By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Book cover. (Courtesy of Ruth Chan / Roaring Brook Press.)
Many stories by Asians living in Canada and the United States have to do with immigrating here. Artist and author Ruth Chan’s debut graphic novel, “Uprooted: A Memoir About What Happens When Your Family Moves Back,” set to be released on Sept. 10, does the reverse. With this charming and true tale, Chan details what it’s like to move from North America back to Hong Kong. Told from the point of view of Chan herself as a young girl, “Uprooted” absorbs the reader into a visual and emotional roller coaster ride that spans continents and oceans.
“All you want to do is fit in when you’re a teenager,” said Chan, who grew up in Toronto, Canada, until her parents decided to return to Hong Kong, the home of Chan’s mother’s family. Even though Chan experienced some of the typical drawbacks of being “too Chinese” in Toronto—kids making fun of her “stinky lunches” and the like—it was home to her. It was where her friends were, and where everything was familiar. Also, because life in Canada just hits differently, the Chan family’s daily routine was fairly casual in comparison to the old country.
In “Uprooted,” Chan demonstrates the emotions involved in moving. (Courtesy of Ruth Chan / Roaring Brook Press.)
In “Uprooted,” Chan represents perfectly what the transition from Toronto to Hong Kong was like. In a series of pertinent images, she captures the totality of her and her family’s life in both places, from the overall differences between the two cities—a lot more hustle and bustle in Hong Kong—to the way their lives were disrupted and they had to find a new way to settle in. Chan’s brother was left behind in boarding school, which was an unexpected upset—Chan found she missed him—and Chan’s father, with whom she is very close, started working more away from home. Chan’s mother, too, because they were back in her hometown, changed her habits somewhat, going out frequently to visit friends. At the same time, because school in Hong Kong was harder, Chan felt increased pressure to perform, exacerbated by the language barrier.
“When I moved back to Hong Kong, [my mom] was still just as strict but the school was more difficult.” Subjects such as chemistry came earlier, and although Chan knew some Cantonese, she had not had to use it in the same way when in Canada. Chan’s parents’ immigrant background continued to have an effect on them even when they returned to where they had left. “It was like, ‘we worked really hard to get to Canada [and] provide you guys with good education.’” As Chan noted, parents naturally want their children to be successful, and for immigrant parents, that equates to financial stability, which starts with good grades in school.
Chan was also faced with culture shock once in Hong Kong. Suddenly, she was not “Chinese enough.” She wasn’t familiar with the traditions her mother’s family still followed. There is an incident early on in their return when this becomes shockingly evident. They visit the grandparents and Chan, hungry, does not know that she should wait for the elders to get their food first. What was turning out to be an okay evening—she was excited to see familiar dishes on the table—became mortifying. “Can this day get any worse?” she wonders.
In “Uprooted,” Chan describes the fears and doubts that accompany a move to a new place. (Courtesy of Ruth Chan / Roaring Brook Press.)
Some struggles are typical teenage struggles. Some are specific to the place and the culture. Embedded within the story are flashbacks to the life of Chan’s father’s parents in China, which serve as a message to the daughter to persevere. Chan remains close to her father. However, for her next graphic novel, she plans to write about her mother. An illustrator and now writer by trade, Chan lives in New York City with her family. Originally, in an effort to choose a career that would appease her parents (something useful and financially stable), Chan majored in psychology (she had wanted to major in studio art). She was able to combine the two, though, by teaching through art to young kids, including at a bilingual Chinese-English preschool, and then an arts charter school. She has worked a lot with low-income Chinese immigrant families.
An upset in Chan’s life caused her to rethink her path and become a children’s book illustrator. Her parents probably thought it was temporary. She joked to the Asian Weekly that they likely tolerated this change as a phase. Turns out, it’s much more than a phase. Now, she is expanding into the world of graphic novels, for which she has a knack. She also does comics.
“Even though historically I made picture books, my brain sort of works better in comic form.” With the graphic novel, Chan found that she likes the ability that comes with it to “expand time and compress it.”
Author and artist Ruth Chan. (Photo credit to Ya Ting Li.)
In “Uprooted,” Chan has a comfortable storytelling style that immediately gives the reader the impression that Chan is talking to them. Maybe that sounds obvious. Yet, even when using the first person, not all authors can or want to achieve this. Chan’s approach is open and welcoming. She willingly details how she came about creating the novel via an explanation at the start. In a previous children’s book called “Thank You, Neighbor” (she has some that are wholly her own and others that are collaborations), Chan similarly informs the reader of her inspiration. She wanted to give something to us all about the importance of connection following the pandemic.
Human and family connection is definitely one of Chan’s themes throughout her work. Another is the vitalness for people of “being seen and heard. I think that everybody deserves to be seen and heard, as they are.” It’s something that she struggled with as a young girl in Hong Kong, finding her identity and figuring out what “home” means. As someone familiar with working with the younger generation, Chan wonders, “How do we foster [being seen and heard] for each other? How do we foster that for children?” Another theme is humor, even when the topic is serious.
“Approaching life with humor is sometimes the only way you can get through stuff.”
“Uprooted” becomes available Sept. 10. For information on Chan, visit www.ohtruth.com.
Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.