Lessons to Learn

by Natasha Judd

Haunted by tragedy, Charlotte wants to flee New Zealand so answers an advertisement to teach English in Korea. She could have gone anywhere, anywhere away from what had been the sheltered safety of her enclosed rural valley. But is running away from the past the right thing to do? What is ‘right’, anyway? And who, really, is she ?

The Korean students at Speak-English Academy, like the children Charlotte used to teach at Sunday School back in the valley, aren’t the only ones who have lessons to learn. As the story veers from the past to the present and back again, can the teacher be taught to find her own answers?

219 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Natasha Judd is a New Zealand writer, editor and web-geek, currently living in London.

Reviews

[LindyLouMac · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5...

I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed in this novel. It was in fact I found rather boring with the protagonist telling us about her childhood in New Zealand and her current experiences teaching English in Korea. Charlotte was obviously an extremely unhappy young lady; she was only in Korea as she was running away from unhappiness with her life in New Zealand. I never felt that she really wanted to be in Korea and she did not give herself a chance to enjoy the experience of living in a different culture. She was unhappy with the circumstances she found herself in but did nothing to resolve them, just let life drift on around her. Her behaviour and unfortunately hence the novel annoyed me in fact.
It was however only the storyline that disappointed me because the actual writing style was I found very descriptive and I was able to visualize well some of the eccentric cast of characters.
I will certainly look out for any more novels that Natasha Judd may publish as this was her first, in itself a great achievement.

[penelopewanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this rather tough-going at the beginning, but gradually I got into it and felt it picked up considerably in the second half. An interesting view on language teaching abroad and exposure to other cultures, but so very far from my own that I found it hard to relate to Miss Charlotte. As she was running from and not going to someplace, I suppose it makes sense that she made no apparent effort to integrate or appreciate anything much about the culture she has landed in. It feels like she just lets things happen to her, lets her relationships evolve of their own accord or not. Her relationship with Tess, with Mr Park (there's really not much of anything with the second Mr Park), the young man in her building she teaches English to, with Tyler, Ben and Greg - her tone is interestingly neutral throughout it all, but ultimately irritating, I found.

[flajol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really feel that Charlie learned much over the course of the book, and wondered at someone so naive and unworldly managing alone in such a foreign culture tot he one she was accustomed to. The ending felt a little rushed, and I didn't really understand how Charlie arrived at her final decision. The sense of dislocation was apparent throughout, and reminded me of unpublished journals I received from a friend teaching English at a provincial university in China.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all honesty I can say I really enjoyed this book & I spent a very happy afternoon curled up on the sofa reading it, I found it quite addictive.

I felt that I really knew Charlie & the other characters (although, I could've slapped young Mr Parks!) but I particularly loved Jack....I could just picture him sticking two felt pens up his nose & pretending to be a walrus! This is from the part when Jack got to do the collection at church on his birthday...

"Jack carried the plate, level, carefully, & as the song finished he bought it up to Mrs Wilson for the blessing. "Can you put this somewhere safe for me?" he said "I can get a whole lot of new stuff with all this birthday money."

... what a great little character!

[Chris Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this debut novel. I suspect that this novel is somewhat auto-biographical as I've been an English teacher in South Korea and a lot of Charlotte and her acquaintances experiences were familiar. The jumps back and forth from Charlotte's Sunday School teacher days were a little annoying but they were clearly used to contrast both teaching experiences. I'm not sure if I'd like this book as much if I didn't have shared experiences with the central character.

A minor annoyance was that brought was used instead of bought when Charlotte went to the movies with her "British-speaking" Korean friend, Ben. A major annoyance was the ending as the entire story seemed incomplete due to not being rounded off very well.

All in all, a worthwhile read for those interested in fish out of water stories, teaching in Asia or the lives of ex-pats in Asia but maybe not to a lot of others.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely easy to read book. I like the way the Charlie shares her story about the reasons she's found herself teaching English in Korea.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Related well to the writer and enjoyed the snippets. Loved the meanings that came through. Seemed to be quite jumpy however.