Publication date: March 8, 2022
My Thoughts:
Messy Roots is a funny, self-deprecating coming of age and coming out memoir of Chinese immigrant, queer, Wuhanese American Laura Gao. Born in the idyllic countryside in Wuhan, "Laura" and her family move to Texas where she literally is the unctious stinky tofu in a land of McDonaldʻs french fries.
Gao does a great job in her memoir of being both a timeless story as well as a timely story. For example, she has the typical immigrant experience of moving from Asia to the heart of America, where even in Texas there are a few Asians in her school, but none of them from Wuhan. She takes on a more American name, plays sports at school (basketball), realizes that she likes girls and comes out to some of her friends and her brother, all the while being afraid to disappoint her parents. That part of her story is timeless.
But when COVID-19 hits, Wuhan and being from Wuhan, even looking Asian becomes a traumatic experience for Asian Americans, and Gao does not shy away from that timely story in this memoir. I appreciate how this soon to be released graphic memoir does not shy away from the difficulty, nor does it show Gao as a victim, but as a strong, resilient artist.
From the Publisher:
After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars—at least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name.
In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.
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