Messy Roots Review

 TW: Mentions of pandemics, queerphobia, racism, and cancer

Now I am in the mood for White Rabbit candies! 

Messy Roots by Laura Gao is a graphic novel memoir of the author's experience growing up Chinese-American, struggling with their identity, and other typical experiences of growing up. She and her family also happen to be from Wuhan--which would make international headlines in 2020 as that is where the Covid-19 pandemic began. But the pandemic part of the story is quite minimal--the real focus is on Laura tells us their own story on how she came to accept and celebrate every part of themselves. 

This was a great memoir! The artwork is one of my favorite aspects of this book. I am not an immigrant myself but I do have immigrant parents, and I related heavily to a lot of the experiences Laura had, especially with her parents.

Laura Gao is queer, too, and they briefly talks about it. 

I gave it 4.5 stars. I had to take off half a point for some triggering subject matter (the pandemic, some queerphobia, some racism, one person in the story gets cancer). Other than that, it is a nice, simple coming-of-age memoir!