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zelbel2016 's review for:
Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir
by Eddie Huang
Okay, so I have mixed feelings about this one.
Fresh of the Boat is heralded at Rollins College, my alma mater, as must-read material. The school probably partly does this to fight back against its stereotype as a country club for white kids, or maybe it does it to prove that it can produce an author/individual worthy of publication. Who knows.
That said, this book had its moments and its shortcomings. Like many of the reviewers, I picked up on the somewhat hypocritical racism. Huang is quick to criticize white people for racist behavior but dishes out quite a bit of his own, including racism against other Asians. I appreciate that when you're the subject of multiple setbacks stemming from racism, you have the right (100%) to call people out on it. But to then turn around and make the same kind of comments against the people in your own culture seems callous and terribly hypocritical. That said, I'm not in Huang's shoes, and don't know the challenges that come with not truly belonging fully to any culture.
Beyond that, this book does have quite a few strong points. Huang does an excellent job of opening up to the reader (which is one of the reasons I slowly adjusted to the inherent hypocrisy). To become that vulnerable to an audience must be terrifying, especially when it comes to opening up about acceptance and social assimilation.
Huang walks us through not only his childhood, which was a marriage of two cultures but also his adult life. By the end of this book, you will have an appreciation for any person (first or second generation) that comes to this country and lays down a foundation. Selfishly, one of the reasons I picked up this book was because I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the challenges an Asian immigrant can face in this country.
Going to China next year prompted me to learn more about the relationships between our two countries as well as where the cultures meet. On that note, Huang does an excellent job of weaving Chinese tradition with an American childhood. He does effectively call out existing stereotypes about Asian-Americans. And, perhaps best of all, he highlights the way two cultures can meet.
Fresh of the Boat is heralded at Rollins College, my alma mater, as must-read material. The school probably partly does this to fight back against its stereotype as a country club for white kids, or maybe it does it to prove that it can produce an author/individual worthy of publication. Who knows.
That said, this book had its moments and its shortcomings. Like many of the reviewers, I picked up on the somewhat hypocritical racism. Huang is quick to criticize white people for racist behavior but dishes out quite a bit of his own, including racism against other Asians. I appreciate that when you're the subject of multiple setbacks stemming from racism, you have the right (100%) to call people out on it. But to then turn around and make the same kind of comments against the people in your own culture seems callous and terribly hypocritical. That said, I'm not in Huang's shoes, and don't know the challenges that come with not truly belonging fully to any culture.
Beyond that, this book does have quite a few strong points. Huang does an excellent job of opening up to the reader (which is one of the reasons I slowly adjusted to the inherent hypocrisy). To become that vulnerable to an audience must be terrifying, especially when it comes to opening up about acceptance and social assimilation.
Huang walks us through not only his childhood, which was a marriage of two cultures but also his adult life. By the end of this book, you will have an appreciation for any person (first or second generation) that comes to this country and lays down a foundation. Selfishly, one of the reasons I picked up this book was because I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the challenges an Asian immigrant can face in this country.
Going to China next year prompted me to learn more about the relationships between our two countries as well as where the cultures meet. On that note, Huang does an excellent job of weaving Chinese tradition with an American childhood. He does effectively call out existing stereotypes about Asian-Americans. And, perhaps best of all, he highlights the way two cultures can meet.