Reviews with content warning for Child 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

Content Warnings

natnurdock's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

lyricallit's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

4.5

He tells his story with humor and raw honesty. I would have loved to hear a little more about the transition in his relationship with his parents from hostile to healing (therapy? influence of his grandparents? ) But the honesty on both his and his parents' part is truly admirable. He reads his memoir well, and the emotion in his voice when he chokes back tears talking about his grandparents knocked me flat.

Content Warnings

jegan4's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

lillypad827's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed Simu Liu’s memoir! You can tell it was written by him, in his own words, and that there wasn’t a ghost writer or anything. His story is real, raw, emotional, informative, and vulnerable. I enjoy him as an actor and a human and it was so great to get to know him better and understand his upbringing and what led him to acting. For someone who wasn’t trained as a writer, he’s pretty good!

Content Warnings

veronicakirchner's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Simu Liu shares his honest intergenerational immigration story of holding onto hope, overcoming adversity, and finding your way.

Content Warnings

ernis's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

megbert581's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.5

This is one of the best memoirs I’ve read. It’s really funny, I appreciated his honesty about his relationship with his parents (I can relate) and became so invested in his story of figuring out his career and purpose in life - it was not linear. It was real and raw and you can feel his emotion and passion. Simu Liu is one of my favorite actors so it was great to get this insight into his story. The audiobook is read by him and is absolutely fantastic. Can he narrate more books please?? (Also you should read the acknowledgements 😭). The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars was

his underlying message of “if you work hard enough things will work out” didn’t acknowledge that that is not reality for many. Things do not always work out. Also I would have liked to hear more on how he worked with his parents to come to a better relationship

but those are minor things.

Content Warnings

More...