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94th out of 116 books
—
140 voters
The Dim Sum of All Things
Have you ever wondered:
Why Asians love "Hello Kitty"?
What the tattooed Chinese characters really say?
How to achieve feng shui for optimum make-out sessions?
Where Asian cuties meet the white guys who love them?
Then you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll realize this book is better than a Broadway production of Cats when you read scenes that include:
twenty-something Lindsey Owyang...more
Why Asians love "Hello Kitty"?
What the tattooed Chinese characters really say?
How to achieve feng shui for optimum make-out sessions?
Where Asian cuties meet the white guys who love them?
Then you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll realize this book is better than a Broadway production of Cats when you read scenes that include:
twenty-something Lindsey Owyang...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
January 20th 2004
by William Morrow Paperbacks
(first published 2004)
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1.5 stars. Never judge a book by its cover. *sigh* It was the cover and the little blurb on the back that had me buying this at a library book sale a while back. I should also stop with the habit of needing to finish books that I start! The book had potential, but the overly-flowery prose and the quick-to-judge, insecure, superficial main character was just too much. She goes around labeling any white guy she meets who seems slightly interested in Asian culture as a "Hoarder..." (and yet she onl...more
Finished the last couple of pages of this today. I was actually looking for authors refrenced to in Rashomon, when i saw the color of this book. YES, its true, im attracted by the covers and titles. i dont research and get a book i want. i just end up very lucky by finding good books. i liked the pun on the phrase DIM SUM, which could be used in a chinese or american way. dim sum as in the chinese a la carte luncheon, or dim sum, as in a bleak outlook of things. i liked the cover as well. seemed...more
Twenty something Lindsey Owyang doesn't speak any Cantonese because she cut Chinese school as a kid to watch kung fu movies. She lives on the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown with her chain-smoking, mah-jong-playing grandmother, in an apartment that reeks of Tiger Balm and herbal infusions, and works as a receptionist for Vegan Warrior magazine, where she has to hide her meat-eating tendencies. Lindsey spends her life worrying about her stunted toe, shopping with her Philipina friend Mimi, runn...more
Now, I was a little worried about reading another book by this particular author because I read her YA novel, I want Candy, and it was totally horrendous! The details concerning the sexuality of 14-year old Candy Ong was just plain disgusting. What teenager goes through all this? I couldn't even get through half the book because I was too sick to my stomach.
But The Dim Sum of All Things was different.
Lindsay Owyang is a 20-something year old receptionist who doesn't like to show off her ethnic...more
But The Dim Sum of All Things was different.
Lindsay Owyang is a 20-something year old receptionist who doesn't like to show off her ethnic...more
After a lifetime of eating Spaghetti-Os, watching The Brady Bunch, & listening to cheezy '80s music, 25-year-old Lindsey Owyang is a thoroughly modern 3rd generation ABC (American-born Chinese). In an effort to save money & placate her family, Lindsey lives with her tiny, mah-jongg-gambling grandmother, Pau Pau, who dispenses fashion advice, blind dates, & "stinky tiger balm." Like most young urban professional women, Lindsey agonizes over her body (she has one malformed toe, prevent...more
Disappointing fiction about young Chinese woman's struggle to intergerate her Chinese racial/ethnic identity with her typical Middle Class American upbringing in San Francisco. Four words - " Hoarder of All Things Asian", the author loves this phrase to describe white men who seek and only date Asian women because they want the "stereotypical" Asian female. What's disturbing is not this concept, because I believe there is some merit to this, but the fact the lead female character Lindsey could b...more
There are plenty of Asian-American-struggling-to-reconcile-two-cultures books out there. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great either. One memorable part, however, is the kitty-chan toaster and the drinking of ovaltine. =) Read to find out what I mean. If you're looking for a book about that particular struggle (and oh, I've read plenty of them) Gish Jen's Typical American is a good choice. Another one I'm quite fond of is, unsurprisingly, Amy Tan's The Joy-Luck Club.
The book would have been much more fun if it wasn't trying really hard to educate you on Chinese-American culture and if the heroine was more likeable. Some of the scenes, like the Miss Chinatown pageant, feel like they were thrown in just to illustrate some aspect of Chinese life in America and don't contribute to the plot or character development.
The way the Chinese heroine stalks her Caucasian crush comes across as immature and teenagerish, especially because she turns her nose up at other w...more
The way the Chinese heroine stalks her Caucasian crush comes across as immature and teenagerish, especially because she turns her nose up at other w...more
This is a very cute book. I think Kim Wong Keltner is quite funny in her observations and with her main character, Lindsay Owyang. However, some of the points about Chinese culture seemed so obvious (e.g. feng shui had to be explained). Albeit, this novel came out in 2004, and I just read it, so maybe it's that we're more aware nowadays. I had a love-hate relationship with Wong Kelner's cultural references; I liked that she kept alluding to special occasions, foods, etc. Sometimes, though, I fel...more
Funny, quirky novel about a 25-year-old, 3rd generation Chinese-American girl in San Francisco; she lives with her grandmother and works as an over-educated receptionist at a magazine called Vegan Warrior where she is one of two closet meat-eaters – tee hee. This is an example of the type of silliness throughout this book. She struggles to figure out who she is, what part of her is Chinese, what is American, and what it all means. Enjoyable, mostly b/c we have had to do some readings about this...more
I have passed by this book several times mainly because I thought I would not find interest in a book about a single woman in her twenties. I finally decided to give it try and I'm so glad I did. I enjoyed every moment. There are a multitude of quirky characters, which is something I love, but a believable story that could read like nonfiction. A realistic romance, excellent imagery. I enjoyed this trip into the life of a modern Chinese American young woman beginnning to accept her cultural heri...more
My opinion of this book changed radically more than halfway into it. At first, it seemed a very light, humorous exploration of a mid-20ish American Born Chinese (ABC) girl just sort of floating through life. However, its sometimes offbeat humor and great descriptions charmed me into sticking with it. Keeping in mind that adolescence lasts well into the 20s nowadays, it became evident that this is a coming of age story, albeit an untypical one. Lindsey, living with her traditional Chinese grandmo...more
I read this book probably in high school, and it didn't hold up as well, I decided during my reread. I picked up the book because I was on my way to San Francisco and needed (1) a light read and (2) a book about San Francisco. Done and done, I thought. It was fun reading it while there, as Wong Keltner makes a lot of references to the city, mentioning specific neighborhoods, streets, and restaurants. And like the first time I read it, I appreciated parts of the book that appealed to Asian-Americ...more
Chinese American girl, Lindsey, living with her Chinese born grandmother has misconceptions (and just lacks information in general) about her family's life before coming to America and is trying to fit into her workplace while balancing her Chinese heritage with American life in general, of which hers is quite a strange world in my opinion (even for San Francisco).
This book was only okay. I think I was misled by the back cover. I thought it would be funnier than it was. It might be enlightening...more
This book was only okay. I think I was misled by the back cover. I thought it would be funnier than it was. It might be enlightening...more
This book is hilariously enjoyable and an insightful journey into the main character's Asian-American struggle with BEING.
I'm not familiar enough with Asian/Asian-American culture to know how true some of the situations are. But it all rings so true that I feel like I'm right there with Lindsey Owyang as she bobs and weaves through life.
What I'm learning from this book is that Asian-Americans and African-Americans seem to have a lot in common...
As soon as I'm done with this one, I'm looking for...more
I'm not familiar enough with Asian/Asian-American culture to know how true some of the situations are. But it all rings so true that I feel like I'm right there with Lindsey Owyang as she bobs and weaves through life.
What I'm learning from this book is that Asian-Americans and African-Americans seem to have a lot in common...
As soon as I'm done with this one, I'm looking for...more
I just didn't get this book. The protagonist seemed very shallow, uninteresting, and uninterested in anything other than her own little world, which frankly, was rather boring. Perhaps the author was trying to give insight into what it is like to be a Chinese-American, but I don't think she painted a very favorable picture. Other than making me really hungry for Chinese food and wanting to visit San Francisco, this book was highly forgettable.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Absolutely hilarious. I finally feel like I am reading about someone I can relate to. This fictionalized ABC (American Born Chinese) and her (mis)adventures in dating, work, family and life in general ring far-too-true for comfort at times.
I cringed at my OWN memories while reading the equally cringe-worthy (though much more amusing as it wasn't happening to me) experiences she had while finding the right guy (what does she call those yellow-fever types again?) among other job and family related...more
I cringed at my OWN memories while reading the equally cringe-worthy (though much more amusing as it wasn't happening to me) experiences she had while finding the right guy (what does she call those yellow-fever types again?) among other job and family related...more
Truthfully I'd give this 2 and a half stars if I could. My other 3 star ratings are books I truly did like, but not love --- this one was just okay. Lindsey Owyang lives with her grandmother in San Francisco, and has a secret crush on her coworker. Only a so-so chick-lit novel that incorporates Chinese customs and family values into the story.
Light reading with some great humor. The story has been told before about the conflict between first generation Americans and their children and grandchildren. I particularly like her description of white guys who like all things Asians--she calls them hoarders. They're more interested in Chinese culture than she is. Fun reading.
I only just started it, but have two complaints already.
1. The writing is amateurish at best.
2. There are lots of superfluous details that seem to be there only to point out the Asianity of the book/characters/author and really add nothing to the story. It feels too much like, look at everything I know about being Chinese/Asian people in general! rather than being an accurate/organic description of the characters/settings.
Added: It got slightly better towards the end.
1. The writing is amateurish at best.
2. There are lots of superfluous details that seem to be there only to point out the Asianity of the book/characters/author and really add nothing to the story. It feels too much like, look at everything I know about being Chinese/Asian people in general! rather than being an accurate/organic description of the characters/settings.
Added: It got slightly better towards the end.
Not funny or insightful, or even particularly well-written. The protagonist spends the book trying to avoid white men who have a fetish for Asian women but falls for one anyway. She doesn't spend any time at all examining why she (a Chinese woman) is attracted to white men. In fact, she and her (also Asian) best friend have never dated Asian men. Seriously, one girl tells the other, "I hear they (Asian men) have small penises." This book is the Dim Sum of unexamined interracial dating. Avoid.
I really enjoyed this book. It is written by a woman who was born and raised in S.F. and the book is set here also. It was fun to read about places around S.F. This is a story about a brief look into a 20 something year old woman and her adventure into dating. There are a lot of really funny lines.
I asked for it since I really wanted to get on my "Asian Author" challenge. I endured several lousy days of reading this trash, and I kept on asking, when will this book get to the point? I didn't feel any connection to the main character, and up to the end, I was kinda hoping there would be a magical turnaround and things will look up. But, nada.
What a disappointment. This book is such a let-down, don't even bother picking it up!
What a disappointment. This book is such a let-down, don't even bother picking it up!
I thought this book was really cute to read. I loved how it was in the heart of San Francisco because I live here also. This book is funny, I liked how it has to do with an american born chinese 20 something year old woman looking for love, and it was an entertaining story.
At first I was thinking of saying that this book is Asian Chick-Lit, but it is so much better than that. It is the humorous tale of an American Chinese woman in her early 20's, still trying to find herself. She lives with her grandmother in San Francisco and she has a crush on a white guy at work and she's not sure how that will be received by her family. She is a woman in two worlds, trying to come to grips and embrace her Chinese heritage and also realizing she is totally American. It was inte...more
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this book was okay, halfway through i remembered that the last time i read this i also ended up skipping to the end to see what happens. its refreshing to see that even Asians feel stereotyped and lost within the American world and their own ancestry. this book has humor, yet i think there was something missing. it was just ok.
To dim sum it up, this book is appetizing, fresh, and sassy. Antiques Road Show, Asian cuisine, and dating disasters add charm, but the story is so funny you almost forget how good the writing is. Recommended by Adrienne, Powells.com
Keltner's wry observations kill me. I'm not sure if it's an Asian-American thing, but I see a lot of myself in her words. Her detailing of life as a product of two cultures is simultaneously extremely specific and completely universal and makes for a really enjoyable summer read!
I love books that make me laugh out loud, prompting my husband to ask, "What's so funny?" There are so many funny moments, funny because they're believable, that I feel like I read almost the whole book out loud to him.
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Dec 11, 2009 05:32am