The Man in the McIntosh Suit - by Rina Ayuyang (Paperback)

About the Book

"The year is 1929 and Bobot is just another migrant worker in rural California. Or rather, a migrant worker with a law degree from the Philippines reduced to manual labor in America. Bobot, like so many other young Filipinos, finds himself bunking in the fields picking fruit by day. When his cousin writes claiming to have spotted his estranged wife in nearby San Francisco, he swipes a co-worker's favorite nightclub suit and heads to the big city to find her. A gripping, romantic and psychological exploration of a fledgling community. The Man in the McIntosh Suit is a Filipino-American take on Depression-era noir featuring mistaken identities, speakeasies, and lost love"--

Book Synopsis

A Filipino-American take on Depression-era noir featuring mistaken identities, speakeasies, and lost love.

The year is 1929 and Bobot is just another migrant worker in rural California. Or rather, a migrant worker with a law degree from the Philippines reduced to manual labor in America. Bobot, like so many other young Filipinos, finds himself bunking in the fields, picking fruit by day. When his cousin writes claiming to have spotted his estranged wife in nearby San Francisco, he swipes a co-worker's favorite nightclub suit and heads to the big city to find her. What follows is classic noir with seedy dives, mouthy pool sharks, and obsession.

Rina Ayuyang indulges her passion for old Hollywood and elaborate movie musicals while exploring her immigrant roots in a playful and mysterious drama, creating something she never saw but always had hoped for--a classic tale about people who looked just like her. The Man in the McIntosh Suit is a gripping, romantic, and psychological exploration of a fledgling community chasing the American dream in an unwelcoming society heightened by racial hostility and the bubbling undercurrent of the coming Great Depression.

Review Quotes

"Ayuyang evokes the hardship and racism experienced by Filipino immigrants in this Depression-era noir, in which a migrant worker abandons the strawberry fields of rural California in search of his estranged wife in San Francisco." --New York Times

"A fast-paced thriller of a story combining history with heartbreak, Rina Ayuyang's graphic novel mixes Manong lore with an individual's dreams." --Gina Apostol, Insurrecto

"Tight, compelling, evocative, Rina Ayuyang's The Man in the McIntosh Suit transports us to a colonial-era Philippines and a California of migrant workers and hardscrabble opportunities, set to a soundtrack of loss and 1920s love songs. She vividly reminds us that the Filipino Dream was once the American Dream, and that both are but the shared aspiration of humanity towards a better future. In this intriguing noir-esque tale of many twists, love is the real mystery, along with the universal search for one's place in the world. This is a beautiful, lyrical book of images and insight. Read it!" --Miguel Syjuco, author of the Man Asia Literary Prize winner Illustrado

"Ayuyang's illustrations, drawn in quick, sketchy strokes and colored in soft shades of inky blue, pay homage to film noir -- and underscore the secrets that hide in the dark." --Malaka Gharib, NPR

"[Ayuyang] earnestly depicts the often erased, alienating social realities of Filipino Americans... to inform a playful, pulpy tale of obsession, longing and action." --San Francisco Chronicle

"It might seem tough to come up with a new way to tell noir fiction stories, but Rina Ayunyang's done it, and beautifully." --The Toronto Star

"This melancholic yet glimmering story brings to life a generation of immigrants often overlooked by histories of the period." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Set against a historically accurate anti-Asian backdrop (some things never change), Ayuyang deftly intertwines a heart-thumping mystery with didn't-see-that-happening love stories." --ALA Booklist

"Ayuyang spins a captivating tale that is both an homage to starry-eyed Hollywood movies of the period and a corrective that highlights the anti-Asian racism faced by immigrants as well as the thriving communities they formed." --Kirkus

"Compulsively readable." --The Comics Journal

"To check out artist Rina Ayuyang's [work] is to find oneself awash in art and colour, offering insights into what inspires her. These colour-pencilled hues inform The Man in the McIntosh Suit, her Filipino-American story of love, immigration, sexuality, and longing set in San Francisco during the Great Depression." --Broken Frontier

"A truly bewildering imbroglio, [drawn] in a stylish and pacy hand." --Strong Words

"[The Man in the McIntosh Suit] is one of the finest modern works of noir." --BlogCritics

About the Author

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Rina Ayuyang was always inspired by the Sunday newspaper funnies and slice-of-life tales. Her short stories have been nominated for the Ignatz and Eisner Awards, and she has been honored with a MoCCA Arts Festival Award of Excellence silver medal. Her comics have appeared in Mutha Magazine and The Comics Journal. She is also the publisher of the micro-comics imprint Yam Books. Her first book was Whirlwind Wonderland. Ayuyang lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and son.