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A review by bellawoo
Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang
3.0
Pro-tip: listen to the audiobook, which is ready by Huang. He even breaks the fourth-wall and speaks to the listener directly at certain parts.
I didn't care for the last quarter of the book when he opens up Baohaus, even though that's what he's known for. But the anecdotes and references from his childhood were so spot on for me. I am an Asian-American raised in San Francisco, a city with a large Asian population, most of which are Chinese. Huang was mostly raised as an ethnic minority in Florida. He is almost a generation older than me. His family owned their businesses, which worked with and for non-AAPIs. Mine worked for businesses that catered to the AAPI immigrant populations. Despite these environmental and situational differences, I was delighted to learn that our experiences ran parallel in so many ways, that maybe there is a shared Chinese-American experience.
Reading through some of the critical reviews on Goodreads, I'll just say one thing... they were mostly by white people. He voices opinions about whiteness and cultural appropriation that so many of us share but are afraid to say out loud. Maybe you didn't relate to him because you can't, but that doesn't invalidate him and his experiences. Some of us were really baffled the first time we had tuna salad sandwiches. Some of us connect more to Wu Tang Clan than Dave Matthews Band (I will always remember the first time I realized people actually listened to DMB and that they weren't .99 cent bin has-beens). And some of us are angry.
I didn't care for the last quarter of the book when he opens up Baohaus, even though that's what he's known for. But the anecdotes and references from his childhood were so spot on for me. I am an Asian-American raised in San Francisco, a city with a large Asian population, most of which are Chinese. Huang was mostly raised as an ethnic minority in Florida. He is almost a generation older than me. His family owned their businesses, which worked with and for non-AAPIs. Mine worked for businesses that catered to the AAPI immigrant populations. Despite these environmental and situational differences, I was delighted to learn that our experiences ran parallel in so many ways, that maybe there is a shared Chinese-American experience.
Reading through some of the critical reviews on Goodreads, I'll just say one thing... they were mostly by white people. He voices opinions about whiteness and cultural appropriation that so many of us share but are afraid to say out loud. Maybe you didn't relate to him because you can't, but that doesn't invalidate him and his experiences. Some of us were really baffled the first time we had tuna salad sandwiches. Some of us connect more to Wu Tang Clan than Dave Matthews Band (I will always remember the first time I realized people actually listened to DMB and that they weren't .99 cent bin has-beens). And some of us are angry.