The Dim Sum of All Things Review

Note: I tried to be as unbias as possible but that mindset deteriorated in the process of writing this review.

Personal? Yes. Controversial? Possibly. Informative? Slightly. Positively-charged? Not at all. Those are the labels I would put down if I was capable of “tagging” a book. Kim Wong Keltner’s Dim Sum of All Things is a less-than-decent attempt to put Asian American culture into a better light than that of say, the early Chinese American immigrants? Considering this was her first attempt at becoming a distinguished author, I would try not to hold too much negativity towards her for the flaws seen in this book. It’s a light read and would most likely take less than a day or two if you become completely engaged into reading it. Let’s try to break this book down into pieces. Half of the first quarter of this book consisted of a mishmash of story background, objective and character insight/development. The other half however consisted of both assumptions and attacks on culture and gender. The following half-size chunk of this book was very slow paced and we finally get a bit of progression with the story but it never really got to the point. The final quarter of this book sums up a lot of the story’s objectives but I personally think it felt a bit rushed. Conclusively, I enjoyed the last 3/4ths of this book more than I did having to put up with the first quarter of it.
Let’s begin with the characters. I believe Keltner’s strongest attribute to her book writing style would be the way she presents her characters. The main character Lindsey is described very thoroughly from what goes on in her mind and what she assumes is going on around her. I enjoyed the descriptions of Pau Pau from Lindsey’s perspective but if I was to recall, this book is in the second person narrative. In my opinion, this book works much better in the first person narrative because there is already enough of what Lindsey assumes strictly from the narrators words. Lindsey is a character that I probably wouldn’t mind confronting in person if I could read minds. It’s amazing how Keltner chooses the absolute worst of Asian Americans as the host of this showcasing of Chinese American culture. Almost every single scene involving Lindsey and her assumptions of literally everybody around her was so negatively charged that it made me sick to my stomach. For example, Lindsey views Caucasian men as “hoarders” of all things Asian but if you had to analyze all the glamorization of White Americans and compare them to her views on Chinese Americans, you can simply call Lindsey a “hoarder” of all things White.
One of the biggest highlights that Keltner tries to showcase in her book based on the back of it are questions dealing with Chinese American culture at both its best and its worst. Keltner does a tremendous job at giving every scene of the book a lot of detail and it is easy to picture in my mind. The problem is; I saw a disrespectful attack on my heritage and even my gender in the most direct way. Keltner may not be an Amy Tam but at least Amy Tan tries to camouflage her attacks on Chinese American (and mainland Chinese) males better than the direct way Keltner does with her main character. Keltner makes it sound like Asian men are the only ethnic-gender that are cheap, Honda Civic driving, weak, nerds out in this world. The last time I checked; there are Ford loving, Star Wars idolizing, cheap white dates out in this world and that includes other ethnicities as well. Yes, this is a feministic book but this takes feminism into the more racist direction. And I quote Amazon reviewer Jay Wong, “If a WHITE person wrote something like this, then they would rightly be called an Asian hating racist.” If this book was the first Chinese American based book I had to ever read, I would totally not want to date a Chinese girl if Chinese girls would be represented by Lindsay’s almost irrational outlook on her own heritage. Having Lindsay find out that Steve was a quarter Chinese did nothing to suppress my distain either.
Overall, if you’re one to know more about contemporary Chinese American culture than you already do, look anywhere else but this book. With all due respect that I can possibly muster out of me to Lindsey Wong Keltner, nice try on your first attempt and I hope my money for your book got you something nice because I got myself some pretty expensive toilet paper. Keltner is not a sell out in my opinion despite the way I portrayed her writing style and character insights. Interracial dating and marriage is nothing new to American society in the past two decades. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it but you can not glamorize it by bashing on the other gender of your own ethnicity. It is distasteful and rotten much like your “Dim Sum” of all things.

Story Plot: C- (What was it again? Was it a neurotic girl’s goal of playing hard to get on a Caucasian man and hoarding all negativities on a culture? Trying to overcome adversity from a traditional grandmother? You get points on the second one but if it was solely the first one, you’d get D because if it wasn’t published, it’d be an F)

Character Development: B- (Your descriptions and extensive uses of the views and opinions of the characters are very well done and outweigh your lack of respect for any male both Asian or White)

Ease of Reading (level of reading/flow of reading/etc): B (It is a fast read but your lack of story continuity slows the pace down to a point where I didn’t pick up the book for 4 days)

Overall: C- (A job well done, it’s not a complete failure but at the same time the fact that you somehow got this published gives this book the much needed rescue and sums of cash into your pocket. Hopefully all that money can purchase you a nice apartment in the Pacific Heights away from the Sunset district where, you said it; most of the Chinese people live. By the way, you failed to make me be ashamed of my own culture, my own gender and my own identity.)