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eling 's review for:
Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir
by Eddie Huang
I didn't know much about Eddie Huang before I picked it up & was pleasantly surprised that this was NOT the typical Asian-American goes a bit wrong then does right story. Don't get me wrong, that message is there, but the journey & memoir are both a bit extreme.
Huang's opening sentence is about soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung is on page two, and the first NBA reference is on page three. Hip-hop quotes before the text, just after the title page. I was hooked from the beginning. While the details of the author's story are very far from mine, he is speaking my language-- about pop culture, Chinese/Taiwanese-American food & culture, and race & identity in America.
While the constant stream of sports/pop culture references occasionally gets a little bit tiresome, even to me (hello, Charles Barkley poster on my bedroom closet door for YEARS), Huang's story is a wildly entertaining one, and while it will probably resonate particularly with minorities of a certain generation, it's at heart a great one for anyone who has felt like they didn't fit in somewhere or had trouble picking a path because what they wanted to do wasn't what they were taught to believe they SHOULD do.
[I will note, if you are not well-versed in 80s/90s hip-hop, sports and/or Taiwanese food, reading this with a computer or smartphone nearby will probably improve your experience.]
Huang's opening sentence is about soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung is on page two, and the first NBA reference is on page three. Hip-hop quotes before the text, just after the title page. I was hooked from the beginning. While the details of the author's story are very far from mine, he is speaking my language-- about pop culture, Chinese/Taiwanese-American food & culture, and race & identity in America.
While the constant stream of sports/pop culture references occasionally gets a little bit tiresome, even to me (hello, Charles Barkley poster on my bedroom closet door for YEARS), Huang's story is a wildly entertaining one, and while it will probably resonate particularly with minorities of a certain generation, it's at heart a great one for anyone who has felt like they didn't fit in somewhere or had trouble picking a path because what they wanted to do wasn't what they were taught to believe they SHOULD do.
[I will note, if you are not well-versed in 80s/90s hip-hop, sports and/or Taiwanese food, reading this with a computer or smartphone nearby will probably improve your experience.]