All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey by Teresa Wong
When she was a kid, Teresa Wong quit Chinese lessons to watch Saturday morning
cartoons. She had no idea how her choice would ripple into the future. As an adult, she
looks back on a childhood spent translating for her immigrant parents and wonders: is
language to blame for the distance between us?
In intimate grayscale illustrations, Wong seeks an answer among family stories and trips to
Guangzhou with her parents. She unspools the story of how her generation became the
first in one hundred years to have a father living at home. Political upheaval, including the
Cultural Revolution in China and the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada, created a family
history of separation.
Illustrations of historical ephemera and cultural references keep the narrative grounded,
even when Wong struggles to unearth long-buried details. As in the Chinese ink painting,
Wong is skilled at using blank space to convey meaning: “What’s absent is just as
important as what’s present.”
Reviewed by Emma Radosevich, collection development librarian, Whatcom County Library System
(Originally published in Bellingham Alive February 2025 issue.)