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A review by unladylike
Saints by Gene Luen Yang
4.0
Together, Boxers & Saints really is something special. The first part of these two intersecting stories from different perspectives invoked ancient Chinese deities and figures to aid the Boxer Rebellion against the aggressively proselytizing Christian colonizers. The magical realism elements of the second half come through an old raccoon and visions of Joan of Arc coming to a pubescent girl who has been ostracized and abused from a young age in her family and village.
It's hilariously ironic and also profoundly sad to watch her evolve her own reasons for leaving her people and historical religious beliefs in favor of the Christian missionaries. At the young age of 8, "Four-Girl" (whose given name already references her status as being bad luck, based on the failed three births that preceded her in her family, and the Chinese superstitions around the number four) is told by her grandfather, in front of her whole family, that she is a Devil. Being left little choice to change everyone around her's negative perception of her, she embraces being a devil. After experimenting with making devilish faces in public, she is brought to an acupuncturist who has a small wall-hanging of Jesus being crucified. Four-Girl has a revelation that Jesus is the ultimate acupuncture victim, and that if white people (Christian missionaries) that are appearing more are known as "foreign devils," then she ought to learn their ways in order to be the best devil she can be.
I'll stop there with the setup, but this book continued to look at the theme (brought up repeatedly in Boxers) of men's fear of being corrupted by the Yin of women. Whether it's the Christian religion and less-manly white people, or the all-female warriors known as the Red Lanterns, the feminine is to be feared, villified, and conquered, in the minds of many of the male characters throughout. And so it is particularly effective that the young protagonist starts having interactive visions of Joan of Arc (without previously knowing of her).
Based on first reading Boxers, I already somewhat knew the ending to these sad but insightful stories. Gene Luen Yang does a marvelous job of showing a diverse range of personalities, motives, righteousness and foolish, ego-driven abuse. It is neither a promotion of, nor a scathing polemic against, Christianity. It is an epic and novel folk tale of the vastly different interpretations of these historical events, and what they meant to different individuals representing archetypes in rural China at the start of the 20th century.
It's hilariously ironic and also profoundly sad to watch her evolve her own reasons for leaving her people and historical religious beliefs in favor of the Christian missionaries. At the young age of 8, "Four-Girl" (whose given name already references her status as being bad luck, based on the failed three births that preceded her in her family, and the Chinese superstitions around the number four) is told by her grandfather, in front of her whole family, that she is a Devil. Being left little choice to change everyone around her's negative perception of her, she embraces being a devil. After experimenting with making devilish faces in public, she is brought to an acupuncturist who has a small wall-hanging of Jesus being crucified. Four-Girl has a revelation that Jesus is the ultimate acupuncture victim, and that if white people (Christian missionaries) that are appearing more are known as "foreign devils," then she ought to learn their ways in order to be the best devil she can be.
I'll stop there with the setup, but this book continued to look at the theme (brought up repeatedly in Boxers) of men's fear of being corrupted by the Yin of women. Whether it's the Christian religion and less-manly white people, or the all-female warriors known as the Red Lanterns, the feminine is to be feared, villified, and conquered, in the minds of many of the male characters throughout. And so it is particularly effective that the young protagonist starts having interactive visions of Joan of Arc (without previously knowing of her).
Based on first reading Boxers, I already somewhat knew the ending to these sad but insightful stories. Gene Luen Yang does a marvelous job of showing a diverse range of personalities, motives, righteousness and foolish, ego-driven abuse. It is neither a promotion of, nor a scathing polemic against, Christianity. It is an epic and novel folk tale of the vastly different interpretations of these historical events, and what they meant to different individuals representing archetypes in rural China at the start of the 20th century.