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karaboureview's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, War, Violence, and Xenophobia
criticalgayze's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Another quick read for a grad school assignment this week, and I am really loving the texts I get to interact with in this course.
In a time of great global social unrest, this is an incredible look at understanding the wealth of what it means to discuss the "immigrant experience" and to build a "cultural melting pot." By using clear allusions to cultural experiences of upheaval and displacement in our world but setting them in a nameless fictional fantastical city, Tan has built a story that is readily accessible for discussion of empathy with young people while being more likely to skirt the challenges faced by more "explicit" texts like Maus.
In a time of great global social unrest, this is an incredible look at understanding the wealth of what it means to discuss the "immigrant experience" and to build a "cultural melting pot." By using clear allusions to cultural experiences of upheaval and displacement in our world but setting them in a nameless fictional fantastical city, Tan has built a story that is readily accessible for discussion of empathy with young people while being more likely to skirt the challenges faced by more "explicit" texts like Maus.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, War, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Death
anniefwrites's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
This wordless graphic novel has such a beautiful illustrative style that makes me nostalgic for the picture book illustrators of my youth, especially Chris Van Allsburg. Tan does a great job of creating the sense of unease for the reader caused by not understanding what's on the page--the exact feelings the immigrant man feels in the story. It's a hopeful book about how the fear of the unfamiliar, as well as hostility toward the different, can crack open and reveal new homes and new friends.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Abandonment, Genocide, Slavery, and War
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