“Every time I struggled to fit into the world around me, I thought if I flew far away enough, like Chang’e, the perfect home would magically appear. But when your roots are tangled up across so many different places, that perfect world may not exist.”
My school generally tries to have us read books in English class that are more accessible to people and that will make people more likely to actually read and enjoy, hence them having us read Messy Roots as part of a unit about identity, culture, assimilation, etc.
This book is a graphic memoir about Laura Gao’s experience immigrating to the US from Wuhan when she was about 4 years old. It follows her through school until she is a young adult, having graduated college, who has finally (mostly) come to terms with her identity.
Although I am generally not the biggest fan of graphic novels, I enjoyed this book and found it to be quite enjoyable. The art style was really nice and I liked the contrast between pages and use of color and line art to show what was happening, and how she felt about it even if it wasn’t explicitly stated.
In terms of a book to use in English class, it wasn’t my favorite since it honestly seemed too short to be effectively discussed as thoroughly as we were supposed to. While it was detailed, I honestly just think novels are better for classes, although I guess some people appreciated the length and accessibility of the book. However, as a book in general, it was pretty good and I enjoyed reading it.