Benson and Bennie
January 17th, 2023
It has been a dozen years since Kevin Chong wrote his last novel, Beauty Plus Pity (Arsenal Pulp, 2011) about Malcolm Kwan, a twenty-something Vancouverite struggling to become a model. In The Double Life of Benson Yu (Atria Books $27), the narrator of the story, Benson Yu, is trying to write a story set in 1980s Chinatown about a twelve-year-old boy, Bennie living with his grandmother. Bennie gets taken in by an eccentric neighbour named Constantine when his grandmother is suddenly hospitalized. But Yu, a bestselling comic book creator can’t help interjecting himself into Bennie’s story from the present day. Things get dark as Yu reveals his own past demons. 9781668005491
Leave a Reply