The Double Life of Benson Yu

Chong (Beauty Plus Pity) offers a metafictional story following Benson Yu, a comic-book author who processes the trauma of his youth—childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, and suicide—through fiction. Benson writes the story of his younger self, Benny. Life is anything but easy for 12-year-old Benny, who grows up in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1980s with his grandmother. His family’s poverty leaves Benny hungry and at the mercy of school bullies. Things take a turn for the worse when his grandmother is hospitalized and dies, leaving Benny alone. Seeking shelter, Benny turns to his neighbor Constantine, a white man who believes himself to be a reincarnated samurai. Though Constantine teaches Benny karate and Japanese sword fighting, he is also revealed to be a sexual predator. The narrative shifts between Benny’s story and his creator’s, blurring the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Listeners will likely be drawn to Benny’s story, but the novel’s slippery execution may be confusing for some. Narrator Eric Yang does a fine job, and his pronunciation of the Cantonese words scattered throughout the book lends authenticity.