50books_poc | #5: "American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang (Reply)

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I got to the end of the book and declared it awesome, but not unlike the movie of "The House of Sand and Fog", while I was reading it I wasn't entirely certain *why* it had the Printz Award sticker on the front cover. Clearly it was considered an amazing book - you don't win the Printz for something mediocre - but at the three-quarter point I was still wondering how the "Cousin Chin-Kee" storyline fit into the rest of it, and why on earth someone would write that storyline to begin with. And yet it all worked. In a really very awesome way.

I still have a rather odd relationship with graphic novels. I always find myself slightly surprised that they work, and that I enjoy them. It seems sort of like not enough effort for a book that thick, like I'm being "cheated" in a way, of the effort a "book" ought to take. And yet I'm a staunch defender of picture books being not just for children, etc. I think that for me the graphic novel is still suffering from the stigma of being "the thing that will get reluctant readers, especially boys, to read", when I don't see them as that at all. And books like "American Born Chinese" aren't like that at all. They're almost ridiculously full of depth and complexity. (Eg this one. And The Arrival. And Requiem for a Beast. And Skim Etc. )

Anyway. A few notes on my response:

The Monkey King storyline. When I was a kid I *avidly* watched the dub of Monkey (the Japanese TV show that used the Chinese legend as its base) that was shown on public television out here. Most of the storyline contained in American Born Chinese happens in the credit sequence of Monkey, so I was really fairly familiar with the (dubbed) story, albeit through multiple filters. I seriously, seriously loved and adored the connection (in ABC) of the Journey to the West with the Kings/Wise Men/visitors from the East.

The Chin-Kee storyline really puzzled me. As I said above, I really couldn't understand why it was there. Until, of course, the reveal. Not the reveal of Chin-Kee's true identity: the reveal of Danny's identity. It all began to fall into place, then - in a horrifying way that I nevertheless recognised from what I've read from other people. (I've never wished to be different like that. I've been stubborn all my life, so stubborn that I still have my accent despite years of teasing, when others with the same heritage have lost theirs. My anger turned inward later, but still not towards my heritage.) I hate the idea that people hope that hard to be someone else; to fit in. But that's what Jin Wang does, and I know that it's not actually all that rare a hope.

For me it really was that moment in front of the mirror that made the book for me. The second reveal, of Chin-Kee's true identity, added a little, but the moment that the book changed from 'huh?' to 'omgomgomg' was the Jin Wang-to-Danny moment.

It really is an awesome book.