Setting: the Plot Is Set in New York, in the Present

The Interpreter1

Publisher: Penguin Readers Editors: Andy Hopkins, Jocelyn Potter Language level: 3/A2/1200 headwords

The Interpreter is a great movie by Sidney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. The book I`m writing a review of has been “designed” for English learners, the plot and the language have been simplified so that everyone (even students with basic English) could enjoy the story 

Setting: The plot is set in New York, in the present.

The main characters are Silvia Broome and Tobin Keller. Silvia is a young lady in her thirties. She works as an interpreter at the United Nations2 in New York. At the beginning of the story, we know little about her. There is no information about her family. She speaks perfect English, Spanish and Ku (the language of Matobo, a country somewhere in Africa). Later we learn that she was born there and her parents owned a farm there. Tobin is an agent working for Sectet Service, which is a part of the United States government. It`s hard to guess whether he is married or divorced, sometimes when he feels lonely he listens to his wife`s voice from an answering machine. But she is no longer a part of his life.

The plot starts when Silvia Broome doesn`t switch off a microphone in her interpterters` booth.3 It`s a late evening and she shouldn`t be in the United Nations Building. However, she has to come back because she has forgotten her music bag. Suddenly, she hears a whisper “The Teacher will never leave this room”. Accidentally, she turns on a light in the booth. Now, she is in serious trouble. The whisperer could see her, but she couldn`t see him or her. Next day, she talks to Chief Wu. He knows who the Teacher is, and Slivia knows it as well. It`s Edmund Zuwanie, the president of Matobo. He probably deserves to be killed, as he has had thousands of innocent people shot to death, killed by bomb or tortured. Chief Wu calls Secret Service. Tobin Keller thinks that Silvia is lying to them but he doesn`t understand why. The situation gets worse. Zuwanie is coming to New York in 3 days to give a speech at the UN, someone breaks into Silvia`s flat and tries to scare her, her good friend Phillipe commits a suicide, and she escapes a bomb attack. Moreover, agent Keller becomes more suspicious4 of Silvia. Some unpleasant facts come to light: Silvia`s parents and sister Alexandra were killed by Zuwanie`s soldiers years ago, her brother Simon was shot to death by Zuwanie`s soldiers a few days ago. She is lonely and alone. Isn`t that the best reason to take revenge on Dr. Zuwanie?

1 Tlmočníčka/tlmočník

2 OSN (Organizácia spojených národov) 3 Kabínka, v ktorej sedí tlmočník. 4 Podozrievavý “Do you want him to die?” Tobin asked her.

“I want him to leave Matobo,” Silvia said quickly. “That`s different. I don`t believe in guns and wars.”

But....what if?