The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
by Ann Marie Fleming
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ann Marie FlemingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-09-04
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Book Reviews of The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
Book Review: Awesome, unique, and inspiring book
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll start out by saying that I'm not mixed race (just white) nor descended from recent immigrants (all of my living family was born here in America), so I assume that I'm not really a part of this book's target audience. But I loved it! I've recently gotten into graphic novels, and this popped up as "recommended for me," and it was so cheap ($5.60 when I ordered it), that I thought, "What the heck?" and ordered it. I'm so glad I did!
The story was entirely compelling. I loved how the author uncovered all these different versions of her great-grandfather's narrative, showing how hard it is to discover the "truth" about anything). And the mix of photos, drawings, stick figures, and playbills added variety and depth to the story.
At the end of the book, Fleming writes, "I started out on this journey with the question, 'Who was Long Tack Sam?' ... And now that I know what a big life he had, I'm left with the question, 'Why was he forgotten?'" Fleming speculates that he was forgotten because maybe... vaudeville died, or he was Chinese, or he was an immigrant. But how much do any of us know about our great-grandparents? I know next to nothing about mine. It is very difficult to keep *someone else's* memories alive, which is all any of us have of people who died before we knew them. This book, however, has made me consider undertaking a similar project about my grandmother's life. Not for publication but for my daughter, who was named after her great-grandmother who died before she was born.
Summary of The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
A full-color graphic memoir inspired by the award-winning documentary-and the life and mystery of China's greatest magician.Who was Long Tack Sam?
He was born in 1885. He ran away from Shangdung Province to join the circus. He was an acrobat. A magician. A comic. An impresario. A restaurateur. A theater owner. A world traveler. An East-West ambassador. A mentor to Orson Welles. He was considered the greatest act in the history of vaudeville.
In this gorgeous graphic memoir, his great-granddaughter, the artist and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, resurrects his fascinating life for the rest of the world. It's an exhilarating testament to a forgotten man. And every picture is true.
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