For many Asian families, it might be difficult not to have a memory of ginseng. I remember my mother making tea from American ginseng and my violin teacher using it to infuse his vodka. But I can’t remember ever asking about it or even why it was continually referred to as “American” ginseng, rather than just ginseng.

Craig Thompson’s graphic memoir Ginseng Roots takes readers deep into the history and significance of American ginseng told through his experience as a young child in rural Wisconsin in the 1980s being raised by his fundamentalist Christian parents, being obsessed with comics and working on ginseng farms.

A serialized comic now published as a single volume, Thompson opens his memoir with waking up together with his younger brother Phil in the summer long before the sun is up. While they may be on holiday from school, both boys have taken jobs alongside their mother on a ginseng farm. In the small town of Marathon, Wisconsin (population 1,200), it is difficult not to find someone involved in the ginseng business. Thompson and his brother tag along with their mother because her wage isn’t high enough to afford a babysitter, while their father trains as an apprentice. But soon, the sons are offered jobs weeding the fields and they promptly agree to the jobs to fund their comic book purchases.

Thompson grows up and moves out of Marathon, “put[ting] some miles between myself and the stifling confines of small town life.” He has a successful career drawing graphic novels; his brother runs a branding agency. Ginseng is out of his mind until one day Thompson is traveling in China and hurts his wrist. In comes ginseng treatment and Thompson is no longer so far from home. Or rather, as a cartoon ginseng with wide eyes and roots on hips declares: “Go back to where you came from.”

With Marathon’s inaugural ginseng festival as another reason to return home, Thompson does just that. Ginseng Roots then weaves between Thompson revisiting old haunts and people from his childhood alongside the historical, economic and cultural significance of ginseng.

Thompson is, and forgive the pun, not afraid to get into the weeds. He goes into great detail about ginseng and its place in history—from its Iroquois name (Gareng-Oguen, meaning “resembles man”) to the war of 1812 and the Chinese Exclusion Act. He also reflects on politics, the environment and climate change.

 At the festival, a ginseng farmer is on stage shouting “Thank you Mother Nature” and Thompson’s writes “bold words for a conservative community that tends to discredit climate change”, before using the scene to jump back in time to show a scene where his religious mother described Mother Nature as “what atheists say instead of ‘God’.”

Thompson’s reflections on the economics of modern-day farming, on pesticides and the politics of big growers are all present in the memoir, which run parallel to stories of Thompson’s strict upbringing.

Both art and text are emotive. The art in Thompson’s work is detailed and meticulous and while each of the12 comics takes on its own theme, they all link together. The entire story is told in shades of black, white and red, the art more impactful for the limited colours. Thompson includes a ginseng root as a character that interjects atop the action; other moments seem to be inspired by the comics he may have read as a child.

Visually stunning, Thompson easily takes the reader through different periods of time—as the present-day Thompson battles health issues and is discussing herbs and plants, there is a short flashback to Thompson and his brother weeding on the ginseng farm. In another scene, Thompson discusses an issue with his sister and she recalls the moment she quit working on the ginseng farm, Thompson draws both the present day and the past.

Ginseng is indeed personified, but Thompson also perhaps draws upon the idea that the plant really does “resemble man”. Outside of the obvious farms and landscapes, there’s a “rootiness” in the art, often exemplified in Thompson’s drawing of fingers, his hands, of course, being critical to his job as a child and his work now. It’s a visual reminder on just how entwined ginseng has been to Thompson’s story.

Melanie Ho is the author of Journey to the West: He Hui, a Chinese Soprano in the World of Italian Opera.