The Double Life of Benson Yu
By Kevin Chong
Published by Atria,9781668005491, April 2023, 224 pp.

The Short of It:

Clever and imaginative.

The Rest of It:

In a Chinatown housing project lives twelve-year-old Benny, his ailing grandmother, and his strange neighbor Constantine, a man who believes he’s a reincarnated medieval samurai. When his grandmother is hospitalized, Benny manages to survive on his own until a social worker comes snooping. With no other family, he is reluctantly taken in by Constantine and soon, an unlikely bond forms between the two.

This is a sweet story and bends genres in the most appealing way. It touches on aging, coming of age, boyhood, male friendships, social welfare issues, and jumps back and forth in time. Benny is a very likable character. As a reader you can’t help but root for him as his world slowly falls apart. But for the most part, he has good people surrounding him. As he uses his art to deal with loss, it is slowly revealed to the reader that Yu, the  narrator of the story, is having some trouble continuing Benny’s story. We are left wondering what is real, and what is make-believe.

Can Yu finish Benny’s story without placing him in peril?

I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it, especially if you are in need of something different.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
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