American Born Chinese Review

Bibliography
Yang, Gene L. (2006). American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 234 pp.

Genre
Graphic Novel

Synopsis
This is the story of how three unrelated lives come together in an unexepected twist in a modern graphic fable:

Jin Wang yearns to fit in in his mostly white high school and divorce himself from his heritage. He finds this almost impossible to do when he befriends a lonely Taiwanese emigrant named Wei-Chen.

The powerful and ancient Monkey King, ruler of monkeys all over the world, yearns to be an all powerful sage and master and he's making trouble for the gods. They want the Monkey King humbled and silenced.

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative stereotype of the Asian culture. He simply mortifies his white cousin, Danny, to the point where he must transfer to a new school. This year, Danny is quite happy being popular and a star basketball player at Oliphant High. However, when Chin-Kee comes to visit, Danny's social status and perfect life quickly falls bad to worse.

Evaluation
Yang's humorous storytelling and blend of Chinese fables carefully points to the negative images portrayed of Asian cultures while examining the psyche of Asian American adolescence. Jin's steady seperation of his known heritage, combined with the very real separation between him and his best friend, Wei-Chen, creates the white alter-ego Danny. Danny's plaguing visits from his unusual biological cousin Chin-Kee serves as a lesson to Jin Wang. The Monkey King, sent to Earth to teach Jin the importance of remaining honest with himself and his ethnic culture is actually Chin-Kee is disguise. His exaggerated (and overly negative) performance allows readers to both laugh at the absurd stereotype while examining their own beliefs and knowledge of the Asian culture.

This novel examines the acceptance of self through Jin Wang's ultimate lesson, while displaying issues of social acceptance and racism among Jin's classmates. Yang does this rather efffectively through a majority of his art and representations of his Asian and Anglo American characters. As a fable, Yang's graphic novel also manages to teach life lessons such as virtue and humility via the Monkey King's story. Yang's art also manages to convey a sense of identity with Asian American readers while subltely pointing out developing stereotypes of Asian American youth.

Classroom Use
I would suggest this to be read as an individual choice or small group due to the graphic representations. The age range most appropriate for this are 10-18.

Personal Reaction
Having never read a graphic novel before, I was surprised that I was so engaged in the multiple story lines. I was also impressed with the some of the themes that were addressed in the novel amid such cartoon-like art. I felt that Yang not only identified and captured the awkwardness of adolescence coupled with isolation, but that he openly addressed themes like racism, violence, and stereotypes in American cultures. I felt that at the heart of the novel, he truly attempted to identify with what it means to be American, when you're not of Anglo-Saxon descent. I enjoyed American Born Chinese and look forward to reading more by Gene Luen Yang. I would also recommend this book to current students, future students, and would possibly include it in my curriculum.