Boxers & Saints

"At first glance, Gene Luen Yang’s clean lines and expressive, humorous cartooning style might make it seem as if his tale of the Boxer Rebellion has been bowdlerized for children. But don’t be fooled — Yang is using his considerable gifts to invite us deeper inside his story, so that its ensuing violence and sadness land all the harder. In one volume, a young boy joins the Boxers, who call on spirit gods to aid them in their fight against foreign interference in China. In the second volume, we see the conflict through the eyes of a young girl who renounces her Chinese name and culture to embrace Catholicism. A nuanced exploration of faith and violence, told with a searching, life-affirming empathy."