American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang

[inlibrisveritas]

Gene Luen Yang is one of my all time favorite comic book writers. He brings a sort of ease of to the genre despite his rather unique way of weaving complex stories.

American Born Chinese presents us with three different stories. The main story centers around a boy named Jin Wang, who is the only Chinese American in his school and finds himself increasingly embarrassed because of it. The second deals with the tale of the Monkey King, who works hard to rise about his station but in the face of opposition for his being a monkey decided to try and erase that from who he is. And lastly is the sitcom like story of Chin-Kee, a very stereotypical Chinese boy who comes to visit his cousin Danny and embarrasses him horribly. All three of the stories connect in a very interesting way, but separately they all focus on the issues involving race and self identification. Each character (Jin, the Monkey King, and Danny) all deal with race/culture shame. When they are faced with racism or embarrassment over the differences in their lives they all find a way to try and move away from what they feel is the problem, the culture itself.

Gene Luen Yang manages to present a rather simple story with a complex message in a really uniqiue way, pulling together all three of these stories into one. One of my favorite things about his work is that though the message itself leans towards their heavier side, he always finds away to include humor and just a touch of fantasy. His artwork is simply but expressive and works really well with the story he’s telling.

To me this is yet another success from him and it further cements why I love him as an author. American Born Chinese is a great read for both kids and adults, even if you’ve never picked up a graphic novel before.