Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you'll already have reached out to others. Even when Yang slips in an occasional Chinese ideogram or myth, the sentiments he's depicting need no translation. True to its origin as a Web comic, this story's clear, concise lines and expert coloring are deceptively simple yet expressive. I dont know about the book, though I did read its synopsis, but I find it odd that there exist such things as American Born Chinese (ABC) or Canadian. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. The novel opens with the tale of Chinas Monkey King, an actual literary character in Chinese culture from the classic Journey to the West novel. This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan.
American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to. As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the schoolyard, gets picked on by bullies and jocks and develops a sweat-inducing crush on a pretty classmate. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable.
0 kommentar(er)
