The Dim Sum of All Things

published	2004 by Avon Trade
binding	Paperback
isbn	0060560754 (isbn13: 9780060560751)
ebook
pages	352
description	<blockquote> Have you ever wondered: <ul type="disc"> <li>Why Asians love "Hello Kitty"?&l...more [close] <blockquote> Have you ever wondered: <ul type="disc"> <li>Why Asians love "Hello Kitty"?</li> <li>What the tattooed Chinese characters really say?</li> <li>How to achieve feng shui for optimum make-out sessions?</li> <li>Where Asian cuties meet the white guys who love them?</li> </ul> </blockquote> 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: <ul type="disc"> <li>twenty-something Lindsey Owyang mastering the intricacies of office voicemail and fax dialing</li> <li>an authentic Chinese banquet where Number One Son shows off his language skills by speaking "Chinglish"</li> <li>dating disasters with grandsons of Grandma's mahjong partners</li> <li>the discovery that the real China looks nothing like the pavilion at Disney World</li> <li>karaoke</li> </ul> And all the while Lindsey is falling in lust with the "white devil" in her politically correct office. But will Grandma's stinky Chinese ointments send him running? Or will Lindsey realize that the path to true love lies somewhere between the dim sum and the pepperoni pizza? [close]
date added	02-21-07 edit book

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Kim rated it:

07/11/07

Read in July, 2004

This book reads as though Kim Wong Keltner wrote it primarily for a white American audience, because of the in-depth descriptions of Chinese customs (like the funeral) and cuisine. I remember taking writing workshops as an undergrad, and all the white instructors suggesting that I write more about being Chinese. growing up Chinese in America, and my identity as a Chinese American. Well, Keltner has taken that suggestion too seriously, as her watered-down prose and voice is along the lines of, ...more This book reads as though Kim Wong Keltner wrote it primarily for a white American audience, because of the in-depth descriptions of Chinese customs (like the funeral) and cuisine. I remember taking writing workshops as an undergrad, and all the white instructors suggesting that I write more about being Chinese. growing up Chinese in America, and my identity as a Chinese American. Well, Keltner has taken that suggestion too seriously, as her watered-down prose and voice is along the lines of, "teeheehee, look at me, I'm Chinese, teeheehee, my grandma's apartment smells like fish." Don't get me wrong, it's great that more Asians are pursuing their dreams of becoming writers, but Keltner seems to lack soul and nakedness in her writing, and her work reads like she's just going through the motions of writing a novel and not throwing herself into it. She also doesn't take any risks as a writer, and that pooping scene at the party was unbelievable and put there for shock value.

Anyway, the heroine of the book, Lyndsey, lives with her grandma in Chinatown, loves fashion and music from the 80s, and Hello Kitty. She's seen as the black sheep in her traditional family, as she has majored in art in literature in college, and works as a receptionist at a vegetarian magazine. She's very self-conscious about her heritage, and her complaint about "horders," which are pasty and creepy white dudes who have a fetish for Asian girls, is hypocritcal, as the men she's involved with are also white. (well, there's a twist to her newest boyfriend's heritage, but I ain't telling you.) It's too narrow of a stereotype, especially when they're described as those who wear muted neutral colors and look like they work in the tech industry. Since the novel is set in San Francisco, it's hard to believe that creepy techies are the only ones who are heavily into Asian girls. As a fellow Chinese girl, I can relate to creepy white guys with Asian fetishes, but her generalizing also isn't fair to white guys in the tech industry who fall for chicks who just happen to be Asian (kind of like my boyfriend). The ending, where Lyndsey goes to China and learns the ways and wisdom of the old-country, is a cop-out but is a general audience pleaser, which is more important these days.

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