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Book cover of Shortcomings by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine
PHOTO: DRAWN & QUARTERLY
In 2007, Tomine, an American of Japanese descent, tackled what it feels like to be an Asian man growing up in a culture that drums into you the idea that you are nobody s idea of handsome.
In this tragicomic story, told in spare, sensitively drawn panels, Ben is a Japanese-American man with a girlfriend, Miko, of the same ethnic background. She resists assimilation into the majority culture and encourages Ben to do the same. He thinks it is a waste of time. Despite having a good career and a dream partner, he seethes with resentment and is gripped by strange desires which poison his relationship with Miko.