Names and Faces
A Graphic Memoir
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A graphic memoir-in-essays examining the in-betweenness of being mixed-race and the cultural confrontations inherent to forging one’s identity
Who are you? What are you? And how does it feel to be you? Leise Hook was asked these intrusive questions so many times growing up that they haunted her like ghosts. Born to a Chinese mother and white American father, and growing up in Michigan, Tokyo, and Virginia, Leise Hook was never sure where she fit in. More white passing than her Chinese friends and family, but with the Mandarin skills of a native speaker, she was constantly exceeding some expectations while failing to meet others. From moving to Beijing, to dying her hair blonde, to exploring self portraiture, Hook struggles to figure out who she is and where she belongs.
In the vein of Cathy Park Hong and Gene Luen Yang, Hook’s graphic memoir-in-essays rendered via her signature, award-winning style, explores what it means to come of age as a mixed-race woman, forging a singular identity in a world intent on putting her into ill-fitting boxes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New Yorker cartoonist Hook's insightful graphic memoir debut proves that the topic of identity is endlessly ripe, despite her own admitted "reluctance to engage" with her experience of growing up biracial. The work comprises linked personal essays in comics form. The daughter of a white American father and a Chinese mother (both linguists), Hook grows up hearing "What are you?" from peers and strangers. Each essay looks at biracial and bicultural identity through a different lens. Standout pieces delve into extended metaphors, such as "The Vine and the Fish," where Hook unpacks negative narratives about "invasive species"—in this case, the kudzu vines that cover foliage in her home state of Virginia. The false dichotomy of "good native" vs. "bad invasive" creates a framework in which "a war of extermination seems inevitable and righteous." Hook draws herself with straight hair and simple clothing, pushing back on others' tendency to be confused or dazzled by her "exoticism," such as when she works for a Beijing art gallery and finds herself cast as "eye candy." The final chapter is devoted to Hook's efforts to paint her own self-portrait, which also recalls her experience sitting for a painting her parents commissioned when she was a child. The result is layered and colorful, complicated and bold—just like the collection itself.
