The Eternal Smile: Three Stories

by Gene Luen Yang

Book Overview

From two masters of the graphic novel--Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese) and Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference and Other Stories)--come three magical tales of fantastical adventure through the worlds we live in and the worlds we create.

The story of a prince who defeats his greatest enemy only to discover that maybe his world is not what it had seemed.

The story of a frog who finds that just being a frog might...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596431563
• ISBN13: 9781596431560
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: First Second
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Ingenious and inspiring

Each of these three stories is a gem. Every plot has a twist and a beautiful meaning behind it. It's hard to give specific examples without spoiling the surprises, but if you enjoy reading stories that inspire, and if you appreciate plots that tie together perfectly, you should get this book. My favorite story is the second (Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile), because it's cynical and humorous, yet reveals profound, life-giving wisdom in the end. Also, the artwork is very well done for all three of the stories (each with a different style). My favorite artwork is in the last story (Urgent Request), which has some gorgeous watercolor panels towards the end. This was the first graphic novel I ever read. I always had a stereotype about comics being pure action films on paper, but a friend gave me this as a gift and I was shocked to discover that I loved it!

Good set of graphic novel short stories

"The Eternal Smile: Three Stories" Written and Illustrated by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim (First Second Books, 2007) ---------------------------------------------------------------- This book is an intriguing collaboration between two up-and-coming graphic novel artists - Gene Luen Yang (whose remarkable memoir, "American Made Chinese" is a recent favorite) and Derek Kirk Kim, whose work I am less familiar with... This book showcases three short stories, each about a form of self-delusion, and regained control over reality. In "Duncan's Kingdom" we see a complete vision of a fairy-tale kingdom, seen through the eyes of a young knight who faces storybook challenges -- frog kings, ogres etc. -- armed with a magic sword and a brave heart. And yet, when a modern-day soda bottle shows up, cracks start to appear in the story's happy, heroic facade. The second story, "Grandpa Greenbax And The Eternal Smile," is a tart satire of Disney's "Uncle Scrooge" stories -- parts of it are funny, but one suspects that the authors have based their parody on the iffy '80s "Duck Tales" TV series, rather than the craftsmanlike Carl Barks comicbook adventures. The story starts out with great potential, but seems to miss the mark in the end. Finally, there's "Urgent Request," the most subtle and resonant of the three stories - in this glum, Adrian Tomine-esque novella, a frumpish, unappreciated office worker replies to one of those Nigerian get-rich-quick internet scams, sending everything she has to "Prince Henry," with unexpected results. The ending is not what you'd expect, both in terms of plot and tone, as well as its unresolved, ambiguous ending. I'm not sure what the impetus was for these two artists to work together, but this anthology book is a good indication that future collaborations would be a great idea. Definitely worth checking out! (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

3 Charming Little Tales

In "Duncan's Kingdom," young knight Duncan is the favorite of the princess, and avenging the king's death just might win him her hand and the throne. But there's something not quite right in Duncan's world, and he has a hard time leaving well enough alone until he figures out what. The next story is "Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile," about a greedy frog's exploitive schemes to build for himself a pool of gold that he can swim in. Story 3 is "Urgent Request," where our heroine Janet spends her days weaving a story around the supposed Nigerian prince who has swindled away all her money. The Eternal Smile is the collection of these three stories. All three feature fantastic artwork in completely differing styles, all of which enhance the narratives and bring the characters to life. And all three stories were deeper than they appeared on the surface; Duncan's tale blurs the lines between reality and dreams, the frogs in the title story make you think about the morality of wealth, and Janet helps us to remember that sometimes we just need to let our imaginations loose to build our own confidence. Reviewed by Holly Scudero

Great for the comic fan and for the non-comic fan

A good short story is hard to find. The writer doesn't have a lot of pages to make the reader care about the characters and in these same pages, a complete story also has to be told. There is nothing like finishing a good short story and just getting this great feeling of content. This book collects three short graphic stories that leave me feeling complete and really shows what a great storyteller both these creators are. Each story has a few twists and turns and they all have enough emotional impact to make you think after you finish each one. Gene Yang's debut book, American Born Chinese, was such a great book. The interwoven stories in that book made it perfect, and I recommend that book to a lot of non-comic fans that want to give comics a try. I believe this book can also be recommended to anyone. The three short stories will appeal to anyone and I don't think it could be told as well in any other format except as a graphic novel.