A review by jamchow
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

5.0

I thought this graphic novel was fantastic! I don’t feel like I can comment much on the art since I’m not too immersed in this genre, but I thought it added a lot to the story and I enjoyed looking at it. I was very impressed with the historical fiction elements of this. It was super interesting to read and incredibly dark. It explored the nature of war and rebellion very realistically in my opinion. We may want to romanticize it, but it’s ugly. There may be “good intentions” whatever that means as there are so many sides to everything, but we get misguided. We lose our morals. It shows the ugly of both sides and also makes you feel for both sides which I love. I don’t remember that much of Chinese history from class (even though I know I learned it, it’s still not as entrenched in daily life as European history is), I thought this was a really fun way of teaching it. I didn’t love the magical, “god” elements as much but I didn’t mind them either. I think they added a fun element. I laughed at times and I cried as well. I loved the characters and the journey they take. And I believe we got a snippet from the second book as well which is cool. I’m interested to see if that takes on more of the other side of the it. Interesting concept!

Also I love that Yang included Muslims in this especially considering what’s going on in China today with them being held in concentration camps, I really appreciated the acknowledgment of their place in China!