I feel that Emma’s post hit on an idea that began bugging me about American Born Chinese once I finished the book.

Emma concluded that “It seems as if they trade in their decency, their humanity – their soul – for a “new identity,” when they are who they are the whole time.” I agree with this statement completely, but my issue lies with the way that Yang incorporated the idea into the book.

For me, the book fell apart at the end rather than everything coming together. Danny is really Jin, Chin-kee is really the Monkey King, and Wei-chen is really the Monkey King’s eldest son, who was sent to earth to test his virtue, and Jin’s part. God (or some variant thereof) helps the Monkey King realize who he is, the Monkey King helps Jin realize who he is, and Jin helps Wei-chen realize who he really is… which is… just a regular human? I haven’t quite figured that last part out yet.

I thought the tie-in of the three separate stories was too much of a punch in the face – even too kiddy-like. Was this intended? I think so. But I still don’t agree that it was the best way to show that people are who they are. In fact, it makes it hard for me to take the book seriously. I would have preferred to make a connection among the stories on my own.