Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin

6 reviews

readwithjinger's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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wardenred's review

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

My parents weighed their kids’ future against the present. To get a good public school education, we just had to put up with a little discrimination.

This was a really interesting memoir about growing up in Detroit’s Chinatown in the 1980s. The author touches on many different aspects of his childhood and teenage years, ranging from racism, immigrant issues, and figuring out his sexual identity to the intricacies of running a restaurant and the complexities of his family’s relationship. There are some rather heartbreaking moments, as well as plenty of small scenes that made me smile or laugh. I enjoyed the whole framing device of the restaurant, and how the author drew parallels between his cooking (mis)adventures and his coming-of-age experiences.

I really liked how candid the narrative was. It’s rather obvious the author has changed his views on multiple political and social subject since he was a kid (don’t we all?), and he alludes to those changes pretty transparently, but then he immediately delves deep into the mindset he remembers having during the events he describes. I think it takes a lot of self-awareness to paint a frank, complete picture of your own lack of self-awareness in the past, and a lot of courage, too.

There were a few parts where I felt the narrative meandered or jumped around a bit, but overall, this was a great reading experience with a lot of food for thought. Also, with a lot of food in general—there are some great descriptions from the titular restaurant’s kitchen!

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rover_under's review

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3.75

As an Chinese-American raised in Michigan, I loved the retelling of 80's Detroit from queer Chinese lens and seeing the city from that perspective. I was a bit confused with the period of life the author chose to include, though. The college years felt very different from his childhood and it felt a bit rushed in comparison, though that may have been the shorter time span.

There were many things mentioned in the book that I wish the author had expanded on more, like sibling that are mentioned in passing but never get in full focus. In interviews, the author talked about the closing of Chung's and the death of his father, and I was surprised that those events were not in the book. I would have liked to see his growth in New York, his relationship with his now-partner and his path to foodwriting, too

. Overall enjoyed the book but wished I had found more of a narrative throughline.

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ren_the_hobbit's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring slow-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed this book and I liked that so many situations in which it would be easy to villainize the other person, Curtis chooses compassion and understanding instead. I want to emulate his ability to see things from other’s perspectives.

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whitneymouse's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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devynreadsnovels's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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