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Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu
34 reviews
felofhe's review against another edition
4.75
Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
miacorkum's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
xeniba's review against another edition
I found his tone pretty whiny and self-involved and I didn’t have much empathy for him once he got to college. The book also felt repetitive in terms of how often he talked about how much he hated accounting as how hard he worked at being an actor and what a go-getter he was.
I think this memoir actually made me like him less, which was surprising. That’s obviously my personal opinion and ymmv. I do think that it’s important that this memoir exists and even though I wasn’t really a fan, I’m sure it will resonate with many.
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Xenophobia
linnea1801's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
zee's review
3.5
The book is split into three major parts: his parents' story, and how the Cultural Revolution impacted their behaviour (sorry, "behavior") and their initial immigration to the West; his formative years with his parents and the abuse and expectations encountered; and finally the struggle to succeed as an actor. I found the deliberate decision to end the book as Shang Chi was getting rolling to be a tad disappointing, as I doubt it was entirely sunshine and roses after all his years of struggle with his identity... Though ultimately that was probably based on the timelines of the deal happening before the Marvel announcement. For all that acts 1 and 2 are raw and emotional, act 3 seemed very rushed. He glosses over the struggles and successes with, essentially, "and then I tried harder and this time it worked."
While a worthwhile story to read of the familial struggles and expectations placed on him as the son of immigrants, overall the book doesn't adequately address why we're reading his particular story and not some other schmuck's with a difficult/abusive parental relationship. I guess it would be better aimed at major Liu fans, which isn't what I expect from a Canada Reads longlist selected memoir.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
l1brarygirl's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Grief and Abandonment
bitesizedbeet's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Racism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Xenophobia
bek_p87's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse and Xenophobia
skeltzer's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Violence, and Xenophobia
mandaraffe's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, and Xenophobia
Minor: Racism and Grief