Xavier's Reading Exercise Book

Xavier’s reading workbook is the tangible record of a difficulty he has concealed: its fragile pages hold copied Chinese characters and English translations, including misspellings, and expose the gap between his apparent confidence and his experience of reading. When he lets Ever see it, the workbook becomes more than a school exercise. It opens a conversation about his dyslexia, the lack of support he received, and the patient, collaborative work through which he and Ever begin to help one another.

The Workbook and Its Contents

On a Saturday night, Ever notices Xavier’s hand drift toward a workbook before he draws it away. The detail unsettles the image of Xavier Yeh as a class rebel and collector of demerits: he is studying his Chinese reader, and the workbook seems to carry a secret. He eventually trades Ever his notebook, presenting it with a defiant invitation to read. Alone on the floor, she opens it carefully; the pages feel so fragile that they might tear if turned too quickly.

The margins are crowded with handwriting copying Chinese characters and their English translations. Among the errors Ever sees are “Bibent” for “didn’t” and “Pensel” for pencil. These are not merely careless slips: Xavier later explains that words seem to move around on the page, and that repeatedly looking at them does not ensure he understands what he has read. The workbook gives physical form to that mismatch between effort and comprehension, while showing the labor he has kept hidden.

A Concealed Difficulty Becomes Speakable

The notebook’s appearance makes Ever ask whether Xavier is dyslexic. He answers uncertainly, calling it something like that, but also says he has heard it described as another word for being stupid. His response reveals how thoroughly his difficulty has been joined to shame. Ever counters with the experience of her younger sister, Pearl, who is dyslexic and has received tutoring from their father, special education in elementary school, accommodations, and voice-dictation software. Pearl loves music, though reading notation is hard; she uses her ear and is at the top of her class.

That account offers Xavier a different picture of dyslexia from the one his father has given him. His father dismisses it as an excuse and a Western psychological obsession, insisting that Chinese children do not have dyslexia. Xavier says that a tutor in Taiwan told his father he could not learn, and recalls his father saying he should have been beaten harder so he would learn. The workbook therefore records more than a reading problem: it is the evidence Ever encounters when Xavier risks showing her a vulnerability shaped by disbelief and abuse.

A Shared Method of Learning

Later, the workbook returns to practical use in the fifth-floor lounge, where Ever and Xavier work with their readers as storms batter the windows. Ever brings the books; Xavier brings dragon’s beard candy. She reads the pinyin of a poem assigned for homework and admits she does not know what she has said. Xavier corrects her tones and supplies the likely meaning, noting that most Chinese children learn the poem in grade school.

Their exchange turns the difference between their abilities into a way of working together. Ever understands what she is saying but cannot read half of it; Xavier can read the language but struggles to decode written words. He recognizes this complementarity, grins, and says that studying together is fun. The scene gives the workbook’s labor a reciprocal shape: Xavier is not only being helped, but contributes knowledge Ever lacks. Ever hopes their work will help him see that what he has believed about himself is untrue, while recognizing that she cannot necessarily give him everything he wants.

From Reading Practice to Shared Care

The practice of forming letters also recurs in a quieter activity. Ever brings rice obtained from the kitchen staff, following Pearl’s suggestion that it can be kneaded into rice clay. She and Xavier shape letters at the table until the rice begins to harden. The makeshift material turns writing into something they can handle together, extending their study beyond the printed pages of the workbook.

On another evening, Xavier brings an old-looking DVD of Fong Sai-Yuk, recalling that Ever had said she might try the kung fu film. The workbook belongs to a pattern of attention rather than a single disclosure: their shared evenings include reading, playful collaboration, and remembered preferences. As an object, it marks the moment Xavier’s hidden difficulty becomes visible; in the scenes that follow, the work of reading becomes one part of a growing mutual care that does not reduce him to what he finds difficult.