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emilyhv's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Antisemitism
nannahnannah's review
4.0
This is a perfect example of how graphic novels are, in fact, real fiction. …I’m actually not sure anyone says that anymore, but if they did, this could be your counterargument!
Representation:
- the main character, his family, and his best friend are Chinese
- the best friend’s girlfriend is Japanese
American Born Chinese is about three seemingly separate stories that come together in the end:
1). Jin Wang is the only Chinese American kid at his school, and all he wants to do is fit in and get the “All-American girl” of his dreams to notice him. Unfortunately what he gets is the attention of bullies, the racist ignorance of his peers and teachers, and an ever-growing feeling of shame.
2). The monkey king is a character from one of the oldest of all Chinese stories: The Journey to the West. He’s a shapeshifter who has mastered all of the disciplines needed to achieve immortality, but he still isn’t satisfied: as the other immortals point out, he’s still a monkey. This won’t do.
3). Danny is a popular white boy whose life is “ruined” by his cousin’s annual visits. His cousin, whose name is “Chin-Kee”, and who is an outright racist caricature of a Chinese person. Every year Danny feels so embarrassed after Chin-Kee’s visits that he needs to change schools.
This graphic novel was one of the more satisfying reads of this year -- and of last year too. I’m white, so it’s hard for me to comment much on the appearance of the literal racist caricature or how he made me feel. Or how he should make anyone else feel. I’m not an immigrant either, so much of the book’s themes weren’t speaking to me as the audience, even though I could relate it to elements of my life.
Even so, I found the book powerful, especially to be talking about a part of the non-white immigrant experience that isn’t talked about much these days in YA literature (the shame, the embarrassment, and the later acceptance rather than JUST the overwhelming pride). (This isn’t me knocking on one of them; both are important)
From an actual novel standpoint, the story is beautifully crafted. While it starts of fairly slow (and a bit confusing: what does this monkey king have to do with Jin Wang in the US?), by the time things pick up and there’s a feeling that these stories aren’t as separate as you previously thought it’s time to give up going to bed. You’re reading till the end. There’s so much to reflect upon after reading too -- little details you didn’t catch about each story but now see after they came together were purposefully added.
This is a hard book to rate/review, but I’ll have to rate it as I enjoyed it and how I felt after the experience.
Representation:
- the main character, his family, and his best friend are Chinese
- the best friend’s girlfriend is Japanese
American Born Chinese is about three seemingly separate stories that come together in the end:
1). Jin Wang is the only Chinese American kid at his school, and all he wants to do is fit in and get the “All-American girl” of his dreams to notice him. Unfortunately what he gets is the attention of bullies, the racist ignorance of his peers and teachers, and an ever-growing feeling of shame.
2). The monkey king is a character from one of the oldest of all Chinese stories: The Journey to the West. He’s a shapeshifter who has mastered all of the disciplines needed to achieve immortality, but he still isn’t satisfied: as the other immortals point out, he’s still a monkey. This won’t do.
3). Danny is a popular white boy whose life is “ruined” by his cousin’s annual visits. His cousin, whose name is “Chin-Kee”, and who is an outright racist caricature of a Chinese person. Every year Danny feels so embarrassed after Chin-Kee’s visits that he needs to change schools.
This graphic novel was one of the more satisfying reads of this year -- and of last year too. I’m white, so it’s hard for me to comment much on the appearance of the literal racist caricature or how he made me feel. Or how he should make anyone else feel. I’m not an immigrant either, so much of the book’s themes weren’t speaking to me as the audience, even though I could relate it to elements of my life.
Even so, I found the book powerful, especially to be talking about a part of the non-white immigrant experience that isn’t talked about much these days in YA literature (the shame, the embarrassment, and the later acceptance rather than JUST the overwhelming pride). (This isn’t me knocking on one of them; both are important)
From an actual novel standpoint, the story is beautifully crafted. While it starts of fairly slow (and a bit confusing: what does this monkey king have to do with Jin Wang in the US?), by the time things pick up and there’s a feeling that these stories aren’t as separate as you previously thought it’s time to give up going to bed. You’re reading till the end. There’s so much to reflect upon after reading too -- little details you didn’t catch about each story but now see after they came together were purposefully added.
This is a hard book to rate/review, but I’ll have to rate it as I enjoyed it and how I felt after the experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Antisemitism
re: racism - in particular racist caricatures & racist imagery, proceed with cautionlittlecat's review
emotional
sad
fast-paced
3.5
I think its a well told and important story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, and Sexism
Minor: Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
emily_mh's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I loved the art style of this one and thought the way that the three stories came together was clever and meaningful. However, I thought the ending was a little rushed and I would have liked to see more in Jin’s perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Animal death, Misogyny, Body shaming, Medical content, Ableism, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
robinks's review
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I liked the illustrations and how the three stories came together in the end. As a biracial Taiwanese person, it was really hard to read through all the racism and slurs used in this graphic novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit
Minor: Antisemitism
lilatov's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Another book I read because I'm thinking of teaching it.
This book is a lot, and to a school population that has a high chinese american percentage I'm not sure if it's what I want?
It really plays into some damaging self internalization and self hatred / stereotypes, etc. plus a random moment of anti-semitism for no real reason (the reason is to fit in). But ultimately it's a story about being true to yourself, and understanding how in trying to be someone you're not you end up hurting yourself and the people around you. It's about the power of traditions and the hold they have over you.
There are also some really good examples of the graphic novel as a medium / form.
The question I need to answer / ask myself is whether or not the positives of the story and the take aways are worth putting something that can be really hard to read infront of students. I also need to make sure that I balance positive and negative endings / storylines.
This book is a lot, and to a school population that has a high chinese american percentage I'm not sure if it's what I want?
It really plays into some damaging self internalization and self hatred / stereotypes, etc. plus a random moment of anti-semitism for no real reason (the reason is to fit in). But ultimately it's a story about being true to yourself, and understanding how in trying to be someone you're not you end up hurting yourself and the people around you. It's about the power of traditions and the hold they have over you.
There are also some really good examples of the graphic novel as a medium / form.
The question I need to answer / ask myself is whether or not the positives of the story and the take aways are worth putting something that can be really hard to read infront of students. I also need to make sure that I balance positive and negative endings / storylines.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Minor: Antisemitism
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