Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American
Author(s): Laura Gao
“Messy Roots is a laugh-out-loud, heartfelt, and deeply engaging story of their journey to find themself--as an American, as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as a queer person, and as a Wuhanese American in the middle of a pandemic.”—Malaka Gharib, author of I Was Their American Dream
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.
Review(s):
"In this fresh, frank, and tender debut, author-illustrator Gao offers a compellingly layered graphic memoir.... A multidimensional, thoroughly entertaining account of growing into queer Asian American identity."
“Messy Roots is a laugh-out-loud, heartfelt and deeply engaging story of their journey to find themself--as an American, as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as a queer person and as a Wuhanese American in the middle of a pandemic. Through hilarious inner dialogue, videogaming references and fun explainers, Gao effortlessly brings readers into their world.”
“Messy Roots is funny, intimate, absorbing, and deeply moving. What a gift to have this peek into Laura Gao’s memories, in all their sweetness and complexity.”
"Finding ourselves can be messy, but Laura Gao tells her story of self-discovery with honest and vulnerable beauty."
“Messy Roots surprised me in all the best ways. It’s a book that will stay with you for a long time to come.”
"Hilarious, heartfelt, and beautifully illustrated, Messy Roots deserves to join the Chinese American canon right next to Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese."
"Messy Roots is about the hardship of identity and the beautiful but messy journey to find it."
"The narrative overlays immigrant community dynamics with the intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender in young adults’ identity development while drawing on Chinese cultural icons old and new, such as White Rabbit candies.... A nuanced representation of being Asian and transnational in the contemporary U.S."
"In this beautifully illustrated graphic memoir, debut author/artist Gao does an excellent job of representing the complexity and challenges that came with growing up as young Chinese immigrant... [H]eartfelt and relatable."
ISBN: 9780063067769