American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese, is three stories in one. A story about a monkey king trying to be taken seriously. He wants to reject his monkey identity as he thinks it shameful. The second is about a teenage American of Chinese descent who starts a new school and is an outcast for his ancestry. Jin Wang is introduced to a new kid from Korea, Wei-Chen Sun, who he is reluctant to start a friendship with. The third story is about another American teenager who has a cousin from Asia who comes to visit. Danny, is embarrassed by his cousin’s flamboyant and non-typical behavior. In each of the stories the characters are trying to overcome something they are ashamed about. They want to reject a part of their lives that does not fit in with the social greats of their societies.

I have never read a comic before. Or I guess this would be called a graphic novel. It is interesting, to say the least, but I do not think that I am a fan. I find the pictures to be more a distraction than anything, really. To flip from words to pictures, from words to pictures is something that comes difficult. Switching my train of thought into focusing on another depiction of the story I find as an interruption. I also found it hard to use the “mind’s eye”, so to speak. The thing that I love most about reading is the ability to create my own characters, how I see them, how I think they should look like and act. I thought the comic took away from that, giving less room for the imagination of the reader. On the other to be able to create and write a comic, must take loads of creativity dumped right onto the page. It is an art, no doubt. But one that I particularly enjoy is another story.