Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir

Haunt narrated this himself. This almost never works for me, and I'm iffy about this one. His story is remarkable and although I've read many books about immigrants, his portrayal is more educational than most. ( )

A very funny, well written and engrossing book about a loving and dysfunctional Chinese family trying to find their way in America. Anyone who grew up in a third world home, and stepped out into first world America every morning will appreciate this book, be they Chinese, Latino, Irish or Pakistani. His childhood is filled with love, confusion, sadness, irony and a lot of humor. This book clearly and lovingly conveys the struggles and hard earned successes of growing up in the states. It does a wonderful job at staying light and humorous with funny stories about his family. I loved the Chinese dialogue, and non-Chinese readers will appreciate his translations. The scenes with his parents are hilarious. Eddie and his family are both fascinated and appalled by America, especially the food. His descriptions of Asian and American food are delightful and it is obvious that food is a friend and refuge. Chief Huang’s love of the smells, textures and symbolism of food have even influenced his writing. He is also very adept at diving deeply and letting you see feel the pain and loneliness that permeated almost every day of his life, but he does not stay submerged for too long and laughs are frequent.

The novel adroitly tells the story of the family’s immigration from China to Orlando Florida in the mid 1980’s. And while it may seem like a family’s story on the surface, it is really about a confused little boy who grows into a pissed off young man trying to survive in multiple worlds – his home, America, Asian friendships, non-Asian-friendships, relationships and more. I grew up in Bronx, New York, and in our black and tan neighborhoods we were safe, everyone was the same, not true for people like Eddie Huang. He was never safe. The book clearly relays the bigotry and prejudice Asians have endured in America, and it made me look at the immigrant experience through different eyes.

Huang’s voice is casual and rough but capable of passionate and tight prose reminiscent of Junot Diaz, the Dominican-American writer. From their casual regional English to their mutual understanding of the hilarious irony of real life. Unfortunately, Mr. Huang uses street slang a little too often. Sometimes the vernacular language is unfamiliar and confusing. I would be happily reading when suddenly I’d read a phrase and jerk to a suddenly stop. Luckily it did not happen often. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, and I will certainly be checking out this authors next book. ( )

I received an advance copy of Fresh Off the Boat through a Goodreads giveaway.

The readers who will most enjoy this book will be those who already know of Eddie Huang, the young, brash, and outspoken owner of a Taiwanese bao shop in New York, called Baohaus. But even if you’re not familiar with Eddie, the book is still a pretty interesting coming of age tale told in an engaging manner.

I first became aware of Eddie when I stumbled onto his blog and tweets a year or two ago, and have caught some of his articles/interviews in a few other outlets ever since. What you’ll get in Fresh Off the Boat is really a more in-depth development of the themes that he’s been training his eye on aboard those other platforms: food (of course), but also sports, music, culture, and Asian-American identity, plus ways in which these issues intersect or collide. The examination of these issues is all the more interesting because it’s filtered through Eddie’s unique voice, one that’s smart-alecky, slangy, hip hop-inflected, and thoughtful all rolled into one.

The book focuses on Eddie’s childhood in the suburbs of Virginia and Florida, the experience of growing up in an immigrant family, struggles to break out of “model minority” stereotypes, being an obnoxious kid dealing drugs and getting into fights, discovering his voice in an English lit course, becoming a lawyer for minute, all the way to the opening of the first Baohaus, with some anecdotes of defining “food moments” thrown in as well.

The book reads as if your wise-ass friend is just hanging out and shooting the shit with you, telling you about what shaped him as a person. It’s not especially deep (even though you see glimpses of depth) and, at times, it could’ve been more coherent as he jumps from one issue and incident to another, but since the book was a brisk read, the positives mostly outweigh the negatives. He mixes it up so the book doesn’t feel one-note. Sometimes the tone is light and playful—his asterisked footnotes calling back to lyrics from hip songs or just making a random, foolish comment are hilarious; other times the tone is earnest, especially in his struggles with his identity and wondering whether there was room for a kid like him to fit in.

My favorite parts of the book are when he talks about food, including an explanation of the nuances of a simple bowl of noodles in Taipei, a joke about how you just needed to add bread to any ethnic food and white people would feel comfortable with it, and the rationale behind his disdain for chefs who take another culture’s cuisine and say that they’re going to “elevate” it. You can really feel his respect for cooking and for food.

Meanwhile, the chronicle of Eddie’s troubles in school with the fights and attitude problems was a bit too drawn out for my tastes, but that’s probably because I couldn’t relate. It’s a memoir though, so who am I to say which parts of his life are more or less important to focus on? I did kind of wish we got more insight into his time building up Baohaus and then his other short-lived restaurant, but instead the books ends when Baohaus first becomes a success. Maybe that’ll be Fresh Off the Boat, part 2? The guy is still pretty young after all.
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I was looking forward to reading this memoir by Eddie Huang. After reading 60 pages I was bored by the mundane stories of school, basketball and basketball shoes. His hip hop writing style is overworked and adds little to his memoir. Eddie has many opinions and tends to paint with a broad brush especially when writing about white people. The America he hates has provided him and his family many opportunities. His family moved to a gated community when he was a teen. I think it was a Bentley he got for his sixteenth birthday instead of the BMW he wanted and he actually whines and complains about it. I don’t question his talent as a chef but I do as a writer. ( )

This is a title for an older teen that enjoys a slightly more thinking read. Huang is a young chef. This book is his an interesting recollection of his childhood in Florida. Funny, kind of sad and irreverent, this would be good for those who enjoy the likes of Tony Boudain and other TV celebri-chefs. I'd have read this as a teen-- probably during math class, actually. Eddie Huang would appreciate that kind of thing. ( )