Restaurant kid : a memoir of family and belonging / Rachel Phan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Phan, Rachel, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children of immigrants--Canada--Biography.

Children of immigrants.

Restaurateurs--Family relationships--Canada.

Restaurateurs.

Chinese--Women--Canada--Biography.

Chinese.

Chinese--Women--Canada--Ethnic identity.

Women authors, Chinese--Canada--21st century--Biography.

Women authors, Chinese.

Women authors, Canadian--21st century--Biography.

Women authors, Canadian.

Phan, Rachel.

Phan, Rachel--Family.

Phan, Rachel--Friends and associates.

Phan, Rachel--Relations with men.

Phan, Rachel--Childhood and youth.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 249 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Pegasus Books cloth edition.

Other Title:

Memoir of family and belonging

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Pegasus Books, 2025.

Summary:

When Rachel Phan was three years old, her parents opened their family restaurant. For her parents--whose families fled China under Japanese occupation and later survived the horrors of the Vietnam War--it was a dream come true. For Rachel, it was something quite different. The restaurant became not just a home but the force that defined her childhood and fractured her family. Growing up as a 'restaurant kid' meant living between two worlds: the relentless demands of her parents' dreams and the pressure to fit in. At home, she was the 'good Chinese daughter,' while outside of it, she struggled to be seen as a 'real Canadian.' As the only Chinese girl at school, she shifted between roles--Asian sidekick, geek, fetish--hiding her culture, language, and true self to meet the expectations of others. Now, with her parents nearing retirement, Rachel faces the uncharted territory of getting to know them beyond the restaurant's walls. She struggles with the tension many children of immigrants face: balancing the weight of her parents' sacrifices with her desire to live on her own terms. In this deeply personal journey, she confronts the ways their shared history of love and hardship shaped who they are--and who she has become. 'Restaurant kid' is an exploration of identity, resilience, and the complexities of family, offering a tender yet unflinching look at how we make sense of where we come from. --From publisher's description.

Contents:

"My parents own the Chinese restaurant"

"Why do you look like that?"

I'm not Chinese. I'm Canadian"

"I came out of my mum doing kung fu"

"It's over"

"Is it true you have a slanted vagina?"

"I feel sad all the time"

"Have you eaten yet?"

"He's like a unicorn"

"Rachel, does your dad have a perm?"

"I think I want to go back home"

"There are lots of things I want to tell you"

"Thank God I have two daughters"

"That's why we have you, right?"

ISBN:

9781639368518

1639368515

OCLC:

1438663676

Publisher Number:

90104382502