Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story

If you're looking for a book that focuses on Marvel, this ain't it. And that's not a bad thing! This really focused on everything that led up to the moment when Simu found out that he got the role of Shang-Chi. In fact, a good chunk of this book follows his parents' lives, how they were brought up, how they lived, how they met and became a family. He takes great care to really paint a picture of what led to his parents' decision to put him under his grandparents' care for his first few years, while they worked overseas. I wouldn't skip one moment of this book either because his parents' story is FASCINATING. I was never bored at any moment.

He doesn't shy away from the darker moments of his life. His relationship with his parents was always incredibly strained and some of it was honestly disturbing to read (hear) about. Trigger warning: physical and verbal abuse, ahoy. His parents were well-meaning but lacked the emotional support that you would hope parents would provide, and it was hard to take in at times. He didn't try to paint them as entirely evil either; they went above and beyond to support him with his education and other financial means, and he always made sure to note the times when they were, in retrospect, right, and when he was an ass. I appreciated that he didn't shy away from admitting that he did a lot of stupid things growing up as well.

This would definitely resonate with others that may have these rocky relationships with their parents, particularly immigrants with generational differences. And despite the emotional hardships, this is also such an inspiring story for first and second generation immigrants as he talks about everything his family did to survive, find their way to the US and Canada, and ultimately thrive.

The majority of the read focuses more on his parents' lives and his life growing up. It eventually steers into how he got into the entertainment industry, how he became more invested and outspoken about the topic of race, and how he finally got to audition for Shang-Chi.

He also does talk about how he got his role in Kim's Convenience. He was pretty honest about how he felt about the series by the end of it, which I appreciated and agree with, tbh. (The quality of the show really dipped in the last few seasons, IMO.) I kind of wish he spent more time talking about the show and his experiences with it because as a fan of it, I would've loved to know more about his experiences there. It felt like he kind of glossed over it at times, but eh, the lack of commenting probably speaks for itself, right?

I would have loved to see more about the topic of race near the end. And I'd also love to know more about how his relationship with his parents may have changed with the rise of Marvel, and more about the rise of Simu Liu, really, but give it a few years and.. sequel? Maybe???

Always bonus points to the author that narrates their own book as well. Get the audiobook! Simu has a fantastic voice for narrating and my goodness, the emotion in his voice when he talked about the more traumatic or emotional moments in his life, whew. Every time he talked about the love he has for his grandparents (who, spoiler alert, passed away before the release of Shang-Chi), it was so incredibly emotional. His tearing up made me wanna tear up <3

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natnurdock's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

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jegan4's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

3.5

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ernis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Really well-written memoir by Simu. While some parts were hilarious, there was also a lot of sobering trauma that was discussed. Overall an honest, often humorous account of his and his family's experience in moving to Canada and of the realities facing Asian communities and individuals in North America today.

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marinajonesreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Simu Liu was already a darling in my eyes as a Marvel dork but this just elevated him even more. What a heartbreaking story. What an inspiring story. Not only was he heroically open with us, he infused this book with authenticity and humor in all the right parts. When he got excited, I got excited. When he was on the verge of tears, I was already bawling. That takes not just a good story, but a fantastic storyteller. I feel like I just had a nice glass of wine with a friend on the couch in my living room and spent hours laughing and crying until that last triumphant “Action!” Although he said you could skip his parents’ origin stories at the start, you shouldn’t. The payoff is indeed great. His love for them and his grandparents was so loud and beautiful and I couldn’t get enough. Bravo.

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qrschulte's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Incredibly vulnerable and heartfelt, this memoir is highly relatable to anyone who’s ever felt the weight of familial and societal expectations. The audiobook is incredible, and you can really feel how much the decisions his family made affect him.

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annabananadel's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

“Whether you like it or not, you're getting better at something every day...No matter what you choose to do with your day, you are either helping to create a new habit or solidifying old ones.”

Oh Simu... Thank you for an amazing narration of your wonderful book. I had thought it might be almost all about his acting life - especially during Shang-Chi but I was dead wrong. I'm actually glad I was wrong because I saw Simu now in a different perspective. I saw how his parents persevered and really did everything they can just so their family could grow up in Canada. I saw how Simu pushed himself to be better - both as a person and also his career. It's actually inspiring to see someone who has tried his very best to make his own parents proud of him by working in a career that made him miserable. He pushed and came out of that bubble his parents provided and knew he wanted a career as an actor. I'm literally crushing Simu a lot now.

A little summary of every act:

First act - Simu did warned us about how drowsy this would be since it was about how his parents met and migrated from China to Canada. But it was an eye-opener since I learned so much more about China in the early years.
Second act - About how he grew up under his parents + college life.
Third act - His acting life

If you're here to here all about his Shang-Chi exclusives, you'll learn more if you just watch Youtubes or Google because there's only like one chapter about this.

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