NOW AN ORIGINAL SERIES ON ABC • “Just may be the best new comedy of [the year] . . . based on restaurateur Eddie Huang’s memoir of the same name . . . [a] classic fresh-out-of-water comedy.”—People “Bawdy and frequently hilarious . . . a surprisingly sophisticated memoir about race and assimilation in America . . . as much James Baldwin and Jay-Z as Amy Tan . . . rowdy [and] vital . . . It’s a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all.”—Dwight Garner, TheNew York Times NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS
Assimilating ain’t easy. Eddie Huang was raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) immigrants—his father a cocksure restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Young Eddie tried his hand at everything mainstream America threw his way, from white Jesus to macaroni and cheese, but finally found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good: skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American kid in a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac blazing his way through America’s deviant subcultures, trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored only by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food. Funny, moving, and stylistically inventive, Fresh Off the Boat is more than a radical reimagining of the immigrant memoir—it’s the exhilarating story of every American outsider who finds his destiny in the margins.
Praise for Fresh Off the Boat
“Brash and funny . . . outrageous, courageous, moving, ironic and true.”—New York Times Book Review
“Mercilessly funny and provocative, Fresh Off the Boat is also a serious piece of work. Eddie Huang is hunting nothing less than Big Game here. He does everything with style.”—Anthony Bourdain
“Uproariously funny . . . emotionally honest.”—Chicago Tribune
“Huang is a fearless raconteur. [His] writing is at once hilarious and provocative; his incisive wit pulls through like a perfect plate of dan dan noodles.”—Interview
“Although writing a memoir is an audacious act for a thirty-year-old, it is not nearly as audacious as some of the things Huang did and survived even earlier. . . . Whatever he ends up doing, you can be sure it won’t look or sound like anything that’s come before. A single, kinetic passage from Fresh Off the Boat . . . is all you need to get that straight.”—Bookforum
Some people have a rough start in life and they use it as an excuse to never reach for anything, to never excel. Then there are people like Eddie Huang. Actually, I'm not sure there *is* anyone else like Eddie. Fresh Off the Boat is as unique a memoir as they come, and it certainly is like no other from someone who is reasonably well-known for his cooking.
Eddie's family are FOB (fresh off the boat - new immigrants) when the book begins, though he is born in the United States. His father is...old-fashioned...and his treatment of his children veers way off the path into abusive territory. His mother appears to be not in her right mind half the time. And Eddie is completely honest about how he was often in trouble and was a rough kid. However, the book is written with utter truth and no pleas for understanding or excuses for behavior. He basically just says, this is who I am and how I got here. Take it or leave it. And he makes it very clear that if you choose to leave it, he won't really care one way or the other. His honesty is refreshing and is what truly makes the book more than the sum of its parts.
From the abuse doled out by his father, to the discrimination he received at the hands of kids and adults alike, to his best friends - Eddie lets it all hang out. It's a very well-written story, with an absolutely unique and intelligent voice. There were only two things that bothered me about the book, neither of them deal-breakers (in my mind). One - the story gets slightly off track about 1/3 of the way in, where the stories about partying begin to take over. I think it went on longer than necessary, but thankfully it was short-lived. Two - there were times when I couldn't understand a flippin' thing he was saying! The English he was writing was more like some crazy foreign language I never got around to learning. Thankfully, it came and went in fairly small bits at a time. It fit the story, so it's truly hard to nitpick that.
All-in-all, I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. He has built a successful business being true to himself, and this book is no different.
