Fresh Off the Boat

A Memoir

By: Eddie Huang

Narrated by: Eddie Huang

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

"Long before I met him, I was a fan of his writing, and his merciless wit. He’s bigger than food." (Anthony Bourdain)

Eddie Huang is the 30-year-old proprietor of Baohaus - the hot East Village hangout where foodies, stoners, and students come to stuff their faces with delicious Taiwanese street food late into the night - and one of the food world’s brightest and most controversial young stars. But before he created the perfect home for himself in a small patch of downtown New York, Eddie wandered the American wilderness looking for a place to call his own.

Eddie grew up in theme-park America, on a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac in suburban Orlando, raised by a wild family of FOB ("fresh off the boat") hustlers and hysterics from Taiwan. While his father improbably launched a series of successful seafood and steak restaurants, Eddie burned his way through American culture, defying every "model minority" stereotype along the way. He obsessed over football, fought the all-American boys who called him a chink, partied like a gremlin, sold drugs with his crew, and idolized Tupac. His anchor through it all was food - from making Southern ribs with the Haitian cooks in his dad’s restaurant to preparing traditional meals in his mother’s kitchen to haunting the midnight markets of Taipei when he was shipped off to the homeland. After misadventures as an unlikely lawyer, street fashion renegade, and stand-up comic, Eddie finally threw everything he loved - past and present, family, and food - into his own restaurant, bringing together a legacy stretching back to China and the shards of global culture he’d melded into his own identity.

Funny, raw, and moving, and told in an irrepressibly alive and original voice, Fresh Off the Boat recasts the immigrant’s story for the 21st century. It’s a story of food, family, and the forging of a new notion of what it means to be American.

©2013 Eddie Huang (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Mercilessly funny and provocative, Fresh Off the Boat is also a serious piece of work - and an important one. Eddie Huang is hunting nothing less than Big Game here - a question, a conversation, an argument: Who are we? If somebody’s going to put a thumb in your eye, it should probably be Eddie Huang. He does everything with style." (Anthony Bourdain)

"Brash, leading-edge, and unapologetically hip, Huang reconfigures the popular foodie memoir into something worthwhile and very memorable." (Publishers Weekly)

"Eddie Huang has a delightfully funny and down-to-earth narration style that captures the cultural nuances, mannerisms, and speech patterns of a diverse range of characters.... [H]is affable persona, expressive reading, occasional chuckles, and intentional digressions from the book to directly address audio listeners make his story and performance compelling and charming." (AudioFile)

damn this dude cooks up a story and serves it well

Talk about the American dream, sautayed in Scarface, and served over a bed of Hip Hop. Culturally sound and thought provoking. he hits your brain with Sweet and tangy wit that is straight up no chaser honesty. and to top it all off you can hear his sincere​ love for food and his emotional connection to it. damn I gotta go I'm hungry.

RAW, nothing like show

Life story of a very interesting guy. The author addresses cultural identity in America and finding one's self while also recounting a rebellious past and the many different experiences he has gone through. The author narrates his story perfectly, his energy and humor makes it seem like he is talking to a friend. Very entertaining but also some depth of thought as well.

This is Ill

Would you listen to Fresh Off the Boat again? Why?

Yes, why not!?!?

What did you like best about this story?

The part when he talks about beef noodle soup.

What about Eddie Huang’s performance did you like?

Yes.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When you found out that Eddie's Dad was well off than he appeared to be.

Fresh Read!

Loved this book! Listened to it with my 3 teenage kids in the car. Gave them a glimpse into Asian and Asian American life and culture, the hip hop culture their mom her up in, food culture, and just a cool coming of age story.

Very Eye Opening!

Would you listen to Fresh Off the Boat again? Why?

I think I got it all the first time, the story revealed much about his life growing up as a 1st and 2nd generation contemporary Chinese family living and working in Florida. Loved all the food references. One of my favorite parts was when he was at a friends house and the mom served food that he described as gray and slimy and brought out his gag reflex. It was tuna and mac n cheese!

Super good

Helps to have a knowledge of hip-hop and slang. Great nonfiction storytelling. Pretty funny as well.

Amazing and inspirational

As an Asian person roughly the same age, I identified with some of the struggles and expectations. Eddie dares to question things and presents a different perspective inspired by his experiences. I'm recommending this book to everyone.

Amazing memoir

This is worth listening too it's read by the author and very different than the Tv show. I loved it

Eddie brings it home!

The most honest and solid books and performances of the yea that I've read.

Eddies voice come through strong and deep in his novel. Fresh Off The Boat is one of those reads that opens your heart and leaves you feeling like a better person after readings. Eddie wrote s masterpiece that you brings to light his struggles and personal growth and accomplishments as an American.

I heard about this book through DVDASA with David Choe. Hearing home speak is powerful and anyone who wants to be moved deep down and hear a real story of identity and adventure needs to check this book out. -Oliver Rock

author's narration enhanced the story greatly

I usually cringe when I see "narrated by the author" but this is one of the few books where the author narration made it more enjoyable