A review by sasha_in_a_box
Level Up by Gene Luen Yang

4.0

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.