I have 5 books to review before talking about those Summer challenge novels, so I’ll try to catch up and finish before the middle of June. Anyway, Golo Zhao… I’m not sure how popular this Chinese manhua artist is in America. I think that this one has not been translated yet, but it’s a shame. This graphic novel is more like a loosely linked collection of 4 stories on the theme of growing-up in China in the 1990s and united by some reference to (mostly comfort) food. Golo Zhao has a cute, round style that is particularly appropriate for young characters and his landscapes and colors are always quite nice.
I’ve read other graphic novels by this author (here and here), and although I’ve never been tempted by his two more popular series: Yaya and Zhouzhou, I think this one might be the one I prefer. The title refers to a last evening in Beijing that main character He is spending with his girlfriend. As they’re waiting at a popular spot of bobba (bubble tea), He shares with her some memories of his childhood.
We actually get very little about Beijing but more about the economically-challenged “small” industrial towns of the Chinese North-East. Think the American rust belt, with lots of people laid off and struggling, with families breaking up over loss of status, job relocations thousands of miles away. Kids struggling with absentee parents, with lack of money, with the temptation of criminal gangs, with bullying or abuse. Golo Zhao is not shy when addressing the violence that kids can exert on other kids.
With his pale colors and his nostalgic tone, I’d feared that the message would be Polly-annaish but far from it! (I’d already fell for this illusion…) My reservations come from the lack of consistency between the different stories. In short, there were times I couldn’t believe that we were talking about the same boy growing up all along!
The collection really whetted my appetite for Chinese stories and also… for authentic Chinese food! It made me think of my own 20+ year old memories of dinners in Beijing.
Smithereens 