Feb 15

Rose Reviews: Repeat After Me by Rachel DeWoskin

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Rose Symotiuk was a JET in Akan, Hokkaido from 2003-2005.  She works in publishing in New York City.  You can follow her blog at http://roseinnewyork.wordpress.com/.

Repeat After Me is the first fiction book by Rachel DeWoskin.  DeWoskin went to Beijing in 1994 to work as a public-relations consultant and was quickly recruited to star in a Chinese nighttime soap opera, titled Foreign Babes in Beijing, which was watched by approximately 600 million viewers. At the time, she was one of the few foreign actresses working in mainland China and was considered a sex symbol.  You can pick up her popular book about her experiences, titled Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China, here.

Repeat After Me follows the lead character, Aysha, a young New Yorker, after a mental breakdown causes her to drop out of Columbia and start teaching at an English school.  There she meets Da Ge, a young Chinese man with his own problems.  The story starts somewhere in the middle and unfolds in wonderous ways: from Aysha’s parents’ divorce, to her life in Beijing years later with a stunning surprise, always returning to her tragic, vivid romance with Da Ge.

Splashed across this story in bright color is China, in mouth watering dinners, to brilliant paintings, to the uprising at Tiananmen Square and contemporary Beijing.  DeWoskin can’t help but keep New York subdued in welcome contrast.

Repeat After Me has a few problems.  In the story, two characters discuss a book they’ve read and one comments that though the book is not bad, the writer is quite young.  One can’t help but feel DeWoskin references herself in this discussion.  Structurally, the book depends on a series of letters that start as blatant exposition and aimlessly meander throughout the book until they become goofy.  The rich characters, and engaging story aren’t hampered at all by this, however, and I can wholeheartedly recommend picking up Repeat After Me when it is released by Overlook this May.

You can preorder the book here from Amazon.