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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Interesting read. I enjoyed the art style and I always love graphic novel style memoir. However, themes were a little on the nose.
I didn’t like this book. It was strange. I wasn’t a fan of the angels at all and I understood that the main character had a hard time finding his path in life, but I didn’t like the way the story was told.
My Synopsis:
- Dennis Ouyang is intrigued by video games. When the NES comes out, he freaks!
- Sadly, Dennis's father thinks that video games are waste of time and money.
- Dennis is weighed down by his father's rules and expectations, but when his father passes away, FREEDOM!
- Dennis becomes an all out gamer! However, his gaming gets in the way of his studies, and Dennis is floundering in school.
- Some "messengers" come to help Dennis fulfill his destiny (aka the life his father wanted him to have), and Dennis decides to give up his gaming ways.
- Dennis doesn't hate his new life, but he doesn't love it either. He must choose his own way of life instead of doing what his father would want him to do.
My Thoughts:
- I LOVE the cover of this book. I often held it like a real Gameboy and pretended to hit the buttons.
- The story made me reminisce about the good ole' days of playing Mario and other games. The NES was a good console.
- For me, the story wasn't really finished. I wanted a little more at the end.
- The "angels" were creepy! I would hate to be haunted by those things, but I would appreciate all the help with chores.
- I like that Dennis makes new friends in med school, and I like that school isn't totally miserable in his new life.
- The illustrations were fun and really simple. I think it would have been cool if the illustrations had been done to look like 8-bit.
- Not my favorite graphic novel, but it was fun. A definite must-read for gamers!
- Dennis Ouyang is intrigued by video games. When the NES comes out, he freaks!
- Sadly, Dennis's father thinks that video games are waste of time and money.
- Dennis is weighed down by his father's rules and expectations, but when his father passes away, FREEDOM!
- Dennis becomes an all out gamer! However, his gaming gets in the way of his studies, and Dennis is floundering in school.
- Some "messengers" come to help Dennis fulfill his destiny (aka the life his father wanted him to have), and Dennis decides to give up his gaming ways.
- Dennis doesn't hate his new life, but he doesn't love it either. He must choose his own way of life instead of doing what his father would want him to do.
My Thoughts:
- I LOVE the cover of this book. I often held it like a real Gameboy and pretended to hit the buttons.
- The story made me reminisce about the good ole' days of playing Mario and other games. The NES was a good console.
- For me, the story wasn't really finished. I wanted a little more at the end.
- The "angels" were creepy! I would hate to be haunted by those things, but I would appreciate all the help with chores.
- I like that Dennis makes new friends in med school, and I like that school isn't totally miserable in his new life.
- The illustrations were fun and really simple. I think it would have been cool if the illustrations had been done to look like 8-bit.
- Not my favorite graphic novel, but it was fun. A definite must-read for gamers!
This was my first graphic novel ever to have read. I really liked the story, and the illustration was cute. I hope to see more from the pair that put this together!
I loved the way in which these huge themes – loss, father/son relationships, pre-determined destiny, college friendships, and video games – were paired with four bossy greeting card angels.
I gotta say it - I missed Yang's pictures. Although his storytelling is absolutely good enough to suck you in no matter what the pictures look like, I feel like the magical realism elements to this story didn't work as well in watercolor as they do in the computer-based illustrations Yang used in [b:American Born Chinese|118944|American Born Chinese|Gene Luen Yang|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317066615s/118944.jpg|114515].
That said, I appreciated that this wasn't just another "Asian-amerikan kid under massive pressure by his parents" story. I enjoyed the detail in the medical school and video game subcultures, and found the heart of the story really touching. Pham's use of color is really interesting.
Deceptively complex.
That said, I appreciated that this wasn't just another "Asian-amerikan kid under massive pressure by his parents" story. I enjoyed the detail in the medical school and video game subcultures, and found the heart of the story really touching. Pham's use of color is really interesting.
Deceptively complex.
Wasn’t sure I was going to like this one, but it all came together and of course I was verklempt at the end!
Cool concept - a son of Asian immigrants who have lived lives of "eating bitterness" is torn between his father's wish for him to pursue his "destiny" of becoming a gastroenterologist and his all-consuming need to play video games. The magical realism elements and the sparse watercolor art style allowed the emotional aspect to come through, since it gave me time to think about what was happening without overwhelming with a complicated style. I wish it was longer and explored the side relationships some more, plus more of a follow-up to the ending. As a work of coming of age and figuring out one aspect of one's life, however, this is quite a small gem.
Not as endearing as American Born Chinese, but still a fabulous coming of age story about finding your own path.