I’m wondering if I should try my hands (fingers, I guess since I type my reviews?) at mini-reviewing.
Saturday Night Widows
I didn’t like this book very much. I think the problem probably was that the topic wasn’t very interesting to me. The premise sounded interesting: Six widows form a group that meets on Saturdays once and month to bond and turn “traditional thinking about loss and recovery upside down (synopsis on the back cover).” The premise reminded me vaguely of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but it wasn’t. I didn’t really like the writing either…
When I was on Time.com, I found an interview that the author did with TIME about grief and widows, which I read, with slightly more interest than when I read the book. It was probably because the interview was shorter than the book was.
Fresh Off the Boat
The package that contained Fresh Off the Boat was addressed to a “Janice”, which confused me and made me suspect that I got a review copy because I was Chinese. Never mind that.
Fresh Off the Boat is the memoir of the creator of Baohaus (NYC East Village shop that makes baos, a Taiwanese street snack), Eddie Huang. It’s funny, provocative and fresh. It’s filled with profanity, hip-hop references, history about food and the idea that Asian Americans should stand up for what they believe in, instead of meekly watching. Eddie Huang chronicles his life in America, how he defied “model minority” stereotypes, and how he founded Baohaus. It’s strangely moving, thought-provoking and alive.
It’s an immigrant’s tale and a foodie’s tale. Eddie Huang once wrote a letter to the editor of theOrlando Sentinel, which was published. The newspaper was so impressed with him that they wanted him write for them. When he showed up at the office, his interviewer said that he couldn’t hire Eddie because of his face (because of his race). Talk about infuriating. Eddie Huang talks about food with the equal passion.
Review copies provided by the publisher
