American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a perfect book for teenagers and a good read for anybody. The illustrations in this graphic novel are sharp and evocative, and the three story lines intermix, coming together in the end as a parable of identity and self-definition, explored in a very different way from the book I read yesterday, Cheese by Willem Elsschot. What both books have in common is the inner struggle of self-realization versus meeting expectations of others; in Cheese, Laarmans was trying to meet expectations of greater financial success and social standing, whereas in American Born Chinese, Jin Wang is burdened with the prejudices and misconceptions that his classmates and teachers harbor, he is trying to define himself as American and not be grouped with other Asian students in the school, and he is trying to get a girlfriend.
The three stories in American Born Chinese are the story of Jin Wang; a story about a curly-haired blonde boy with an exaggeratedly-stereotypical Chinese cousin who causes him social embarrassment; and a wonderfully told and magnificently illustrated version of the Chinese legend of the Monkey King. The connecting theme between all three is declared in an early scene from Jin Wang’s life when a Chinese herbalist advises him that he can be whatever he wants to be in his life, “so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul.“ The question then explored as the stories unfold is what exactly is the soul: is it the one thing that you yourself can define with no interference from others, or is it defined and set for you and you must discover what it is? Is soul equivalent to identity? Can you lose your soul? Can mistakes and missteps be forgiven or is a soul lost, lost forever?
Alongside these questions of identity Yang presents other issues close to a teen’s existence: falling in love, fitting in with the crowd, and sifting through all the advice offered by adults to figure out your own way. There is a lovely scene when Jin daydreams of the girl he has fallen for: “From then on, she became a tangible presence in my life, whenever she entered the room I was aware of her, even if I wasn’t looking directly at her. It made me nervous that someone could have so much power over me without even knowing it. I would lie awake at night analyzing my feelings for her. She wasn’t exceptionally beautiful and she spoke with a slight lisp. I’d even seen a flake or two of dandruff when I got close enough. But when she smiled…“ Wonderful writing, big themes, and accompanied by perfect illustrations, American Born Chinese is a pleasure to read, rich and tasty and filling.
