Names and Faces - by Leise Hook (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A graphic memoir-in-essays interweaving critical research and personal experience to examine the in-betweenness of being mixed-race Asian American and the cultural confrontations inherent to forging one's identity."-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A graphic memoir-in-essays examining the in-betweenness of being mixed-race and the cultural confrontations inherent to forging one's identity

Who are you? What are you? And how does it feel to be you? Leise Hook was asked these intrusive questions so many times growing up that they haunted her like ghosts. Born to a Chinese mother and white American father, and growing up in Michigan, Tokyo, and Virginia, Leise Hook was never sure where she fit in. More white passing than her Chinese friends and family, but with the Mandarin skills of a native speaker, she was constantly exceeding some expectations while failing to meet others. From moving to Beijing, to dying her hair blonde, to exploring self portraiture, Hook struggles to figure out who she is and where she belongs.

In the vein of Cathy Park Hong and Gene Luen Yang, Hook's graphic memoir-in-essays rendered via her signature, award-winning style, explores what it means to come of age as a mixed-race woman, forging a singular identity in a world intent on putting her into ill-fitting boxes.

Review Quotes

One of Booklist's Top 10 Graphic Biographies & Memoirs of the Year
One of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Spring 2026 Adult Comics

"[The] stunning new graphic memoir in essays, Names and Faces, [is] a lyrical, inventive exploration of the self that also looks out into the world through comics that experiment with form and content. In a fast-paced society that demands our attention on screens, or our impulse buys and constant clicks, this writer and artist invites you to slow down and take a deep breath. . . . Hook's poetic, introspective writing style and innovative cartooning will appeal to readers of lyrical nonfiction works like How Far The Light Reaches: a Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, for her interweaving of identity, belonging, and the natural world, and alternative, autobiographical comics full of depth and feeling such as Portrait of a Body by Julie Delport, for her innovative layouts and equally beautiful prose. The art asks what a comic can do in pages full of visual metaphors that break out of the strict confines of the form, much like Hook breaks out of the mold society tries to box her into."
--Southern Review of Books

"Hook beautifully marries the verbal and visual representation of her internal struggle [in her] thought-provoking, poignant debut graphic memoir."
--Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"Alternating structured panels with looser pages for emotional impact, this book works as both mirror and window. Every face, every name, has a story to tell. An erudite reflection on the experience of holding two cultures within oneself."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Insightful. . . . layered and colorful, complicated and bold."
--Publishers Weekly

"Names and Faces is a moving portrait of a young biracial woman claiming herself in wholeness, deftly dissecting the threads of her complex identity to forge a self that is more than the sum of her parts. This smart and tender memoir will help anyone navigating the question of where they belong."
--Tessa Hulls, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Feeding Ghosts

"What a gift Leise Hook has given us: a book tender and beating, inquisitive and quiet, bursting with guts and brains. I read it all in one long gulp, on a dreary afternoon turned magically lush by Hook's gorgeous, compassionate exploration of what it means to be a human being, multifaceted and messy and loved, within a world that demands uniformity. I can't wait to read it again."
--Kristen Radtke, author of Seek You

"With beautifully drawn panels and deftly created layouts, Leise Hook's deeply reflective memoir bridges personal identity, family history, and a wide range of cultures."
--Eddie Ahn, author of Advocate

"In this extraordinary memoir, Leise Hook tugs at the threads of her complicated relationship with identity, and unravels surprise after surprise in the process. Hook pulls us inwards and propels us outwards at the same time, on tangents that range from linguistics to ecology to the history of toys. She's a master of visual metaphors, weaving together the personal and the political, the highly specific and the universal."
-- Kathy MacLeod, author of Continental Drifter

About the Author

Leise Hook is a cartoonist and illustrator who grew up in college towns in Michigan and Virginia, and previously worked in art museums in New York City and Beijing. Her work has appeared in The Believer, The New Yorker, Catapult, and Spotlight PA and has been short-listed for a National Magazine Award and the Cartoonist Studio Prize. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. She currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with her husband and tabby cat.