The+Odd+Ones+Out

Raythan Pillai English 8-2 October 24, 2008 **__The Odd Ones Out__** An intriguing story that will change your views and opinions on many different topics starts on the first page of the award-winning book, American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang. This book is in a comic format, and the genre of the book is semi-biographical. American Born Chinese is a collaboration of associated stories that in some way are related to each other. The first story is about the Monkey King who is a fictional character of China; he is the happy king of the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain until he faces the fact that he is being discriminated by the other gods because he is a monkey. The second story is about Jin Wang, a boy from Chinese descent. Jin Wang has recently moved from San Francisco and now lives in a new home and goes to a new school. After some time in this new place, Jin Wang encounters many situations where he feels that being Chinese has let him down, and that he is no longer satisfied with who he is. The third story is about Danny, a normal guy, and Chin-Kee, his stereotypical Chinese cousin. Danny is upset with having to be with Chin-Kee the whole time because he believes that Chin-Kee is ruining his life, even to the extent of thinking that his own friends won’t hang out with him anymore because of his Chinese cousin. These three stories all have major themes or ideas that tie them all together, one of which is being discriminated for being different than the crowd. To find the rest, you will have to read the book yourself. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I believe that Gene Yang did a great job with all three stories, and then infusing them all together so that the reader can “complete the puzzle”. The characters got the point the author was trying to make across to the reader, especially with the stereotypes associated with Danny’s Chinese cousin Chin-Kee. When, I finished American Born Chinese the principle ideas that I can take away from the book is to be happy with who are you are and your heritage, and to never promote the use of stereotypes that single out a certain group of people on any means in a harmful or offensive way. These are the two themes that I thought Gene Yang pointed out to the reader the most in his book. I would recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy reading a book with a comic format, a collaboration of seemingly unrelated stories that eventually all tie together, and finally for someone who is not afraid of a book that also addresses controversial topics such as stereotypes among Chinese people. In conclusion, I feel that this is a great book that will teach the reader many new topics and ideas that will surely impact the reader in a way that will make the reader feel that reading this book was time worth spent.