Alterations by Ray Xu (review)
2023; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 77; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2024.a915179
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Chinese history and philosophy
ResumoReviewed by: Alterations by Ray Xu Meg Cornell Xu, Ray Alterations; written and illus. by Ray Xu. Union Square Kids, 2024 [240p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781454945840 $24.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9781454945857 $14.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 6-8 Life hasn’t been easy for Kevin Lee and his family since their emigration from China to Toronto, Canada. Recently divorced, his mother is frayed from the long hours at the alterations shop needed to keep the family financially afloat. His sister Betty roils with the high expectations and burdens of being a first-born daughter, feeling resentful that her brother seems to be granted far more leeway as the only son. Kevin doesn’t feel he has it easier, though, after a tumultuous week of microaggressions and humiliations at his primarily white school. Further unsettling the dynamics of this intergenerational family drama is Popo, their stern maternal grandmother, who moved in after the divorce. Popo’s support and directness, however, offers a [End Page 192] space for Kevin to process, and she guides him towards taking ownership of his own story, helping him confront head-on the difficulties of Chinese immigration to the Americas. “When you make space for them, they will take it,” she reminds Kevin, “We are in the land of colonizers, have you forgotten?” Insightful and funny debriefs with Popo, as well as scenes of sibling conflict and solidarity with Betty, add context to Kevin’s youthful difficulty understanding his family’s necessarily split foci. From the Sunday-funnies font to the muted, realistic palette with pops of color, Xu’s sketchy cartoon style nostalgically harkens back to the era of classic comic strips, well suiting its 1994 setting. Unfortunately, sci-fi scenes with Kevin’s comic-book alter ego, Maverick (revealed later to be his adult self), never quite settle into the narrative’s flow, and some outdated handling of gender and consent, even within the setting, can flag as problematic to modern readers. For fans of Lily Lamotte and Ann Xu’s Measuring Up and Gene Luen Yang and Lark Pien’s Dragon Hoops (BCCB 3/20), this is still a moving depiction of a multigenerational immigrant Chinese family trying to sew themselves back together. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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