Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao

REVIEW:

In this semi-autobiographical graphic memoir, Yang-Yang’s immigration from China is chronicled in simple, yet visually appealing panels. When she arrives in Texas, Yang-Yang has to figure out how to navigate her new life in her new Dallas elementary where she feels like a complete alien life-form. At first, Yang-Yang allows herself to morph into what her idea of “American” should be - changing her name to “Laura” after the First Lady. However, in this true modern-day “buildings roman” narrative, Laura learns to embrace her Wuhanese culture and her new American home as a Third Culture Kid, discovering her own unique identity along the way as she moves out of her childhood and into her young adulthood. But just as Laura starts to feel at home in her skin, along comes COVID  to dismember those confident walls she has built as she becomes the target of side-eyes and misguided blame.  

OVERVIEW:

As a Third Culture Kid myself, I gravitate to like experiences, always hoping to see some peep of my own jumbled identity in the voices of others. Laura’s story has exactly what you would expect to see in this kind of a story (from “weird” lunches at school and cousins back in Wuhan who are disappointed in her assimilation). What makes this voice more unique is Laura’s exploration of gender norms and her brand of culturalization. The reader even gets to experience to a slight dog-leg into the unexpected with the arrival of COVID-19 to her San Francisco home. This was a fast read for me and initially, I picked it up thinking it would be a good addition to my ever-evolving classroom library. Like other teachers, I have had many third-culture kids, and it’s no secret that it is under-represented. Of course, as with all books that go on the classroom shelf, check with your district standards to decide if this is a good fit for your age group. All this to say, this tale-as-old-as-time carries important themes as it echos that resounding truth in a way that literature is meant to: “You are not alone!” and that it’s perfectly normal to take the roundabout road to discover what kind of person you want to be.