Title: Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of
a Wuhanese American
Author: Laura Gao
Type: Graphic Novel
Genre: Young Adult, Nonfiction,
Contemporary, LGBTQ+
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Date published: March 8, 2022
A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
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.
Insightful, original, and hilarious, toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, Gao’s debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.
⤖ My Review ⬻
Prior to picking up Laura Gao’s Messy Roots, it had been a while since I’d read a graphic novel. I used to read them quite frequently, but then went through a dry period. Messy Roots reminded me why I like graphic novels as much as I do! While still in a bound book format, like written novels, graphic novels naturally tell stories in a different way–relying more on visual settings, character expressions, and the depiction of movement rather than written text to set the scene and let the plot unfold.
I really liked Gao’s style when it comes to the visuals, also with the way words were used for dialogue! The faces were very expressive, which I found was great for setting the tone for certain scenes and for gaining insight into characters’ thoughts. I read Messy Roots in one sitting (which I know to some might be the norm with reading graphic novels, but I’ve personally experienced some graphic novels that made me have to pause to digest the information, or to even digest the scenes I read through before diving back in. All in all, a great read and it also provided me with insights on things I knew little or nothing about!
⤖ About the Author ⬻
Laura Gao is a queer artist, author, and bread lover. Originally from Wuhan, China, Gao immigrated to a small town in Texas when she was four. Gao’s art career began by doodling on Pokémon cards and has since blossomed to be featured on NPR, the MOCA in NYC, and most notably, her parents’ fridge. Gao graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. She worked at Twitter as a Product Manager until 2020, when her webcomic, “The Wuhan I Know”, went viral on Twitter and ignited her art career. She swears on Jack Dorsey’s beard she did not pull any strings to go viral, and wishes people would stop asking her for tips. Besides drawing and complaining about early-onset back pain, Gao enjoys living nomadically and biking around the world, designing apps for non-profits, bakery-hunting, and watching SNL. Laura’s pronouns are she/her and they/them.
⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻
⤖ Let's Chat ⬻
Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
I really enjoyed this one. It’s not as heavy as other graphic memoirs but still tells a very important story. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it too! 🙂 And I completely agree.