CBR18 Bingo – Summer: I read this in the summer, which is when peaches are ready.
The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan is very short, but it packs in a lot. I might have preferred something longer or more comic book. But it’s not hard to find Chinese fairy tales and the cover artist (Jenn So) not illustrating the entire book isn’t a real issue. So I have no actual complaints.
Mei is Chinese-American, but wasn’t raised by her white adoptive mother to know about anything Chinese. Instead, Mei was raised to be feminine, presumably straight, white, a doctor, and all the things Mei could never be.
What could she be? A crossdressing lesbian who can travel to anywhere Chinese, across time and space. This covers a lot between the size and age of the country, plus the diaspora.
She uses her ability to steal, to find people, and to learn that New York’s Meatpacking District has a queer history that probably has nothing to do with the name of the neighborhood. She also learns Chinese mythology and fairy tales, which is important since they are real. They even include her and her friends.
One of those stories is about the bitten peach. A long time ago in China, a duke (man) and viscount (man) were in love and shared a peach. Thus, the bitten peach is used to symbolize gay love in China, even though the two guys broke up later.
The book told it better.
In the current day, the art museum’s jade peach is missing and Mei is sent on a mission to get it back. She also gets a girlfriend, an apology from her mother, and a tour of Chinatowns across the world. But not necessarily in that order. Although with time travel, who knows?
