Thirty-something Chinese-Canadian women “adulting” in Montreal

Lee Lai’s graphic novel Cannon opens with a cathartic moment of violence at a workplace, a closed restaurant, and then doubles back to the three months leading up to that moment. The title character is Cannon, aka Lucy, aka “Luce Cannon.” She is a talented chef working at a restaurant, which is a high-pressure environment. She regularly bicycles over to her aging Gung Gung’s apartment to look in on him. Cannon reaches out to her mother to try to get her to engage in her aging father’s life, but her mother is fairly avoidant and uninvolved. Her best friend is Trish, a childhood friend who is also an aspiring writer. Cannon has feelings for Trish, but Trish has Kam, a male friend with benefits. Cannon and Trish are from Lennoxville, Quebec, and are somewhat small-town folks. They are now past their 20s and in their 30-somethings. They are still trying to figure out life. There are complexities in terms of how people present vs. how they actually are.

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