Akiva Reads

by Gene Luen Yang, Lark Pien

I liked Boxers better after I read this---they can stand alone, but they shouldn't.

I liked the main character so much, and Joan of Arc was just wonderful. The twist at the end was very fitting and strong in its way, but I didn't have an immediate emotional connection to it because "sacrifice your life for others' salvation" is not a deeply-rooted story for me. (Too Jewish. :P) I think my favorite part of both books was the parallel eye-hand mythologies, however.

It's hard for me to avoid reading things through a Jewish lens, of course, and most of the time I don't see why I should take it off. It helps me see the Christian-default holes in stories a lot more clearly. However, I think I owe Boxers and Saints a re-read where I try harder not to let that color my opinions of the Christian characters.