Rating: 
Summary: A book that you don't want to put down
Review: "The rice room"was a touching biography. Anyone who has come from another country or culture can relate to and understand Torres-Fong's clear description of the discrimination immigrants experience in america. I enjoyed it very much.
Rating: 
Summary: What Asian???
Review: As a FOB (First-Off-the-Boat) Chinese, belonging to a sub-category of minority discriminated against even by the American-born Chinese, I really couldn't see what Ben Fong-Torres was complaining about. An interesting and readable autobiography as it may be, The Rice Room fails to present a true picture of what being Chinese in America is like. The "hardships" he faced is the heaven FOB's like myself would die to be in.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful introspective
Review: As a second-generation Chinese born to parents who immigrated to North America in the 1970s, I cannot relate to all of the experiences that Fong-Torres presents. However, in many instances, I identify completely. I also disagree with the view of some reviewers that Fong-Torres had a lack of respect towards Chinese culture. His word choice may indicate an occasional unhappiness with some of the traditions of Chinese culture, but overall, it is clear that he has a deep respect for his past. Especially prominent is his recognition of language barriers with his parents, and an attempt to arrive full circle with his heritage at the conclusion of the book (with a visit to China). Being born what many would term an, "ABC" (American-born Chinese) does not prevent Fong-Torres from embracing Chinese-ness. It is that such an embrace is oftentimes at odds with the white context of America. Furthermore, if Fing-Torres was UNCRITICAL of Chinese culture, wouldn't that romanticize his experience? I think that his reflexive gestures are necessary and rich. Also, while Fong-Torres presents a very real and honest depiction of the Chinese-Americans in the 1960s and 70s, by no means can he reflect the entire Chinese-American culture. Certainly, the children of "New Wave" immigrants possess a "whole different set of problems". However, one cannot say that there exists no overlap. Again, I don't think it is his intent to capture all of Chinese-American culture -- it is *his* life and *his* thoughts. (By no means does he attempt to capture the lives of Chinese immigrants.) In fact, I appreciate his honesty. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Chinese-American culture and especially to Chinese children raised in the America. Parents of ABCs, can also benefit.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful introspective
Review: As a second-generation Chinese born to parents who immigrated to North America in the 1970s, I cannot relate to all of the experiences that Fong-Torres presents. However, in many instances, I identify completely. I also disagree with the view of some reviewers that Fong-Torres had a lack of respect towards Chinese culture. His word choice may indicate an occasional unhappiness with some of the traditions of Chinese culture, but overall, it is clear that he has a deep respect for his past. Especially prominent is his recognition of language barriers with his parents, and an attempt to arrive full circle with his heritage at the conclusion of the book (with a visit to China). Being born what many would term an, "ABC" (American-born Chinese) does not prevent Fong-Torres from embracing Chinese-ness. It is that such an embrace is oftentimes at odds with the white context of America. Furthermore, if Fing-Torres was UNCRITICAL of Chinese culture, wouldn't that romanticize his experience? I think that his reflexive gestures are necessary and rich. Also, while Fong-Torres presents a very real and honest depiction of the Chinese-Americans in the 1960s and 70s, by no means can he reflect the entire Chinese-American culture. Certainly, the children of "New Wave" immigrants possess a "whole different set of problems". However, one cannot say that there exists no overlap. Again, I don't think it is his intent to capture all of Chinese-American culture -- it is *his* life and *his* thoughts. (By no means does he attempt to capture the lives of Chinese immigrants.) In fact, I appreciate his honesty. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Chinese-American culture and especially to Chinese children raised in the America. Parents of ABCs, can also benefit.
Rating: 
Summary: I can completely relate!
Review: As the American-born daughter of first generation immigrants who were Chinese take-out owners for 15 years, I could completely relate to Fong-Torres' experiences growing up. My siblings, two younger sisters and a brother, and I spent much of our childhoods working at our parents' Chinese take-out. At the same time, we were expected to get all A's and to bring honor to our family by going to prestigious universities and leaving the blue-collar existence lead by our parents. We too experienced the challenges of moving out of ghetto like housing in the city and into the suburbs of greater Boston. Now, almost in my mid-twenties, I look back on my life and wonder what made us different from the average ABCs of working class backgrounds. Fong-Torres sums it up for me when he brings it all back to his parents and the work ethic, values, and morals that they instilled in him and his siblings. I thank and praise Fong-Torres for writing a book about Chinese Americans that speaks for me and others out there who are like me...
Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: Ben Fong Torres has lived a life that many of us dream about! Meeting some of the most famous rock stars the world has ever known and getting a chance to do what he loves to do! What a great country we live in! Reading Ben's tome about growing up in California was so interesting..Ben writes with such honesty and wonderful detail that you can imagine yourself propelled back in time sharing those experiences with him! I admire Ben for his straightforward account of growing up asian american in this country and as an asian american I really identified a lot with what Ben went through! Fantastic book!
Rating:
Summary: America's Melting Pot Defined by Fong-Torres a la Alex Haley
Review: Ben Fong-Torres is known to us as primarily a chronicler of rock 'n' roll. In his book, "The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American-From Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll," he adeptly writes about not only himself and his family, but also America. Alex Haley gave us "Roots" and Fong-Torres shares with us his roots and the destiny that America's melting pot had in-store for he and his Chinese-American family. It is an astounding and at the same time a wonderful story. It is OUR story. I am 3rd generation Polish-American and I see and feel many of the same things that Fong-Torres does as he shares his experiences with us: from his parents efforts to escape China with and enter the US with false identification papers (his father bought a Filipino birth certificate to circumvent immigration laws), to his growing-up in the rice room of his parents restaurant and their demands and expectations, to the rock 'n' roll culture to which he took such a liking to the untimely shooting death at 29 of his older brother. Although he led a somewhat hard life, the book also reveals a humorous side. A truly wonderful sharing of the American experience.
Rating:
Summary: America's Melting Pot Defined by Fong-Torres a la Alex Haley
Review: Ben Fong-Torres is known to us as primarily a chronicler of rock 'n' roll. In his book, "The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American-From Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll," he adeptly writes about not only himself and his family, but also America. Alex Haley gave us "Roots" and Fong-Torres shares with us his roots and the destiny that America's melting pot had in-store for he and his Chinese-American family. It is an astounding and at the same time a wonderful story. It is OUR story. I am 3rd generation Polish-American and I see and feel many of the same things that Fong-Torres does as he shares his experiences with us: from his parents efforts to escape China with and enter the US with false identification papers (his father bought a Filipino birth certificate to circumvent immigration laws), to his growing-up in the rice room of his parents restaurant and their demands and expectations, to the rock 'n' roll culture to which he took such a liking to the untimely shooting death at 29 of his older brother. Although he led a somewhat hard life, the book also reveals a humorous side. A truly wonderful sharing of the American experience.
Rating:
Summary: A universal story of 1st Gen immigrant offspring challenges
Review: Ben Fong-Torres should be a household name to you if you are reading this review or.. if you saw ALMOST FAMOUS..where he was somewhat wrongly portrayed as part of an "establishment" press organization, something which ROLLING STONE had yet to become at that time in history. No, Ben (if I may may call him by his first name..)has led a way hipper life than most of us while also negotiating the perils of assimiliation into the alleged "Great Melting Pot" that was the American Immigration dream back when he was a kid. He's about 10 years older than I am but we both share the fact that our parents came to the USA via less than legal means and we share the constant inner struggle of determining to which culture we belong: our parents, our adopted country's.. or some culture that lies mysteriously in-between. Fong-Torres is of chinese descent, don't let his last name confuse you...that is explained in the book. Like many of us children of immigrants, the first thing sacrficed on our way to a better life was our authentic names. Most of this memoir deals with Ben's difficulties in balancing the two-worlds he was co-occupying and his being increasingly drawn to American teen culture and ultimately the world of Rock-n-Roll and the journalism that sprung up in its wake. Do not think you will get a loving description of his life as a journalist, however. He's covered that territory elsewhere. No... this book appears to be his own genuine but sometimes tortured attempt to describe the unusual manner in which he came to reconcile his ethnicity with the choices he made in how to lead his adult life and mind you, this is no Multi-cultural feel-good story. Ben had it very rough in the ways many of us did, regardless of our origins. The children of immigrants share certain basic experiences that make reading a book like this one useful in grappling with the issue of Multiculturalism, assimilation and the various expectations of immigrant communities. Ben's story is a very personal one and he makes no attempt to claim he speaks for all the children of chinese parents and as a result, he does not deserve even the slightest of criticisms that have been leveled at him for not being properly reverential to his parents' cultural expectations. He quite rightly chooses to share how precarious it was for a young man of chinese heritage to negotiate the perils of dating outside own's cultural "caste" as while as flouting genuine american hostility towards asian male sexuality in general (although he doesn't go as far as I do in giving those feelings a name). This book is what it is... the memoir and coming of age recollections of one of our more solid music journalists who just happened to spring forth from chinese roots. If one is sufficiently aware of own's one roots, the possibility exists to see your own life's struggles mirrored in the pages describing his life. Many thanks to Mr. Fong-Torres for the courage to relate his life in such intimate terms and praise to him for not shrinking back from the sometimes painful aspects of choosing to walk a different path than that laid out for you by your parents (no doubt, with love.. which must make it harder all the same). My family sprang from different stock, but his story is not all that different from that of my Irish cousins and siblings not to mention my own. May the road rise to meet you, Ben. If you are in search of Ben Fong-Torres' actual journalism, try NOT FADE AWAY, acollection of many of his works for ROLLING STONE and do not miss his most important book to date, HICKORY WIND, the only definative book to date on the late and oh so very great, Gram Parsons. The only flaw in that book is Ben allowing Nancy, the mother of Gram's daughter Polly, to go on and on until the reader wretches, about her metaphysical musings about Polly's little prenatal soul pushing Gram out of her life and Gram's ghost standing next to Polly years later. Nancy's seemingly drug-addled ramblings are one of the few bad edits in the book that date the material. Other than that, Fong-Torress manages to pay appropriate Hommage to Gram without furthering any ill-advised Gram-worship. Gram is worhsipped for his talent rightfully so, but as Fong-Torres let's us know, he was one less than happy guy who sprung from one very messed up family with tragedy marking every generation. One could go so far as to compliment Fong-Torress on striking just the right note of Southern Gothic horror in retelling Gram's story, given his own very different upbringing, but that would be condescending and ignoring the fundamental aspect of Fong-Torres' writing which is his ability to live in his subject's skin if only long enough to tell us something crucial or enlightening. Check it out.. HICKORY WIND... the 1st last and best book on Gram (if you skip the Nancy New age tripping, that is). Which brings me to this suggestion: Why hasn't Ben written the definitive book about Jeff Tweedy?? This reader looks forward to anything Fong-Torres might choose to grace us with in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A universal story of 1st Gen immigrant offspring challenges
Review: Ben Fong-Torres should be a household name to you if you are reading this review or.. if you saw ALMOST FAMOUS..where he was somewhat wrongly portrayed as part of an "establishment" press organization, something which ROLLING STONE had yet to become at that time in history. No, Ben (if I may may call him by his first name..)has led a way hipper life than most of us while also negotiating the perils of assimiliation into the alleged "Great Melting Pot" that was the American Immigration dream back when he was a kid. He's about 10 years older than I am but we both share the fact that our parents came to the USA via less than legal means and we share the constant inner struggle of determining to which culture we belong: our parents, our adopted country's.. or some culture that lies mysteriously in-between. Fong-Torres is of chinese descent, don't let his last name confuse you...that is explained in the book. Like many of us children of immigrants, the first thing sacrficed on our way to a better life was our authentic names. Most of this memoir deals with Ben's difficulties in balancing the two-worlds he was co-occupying and his being increasingly drawn to American teen culture and ultimately the world of Rock-n-Roll and the journalism that sprung up in its wake. Do not think you will get a loving description of his life as a journalist, however. He's covered that territory elsewhere. No... this book appears to be his own genuine but sometimes tortured attempt to describe the unusual manner in which he came to reconcile his ethnicity with the choices he made in how to lead his adult life and mind you, this is no Multi-cultural feel-good story. Ben had it very rough in the ways many of us did, regardless of our origins. The children of immigrants share certain basic experiences that make reading a book like this one useful in grappling with the issue of Multiculturalism, assimilation and the various expectations of immigrant communities. Ben's story is a very personal one and he makes no attempt to claim he speaks for all the children of chinese parents and as a result, he does not deserve even the slightest of criticisms that have been leveled at him for not being properly reverential to his parents' cultural expectations. He quite rightly chooses to share how precarious it was for a young man of chinese heritage to negotiate the perils of dating outside own's cultural "caste" as while as flouting genuine american hostility towards asian male sexuality in general (although he doesn't go as far as I do in giving those feelings a name). This book is what it is... the memoir and coming of age recollections of one of our more solid music journalists who just happened to spring forth from chinese roots. If one is sufficiently aware of own's one roots, the possibility exists to see your own life's struggles mirrored in the pages describing his life. Many thanks to Mr. Fong-Torres for the courage to relate his life in such intimate terms and praise to him for not shrinking back from the sometimes painful aspects of choosing to walk a different path than that laid out for you by your parents (no doubt, with love.. which must make it harder all the same). My family sprang from different stock, but his story is not all that different from that of my Irish cousins and siblings not to mention my own. May the road rise to meet you, Ben. If you are in search of Ben Fong-Torres' actual journalism, try NOT FADE AWAY, acollection of many of his works for ROLLING STONE and do not miss his most important book to date, HICKORY WIND, the only definative book to date on the late and oh so very great, Gram Parsons. The only flaw in that book is Ben allowing Nancy, the mother of Gram's daughter Polly, to go on and on until the reader wretches, about her metaphysical musings about Polly's little prenatal soul pushing Gram out of her life and Gram's ghost standing next to Polly years later. Nancy's seemingly drug-addled ramblings are one of the few bad edits in the book that date the material. Other than that, Fong-Torress manages to pay appropriate Hommage to Gram without furthering any ill-advised Gram-worship. Gram is worhsipped for his talent rightfully so, but as Fong-Torres let's us know, he was one less than happy guy who sprung from one very messed up family with tragedy marking every generation. One could go so far as to compliment Fong-Torress on striking just the right note of Southern Gothic horror in retelling Gram's story, given his own very different upbringing, but that would be condescending and ignoring the fundamental aspect of Fong-Torres' writing which is his ability to live in his subject's skin if only long enough to tell us something crucial or enlightening. Check it out.. HICKORY WIND... the 1st last and best book on Gram (if you skip the Nancy New age tripping, that is). Which brings me to this suggestion: Why hasn't Ben written the definitive book about Jeff Tweedy?? This reader looks forward to anything Fong-Torres might choose to grace us with in the future.
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