I love graphic novels, but my favorites fall in line with great characters and great illustrations, just like this story! Lunar New Year Love Story is a graphic novel that fits right in with my favorites. I have enjoyed books with LeUyen Pham's illustrations before and really like the detail and nuances her characters hold. This graphic novel's illustrations set the tone perfectly and really allows the characters that Gene Luen Yang has written shine through. Together they make a graphic novel that you will want to read in one sitting.
Our story takes place with Valentina having an imaginary friend, "Saint V", who shows up with a mysterious Valentine's Day card every year. As she grows up, she is dealt a lot of hard truths about her family and her imaginary friend changes with each one as her ideas about love changes too. With each betrayal, her imaginary friend becomes more sinister. She finds joy in dance and struggles with love and family.
I really liked Valentina and found her very relatable with her struggles with love and betrayal. The depiction of Saint Valentine was perfectly used in each rendition. It made the story darker than I was expecting but it still worked. I enjoyed Valentina's love of dance and I like that I got to learn about Asian culture with Lunar New Year and Lion Dancing.
Our story takes place with Valentina having an imaginary friend, "Saint V", who shows up with a mysterious Valentine's Day card every year. As she grows up, she is dealt a lot of hard truths about her family and her imaginary friend changes with each one as her ideas about love changes too. With each betrayal, her imaginary friend becomes more sinister. She finds joy in dance and struggles with love and family.
I really liked Valentina and found her very relatable with her struggles with love and betrayal. The depiction of Saint Valentine was perfectly used in each rendition. It made the story darker than I was expecting but it still worked. I enjoyed Valentina's love of dance and I like that I got to learn about Asian culture with Lunar New Year and Lion Dancing.