Book 16: Nimona by ND Stevenson

My sister wants to show me the movie version of this and had also given me the graphic novel last Christmas, so it was finally time! This was a fascinating example of me having a sense of what the story was about and discovering that I was incorrect, but not being mad about it. I thought it was about a girl with two dads, and instead it's about a monster who adopts a supervillain and has to deal with his arch nemesis. Those two ideas overlap, for sure, but I think part of the joy and revelation in this book is where the story goes versus where you think it will. Anyway Nimona is right and everyone should know it!!

Grade: A  

Book 21: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

This is a charming and beautifully drawn graphic novel about a prince who actually would rather wear dresses, and the dressmaker who designs them. It's very much 'it is what it says on the tin,' but that's not a complaint or a criticism -- the story hits all of the beats you might expect it to, but so satisfyingly, and the characters really land exactly how you want them to. There's secrecy and budding romantic feelings and a split caused by secrecy not being acceptable, followed by the grand revelation of just about everything all at once. The story floats through a fairy tale Paris that appears to be whatever era it needs to be to support the desired fashion from scene to scene, but the fact that the story doesn't attempt to exist in a real past, but rather the idea of what royalty and the aristocracy used to be, makes the story even easier to drop inside of. A really enjoyable read right before bed.

Grade: B

Book 12: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I read this graphic novel for my book club. It's got a story structure that I enjoy very much and is a good fit for the storytelling flexibility that graphic novels can provide: there are three separate yet connected stories that are being told in alternating chapters, and each of them is compelling on its own but come together in a satisfying way. The first story is a fable about the Monkey King, who loves dinner parties and is rejected from one for being a monkey. So he goes back to his kingdom and does everything he can not to be a monkey, to the point where his actions cause him to lose everything rather than gain everything and he must make a choice and all that.

The second story is the primary story, and it's the one that makes the book read the most like a memoir (which I think it is). It's about a Chinese-American boy named Jin Wang whose family moves from Chinatown in San Francisco to an unnamed very white suburb and struggles to find his way. He has one friend, a boy from Taiwan who blends in even less, and in middle school he develops a crush on a white girl.

The third story is about a white teenager named Danny who has a cousin who visits him from China every year. His cousin is a pretty dramatic and clearly satirical version of a Chinese caricature, and this third tale feels even less strictly realistic than the Monkey King fable.

I really enjoyed this book right up until the end, which didn't quite land for me. It felt very abrupt, and left a number of threads unresolved in ways that weakened the entire book for me. Jin Wang's experiences felt so true to life, and the details of being a child in the eighties in particular were so specific and grounding, that the ending was almost too metaphorical and didn't end up satisfying me as a result. The book as a whole is still worth reading, but I expected it to nail the ending after such a solid build up, and it didn't.

Grade: B