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sophia_sol) wrote2022-03-20 09:41 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2022-03-20 09:41 pm
The Legend of Auntie Po, by Shing Yin Khor
Thank you to chestnut_pod for having drawn this book to my attention, because it is GREAT.
A graphic novel about a Chinese teenager in the late 19th century working at a logging camp in the USA with her dad, the head cook. The chinese workers have an uneasy relationship with the white leadership with rising racial tensions in the area, and the ways in which those tensions exist alongside the fact that these are people with long-standing relationships with each other that they need. Mei and the other Chinese people in the logging camp are outsiders and experience plenty of racism, but at the same time Mei's best friend is the white daughter of the logging camp's big boss. And also, the white working-class people in the logging camp also don't necessarily have easy lives, in this dangerous and potentially deadly career, and that's ALSO not okay.
Mei processes a lot of the complexities she experiences through the stories she tells -- inspired by the Paul Bunyan stories, but interpreted through a Chinese lens, replacing Bunyan with Auntie Po. Auntie Po turns out to be a great source of comfort and strength for Mei as she deals with stressful and unpleasant life events. Stories you can relate to are so important!
The relationship between Mei and her dad is strong and positive and wonderful, and....pretty much every other relationship in the story has layers of complexity to it even if they're important relationships in the characters lives, which is ALSO wonderful. For example, I like how clear it is that Mei is queer and super into her friend, but also how that's tbh one of the least difficult parts of her life and not one of the things she spends a lot of time having to process. It's much MORE challenging that her best friend is the daughter of the guy who fires Mei's dad for being chinese!
I loved this book and all the different things it manages to do without losing control of its scope. What a good.
chestnut_pod for having drawn this book to my attention, because it is GREAT.A graphic novel about a Chinese teenager in the late 19th century working at a logging camp in the USA with her dad, the head cook. The chinese workers have an uneasy relationship with the white leadership with rising racial tensions in the area, and the ways in which those tensions exist alongside the fact that these are people with long-standing relationships with each other that they need. Mei and the other Chinese people in the logging camp are outsiders and experience plenty of racism, but at the same time Mei's best friend is the white daughter of the logging camp's big boss. And also, the white working-class people in the logging camp also don't necessarily have easy lives, in this dangerous and potentially deadly career, and that's ALSO not okay.
Mei processes a lot of the complexities she experiences through the stories she tells -- inspired by the Paul Bunyan stories, but interpreted through a Chinese lens, replacing Bunyan with Auntie Po. Auntie Po turns out to be a great source of comfort and strength for Mei as she deals with stressful and unpleasant life events. Stories you can relate to are so important!
The relationship between Mei and her dad is strong and positive and wonderful, and....pretty much every other relationship in the story has layers of complexity to it even if they're important relationships in the characters lives, which is ALSO wonderful. For example, I like how clear it is that Mei is queer and super into her friend, but also how that's tbh one of the least difficult parts of her life and not one of the things she spends a lot of time having to process. It's much MORE challenging that her best friend is the daughter of the guy who fires Mei's dad for being chinese!
I loved this book and all the different things it manages to do without losing control of its scope. What a good.
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