Book 1, Post 2

I hate memoirs. At least, I thought I did. Sure, I had never read a memoir in my life, but I knew I didn’t like them. What makes reading about someone else’s life so great anyway? Either they’ll discuss something I already know or they’ll talk about something that’s not relatable; maybe they’ll even sound privileged while they’re at it. I was less than excited when I found out that every book option we had would be a memoir. I honestly spent days searching for what I considered to be the least bad one to begrudgingly read. However, after reading American Like Me, I’ve realized that I was wrong. So utterly and dumbfoundedly wrong. Maybe I simply didn’t like the idea of memoirs because I read to escape reality—not delve deeper into it. As it turns out, delving deeper into reality isn’t always a bad thing; reading about other’s lives—especially in their own voice—can be quite nice. 

Growing up I always struggled with grappling at my American identity. I never truly understood what it meant to be Asian-American, let alone just American. But my journey is not unique by any means. American Like Me is a testimony of this. I read about many individuals whose life snippets reflected mine. However, I find the ways in which our similar experiences have shaped us differently to be more fascinating. The unique cultures, traditions, and outcomes that can result from living in the same country has emphasized to me how America is not a “melting pot” of different cultures – and it’s not supposed to be. It’s more like a pocket for different identities to thrive. My favorite memoir from the entire collection that emphasizes this is Michelle Kwan’s. 

Kwan retells her figure skating journey: the joy it brought her, the resilience required, and the ugly realities. The truth is, her family couldn’t afford her lessons. They cut corners whenever possible, worked multiple extra jobs, and even eventually sold their home to pay for skating expenses. They were never able to afford new skates or competition leotards for Kwan. However, they continued to work hard to provide her the best skating experiences. They proudly made her costumes, hand sewed her clothes, and tried to buy her new equipment when possible. This chapter highlights not only Kwan’s accomplishments as the most decorated skater in American history, but her parents’ as well. If there’s one chapter I would recommend reading out of the entire book it would be this one. 

Despite my initial prejudice against memoirs, I was pleasantly surprised by American Like Me. Its structure made it more interesting and especially easy to recognize the differences in everyone’s voices in their writing. Every story was incredibly fascinating and I would definitely recommend it!