Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir

· Sold by One World
4.5
223 reviews
Ebook
288
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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, The New 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

Ratings and reviews

4.5
223 reviews
A Google user
January 5, 2014
Slow to start. Felt like I was reading an essay autobiography that I would write in 4th grade. But it quickly picked up and you being to see the world from Eddie's eyes. A lot of respect for the kid. In a lot of adversity, he made it for himself. I love the Vice show. That's what had me check this book out. You can really hear Eddie talking when you read this. FOB
14 people found this review helpful
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Clinton Chan
March 5, 2013
The stories are funny and there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. But there's also a lot of serious subjects in the book in regards to race, politics, family, etc. As a Chinese immigrant, I related a lot to Eddie's book. Rotten banana forever.
15 people found this review helpful
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Renee Valdez
April 2, 2015
I love E.H.! He turned me on to learning again...at age 50! I love the wit an humor! The "realness' in his words grabbed me and shook me..."isms" are the same for us all. I like how he literarily flips us all off and then takes us on his journey to a final embrace! Thank you, E.H.! Now let me go read this book again! R. V.
11 people found this review helpful
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About the author

Eddie Huang is the proprietor of Baohaus. He hosts “Fresh Off the Boat” for VICE TV, hosted Cheap Bites for the Cooking Channel, and co-hosted episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover. He’s written for Eater.com, The New York Observer, Grantland, and his own popular blog. He lives in New York City.

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