American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang

Graphic novel, 240 pages

English language

Published Jan. 2, 2006

ISBN:: 978-1-59643-152-2

(3 reviews)

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he's the only Chinese American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl...

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn't want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god...

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he's ruining his cousin Danny's life. Danny's a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse...

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax--and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

3 editions

Onlyfiction reviewed American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

This is an enjoyable quick read

2 stars

It divided the book into three stories.

This first one is based on a Chinese folktale about The Monkey King. Over thousands of years, he mastered all heavenly disciplines. His desire to join the gods is rejected, since he is a monkey.

Another story is about Jin Wang, a boy who moves from Chinatown to a predominantly white suburb of San Francisco. He struggles to fit in at his new school, and he faces many stereotypes. His only friend is Wei Chen.

In the third tale, Danny is a white American boy whose Chinese cousin, Chin Kee, comes to see him every year. His Chinese cousin humiliated Danny after settling in at his new school.

I really like the artwork.There is a lot of insight into cultural identity issues, stereotypes, and privilege in the book, but I didn’t understand how the three stories relate to one another.

There is a …

It divided the book into three stories.

This first one is based on a Chinese folktale about The Monkey King. Over thousands of years, he mastered all heavenly disciplines. His desire to join the gods is rejected, since he is a monkey.

In the third tale, Danny is a white American boy whose Chinese cousin, Chin Kee, comes to see him every year. His Chinese cousin humiliated Danny after settling in at his new school.

I really like the artwork.There is a lot of insight into cultural identity issues, stereotypes, and privilege in the book, but I didn’t understand how the three stories relate to one another.

There is a twist ending to these seemingly unrelated three tales.

If you’re looking for a quick read, I would recommend this American-born Chinese book.

Soh Kam Yung reviewed American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

An interesting story about relationships, even between an Asian-American teen and a Monkey King.

3 stars

An interesting story that starts off being told in three separate parts before coming together at the end in a tale of being who you should be and on having friendships with others.

In one tale, Jin Wang is one of a few Asian-Americans in a school and gets picked on by other non-Asian students, as well as facing racist stereotypes. He eventually makes a good friend, another Asian student, and even gets involved in a relationship with a classmate. The another is the story of the Monkey King, who gets picked on by the other celestials for being a monkey. The third is about Danny, who has to suffer the agony of a visit from his very stereotyped cousin, Chin-Kee.

All three tales collide at the end when Danny lashes back at Chin-Kee, revealing the connection between the three tales and what Danny has to do to try to …

An interesting story that starts off being told in three separate parts before coming together at the end in a tale of being who you should be and on having friendships with others.

All three tales collide at the end when Danny lashes back at Chin-Kee, revealing the connection between the three tales and what Danny has to do to try to put things right.

So, an interesting story about being an out-of-place teen (as well as a Monkey King) going through relationship emotions and also low-level bullying, before learning acceptance and finding their way among peers.

OriginalBarbas

rated it

March 25, 2012

Subjects

Memoir