Hey everyone!
I thought I’d post my book club’s thoughts on the book we read last month,
which was actually two books,
Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang.
Here’s my review, from my instagram book review account:
THE BOOKS: Boxers and Saints by Gene Lung Yang, published in 2014 by First Second.
Wow. Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel master
and this time he takes on China’s boxer rebellion.
In Boxers, we follow the story of Little Bao,
a boy who looks up to his big brothers and father,
works hard, and loves the gods he sees in operas at Spring Festival.
One day a “foreign devil” comes and shatters one of their gods.
Villagers hear about some Chinese citizens who are following Jesus now as well.
Little Bao learns Kung Fu,
learns how to get in touch with the gods,
and fights for what he believes in,
which is keeping China together and keeping foreign devils (followers of Jesus) out.
In Saints, we follow the story of Four-Girl,
the fourth to be born into her family but the only to survive past a year.
Her grandfather thinks she is a devil,
and soon she thinks of herself as one too.
She joins the “foreign devils,”
is visited by Joan of Arc, and fights for what she believes in,
which is stopping the Boxers from murdering people who worship alongside her.
The two book model literally lets you learn both sides of the story.
Little Bao and Four Girl have some brief, but very important interactions.
The ending is so great, you’ll have to read it for yourself.
Also, Boxers is 325 pages while Saints is 170.
I heard Gene Luen Yang speak about these books
and he said he wanted Saints to be smaller, more humble,
and even wanted it to be printed on a lesser quality paper
to accentuate the differences in the stories.
He did A TON of research for these books.
I loved both stories and the art.
The pacing is brilliant, as are the colors used.
These are a treasure!
(end book review by me)
When we have book club, I always draw a picture of the cover,
and while people are talking, I write down most of what is said.
I actually listen better when I’m writing,
and then I have good notes on the whole thing,
just in case our fearless book club leader is having a baby or something
(and you know what, that actually was the case!)
We did not ask these specific questions;
I made them up to organize what we discussed 🙂
These notes are straight from what people said, so there’s a lot of first person and casual talk/sentence fragments.
Enjoy!
And if you haven’t read the books, SPOILER ALERT! The ending is discussed.
What are you crazy about concerning this book?
He layered all types of storytelling but he still told it in a straightforward way.
Two sides of the same coin: a GREAT theme!
Really interesting that the Saints side features a Chinese native.
Awesome use of the Gods in expressing how the characters felt.
He ends up killing the girl he thinks (at a younger age) he’s going to marry! That just shows how being an extremist can easily kill the person you used to be.
I think this book turns the genre on its head!
I unexpectedly loved it.
Love that it was a story about two underdogs that became awesome fighters…they were heroes to someone even if they were misguided. Liked the theme of marginalized people finding their place.
So many things come into play in the backstory.
The most powerful thing of all was the ending. It showed how hard it is to stick to your beliefs. One dies for her faith, the other who thought he’d never change his mind does so to live.
There is no black and white; the complications are shown simply and astutely.
This book really illustrates the stupidity of war. War is futile; we have to figure out another way to solve things that doesn’t involve violence.
I didn’t know who was good or bad…it’s a matter of perspective, and that was unsettling.
Good and bad is all mixed up in the same person; I liked the points of conflicts in the characters.
Lots of smaller versions of a bigger theme: people falling off of pedestals, statues and people breaking, the mob is the threat, you can’t point at the villain…
How ’bout those illustrations, huh?
I loved the simplicity of the illustrations! That made it easy to digest!
I’m a word person but I loved the illustrations. They were simply beautiful!
I spent so much time looking at the art, design, EVERYTHING! I’d get a little ways into one and then hop over to the other one to see why he did it that way.
Anything you’re not so crazy about?
Some of it went over my head. I was puzzled!
It didn’t make a big impact on me for some reason.
I wasn’t sure which one to read first.
I found Saints less compelling because I already knew what would happen.
I wanted the Saints part to be longer. I wanted them to be equal.
I almost feel like he oversimplified it; at times it felt kind of fluffy to me.
Would have been cool to see the Westerner’s point of view too…a third book?
And hey, graphic novels.
How’d you like reading this format?
Loved that it was fast to read! My favorite pages were the ones that were just illustrations, and I never expected that!
If this story were just the words, it would be hard to read, but with the art kids will get it. It was more digestible this way.
This was the first graphic novel I read…I was so addicted!
The most perfect introduction to graphic novels..I couldn’t believe someone could do that…it was so easy to follow!
It was very exciting to finally read a graphic novel!
I think a graphic novel is the perfect way to talk about war because of being able to show so much in the pictures.
I’m just happy that it happened and came out in this format!
I’m glad we read this for book club because I never would have picked it up otherwise! Thanks for having us read a graphic novel!
Why do you think this book is good for discussion?
I did research after reading it…it’s an interesting way to teach history and start discussions.
I had so many questions lingering afterwards.
I think it was created to talk about; it’s such a conversation piece.
Hearing everyone talk about this book has made me like it more!
So there you have it.
Just like you were there.
Remember, these aren’t exact quotes, just what I hear and write down 🙂
Have you read these books? What did you think?
KE
If I remember correctly, this was on the long list (and maybe even the short)for last year’s National Book Award. I tried to read all of them (last year I think they broke with tradition and nominated 12), but haven’t yet. I’m trying to read the long list for this year, but probably won’t get to them all before the short list is announced. But now I really want to read these. Chinese culture is so complex, and something I want to understand better especially given that I married into it.