsy-Jo not being able to come at the last minute (but Kim's gumption to go anyway), 2) changing plans once they got there (that happens ALL the time!) and stuff with buses, translators, 3) Kim having to sleep on rocks and finding/using the mothball blanket
- another of my favorite parts!
- love the find of the necklace, and then receiving it as a gift
- only to find the REAL significance later!
- love the warming of Kim and Rosa, showing that not everybody's buddy-buddy when they first meet, but God can change that through actions and hearts
- love Geoff's transformation, but especially that you left any romance OUT in a book like this, hanging, so that readers can 1) focus on the transformation and not the handsome face, and 2) readers can still speculate about what might happen in the future
- love the leaders' quickness to apologize for their wrongs
- love Kim's cool half-Vietnamese background and cute physical appearance
- love that the "savior" airline worker at the beginning was black, and her speech about giving a cup of cold water in Jesus' name made me cry
- love the title
- love the way Kim's cute clothes "disintegrated" into denim stuff she had to pin up over time (I've been there!)
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