Nitpicking

Something more substantial to follow, but for the moment, I just have three tiny problems with the American Born Chinese. I'm sure most people were able to get past these little glitches; they in no way affect the arcs of the individual storylines, but seeing issues that should have been resolved during the editorial process make their way into the published version, shaded my reception of the text as a whole.

Maybe I'm being too harsh a critic. Maybe I'm just nitpicking. Or I could be completely wrong. Please let me know.

1. On 59.4 The Monkey King is told to report to Ao-Jun, Dragon King of the Western Sea for execution. When we get to 61.3, however, the Monkey King has arrived in the kingdom of Ao-Kuang, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. That's fine. Maybe he just decided to make a pit stop there first; but on 62.1, Ao-Kang takes credit for sending the invitation and initiates the execution.

2. As indicated by the captions in many of its panels, Jin Yang's storyline is told in the first person. This perspective is sustained by Jin's presence in all of the panels EXCEPT for 99-102 when Amelia and Wei Chen are alone together.

3. I thought a weak case for irony was made on 25.1-2, when Jin recounts how his parents arrived at the same airport within a week of each other then met in the library at SF State a year and a half later. Maybe had they been on the same flight or from the same village in China . . .

OK maybe I really am splitting hairs here. I thought Yang was succesful on many levels (more on that in my next post), but these surface blemishes kept me itching even while enjoying his deft handling of deeper issues.