This is a book club episode. In it, Travis and Amanda will discuss and analyze the first half of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by Gene Luen Yang. You should expect full “spoilers,” discussions of rhetorical elements, and celebrations / critiques of style and substance.
From the cover: “Jin Wang starts at a new school where he’s the only Chinese-American student…Danny is an all-American boy, but his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school…The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and has mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. But there’s no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possible help each other? They’re going to have to find a way - if they want to fix the disasters their lives have become.”