Saints: 12/18/13

Saints by Gene Luen Yang is a companion piece / follow up / second volume to Boxers. Most reviews online review the two together. I only had the chance to read the second of the two as an egalley.

An unwanted daughter, dubbed Four-girl, leaves her home and takes on the name Vibiana as she converts to Christianity. Unfortunately it's on the eve of the Boxer rebellion in China and Christianity is a dangerous thing to practice.

Mixed with with Vibiana's story of rejection and conversions is a parallel story of Joan of Arc. Vibiana believes she is being visited by the French saint and is being guided in her new life as a Christian.

Throughout all of this, I never really connected with Vibiana. She's using Christianity as a means of revenge as much as escape. I suppose part of that is her abusive childhood. She's ripe for being taken advantage of by zealots.

Taken together, Boxers and Saints could be used to discuss this piece of Chinese / British history in a high school or even college classroom.

Three stars

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