You cannot tell that author Craig Thompson suffers from hand degeneration in his gorgeously and intricately illustrated graphic memoir about growing up on a ginseng farm in Wisconsin. I have scant knowledge about ginseng and only a little more about Wisconsin, mostly owing …more to its status as Blue Wall state. After reading (and viewing) this 435-page memoir, I feel closer to both.

Thompson doesn't just show the grueling nature of Ginseng farming, he also takes readers on a fascinating journey into the herb's very roots in China, the US, Korea, and Taiwan, both through the new people he encounters along the way and reuniting with his parents, long-time farmers, and sometimes via an impish female Ginseng Avatar. I appreciated Thompson's Zen-like empathy for his parents with whom he disagrees on various fronts, for his brother, whom he travels to Asia with, and for all those behind getting this fussy plant to folks who benefit from its medicinal properties.

If you've never read a memoir in cartoon form (although calling it a cartoon feels like it falsely reduces Thompson's compelling narrative into a children's genre), you might get hooked on this memoir alternative. I know I did. (less)