Book Review

Let me start off by saying that the book The Dim Sum of All Things written by Kim Wong Keltner, is a pretty interesting book, not just only story wise but also culturally. The book introduces the main character, the 25 yr old woman Lindsey Owyang, who is a Chinese American. The book starts out with Lindsey’s daily life, and moves on to specific things that have happened to her over the years, or in the present time of the book. As I read through the book I realize that some of things that Lindsey experienced, I have experienced myself. Such things were the smell of incense or weird smelling dishes. The mini titles in the book were really interesting like, “She was a Freak Magnet” or “Bananas, Twinkies, and Eggs”. In a way I feel that this book likes to “jokingly insult” Asians in way, like how Lindsey likes to think some Chinese guys are really smart or nerdy, Star wars freaks, or the pudgy guys are perverted. I also sense some sexism in the book, it seems like most of the blame or problems Lindsey faces come from men, making most or 90% of all men are bad. The book also likes to relate races into food categories; White on the out and Asian in the inside is call an egg or Asian on the outside and white in the inside is called a Twinkie. Overall the book was pretty comical and really interesting even though I sense some racists or sexist comments, making this book a worth to read.
The Dim Sum of All Things gives us the readers a mirror view of Asian Culture. It gives us a feel of how the world looks at Asian culture, such as marriages, religion or food, weekend activities, entertainment, providing the readers a first person view of all these things. Of course Asian culture has change through the years, but some aspects of it have not for some families, such as marriages. Lindsey describes how her grandmother would react if she were to be dating a Japanese guy, she would explode! Or like how Lindsey’s grandmother wouldn’t mind her dating a white guy, in the old days I don’t the parents would approve of that. The title of the book, The Dim Sum of All Things in my opinion refers to how culture is created together by little pieces like dim sum until it becomes full.