''Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American'' is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

and

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

written and illustrated by Laura Gao, with coloring by Weiwei Xu. It was published on March 8, 2022, by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

. It originates from the comic "The Wuhan I Know," which describes the author's relationship to the city of

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

Background

Gao was born in the city of Wuhan, but moved to Coppell, Texas at the age of 4. In 2021, while working for

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in the product development field, Gao decided to write and publish a short comic talking about life in Wuhan as a response to the beginning to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, which prompted the city's lockdown, and the

2021 Atlanta spa shootings On March 16, 2021, a shooting spree occurred at three spas or massage parlors in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Eight people were killed, six of whom were women of Asian descent, and one other person was wounded. ...

. After she posted her comic on Twitter, media outlets began covering it, with the numbers of "likes" and retweets the comic received surpassing one thousand. Later, a literary agent contacted her, and she decided to write a graphic novel expanding the original comic and detailing her life.

Creation and conception

To portray a lack of comfort in the United States, Gao uses duller colors, while in the sections in Wuhan she uses lighter colors. To emphasize certain portions, the comic uses the color red. Some portions of the book detail Gao's

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

identity. She revealed her orientation to her parents before she published the final graphic novel. According to Gao, the book will not likely be for sale in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

due to the LGBTQ themes.

Reception

'' Kirkus Reviews'' commented on the novel's intersection of Gao's different identities, and called the author's retelling of the tale of Chang'e the " st compelling" section of the novel. They concluded by praising the Gao's illustrations and Xu's coloring, and called ''Messy Roots'' " nuanced representation of being Asian and transnational in the contemporary U.S." For the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'', Elise Martinez said: "A tender story of self-acceptance that lifts the story of Wuhan beyond COVID and shines light on a region with a rich culture and history." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' gave ''Messy Roots'' a starred review and opened by saying Gao's debut graphic novel is "fresh, frank, and tender". They praised the book's narrative, noting the various parallels between China's culture and history and the author as a queer Chinese American. They concluded by calling the book " multidimensional, thoroughly entertaining account of growing into queer Asian American identity." Jerry Dear, reviewing for ''

The Horn Book ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

'', commented on how "Gao personalizes her experiences with insight and humor", and said ''Messy Roots'' is a "candid depiction of the universal search for one’s place in the world."

References

External links

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Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir
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The Wuhan I Know
- Laura Gao's official website 2022 graphic novels American graphic novels American memoirs HarperCollins books LGBT-related graphic novels Novels about racism 2022 LGBT-related literary works LGBT literature in the United States Books about Wuhan {{2020s-graphic-novel-stub

Background

Creation and conception

Reception

References

Further reading

External links