Book info

• Title We Were Dreamers
• Author Simu Liu
• Year 2022
• Genre Memoir

The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime. In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, Simu Liu chronicles his family's journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with wit and humour.

Thoughts

The most important thing to say about this memoir is that it’s so well written, you not only want to hear more about Simu’s early life, you also go with him to dip back into the history of his parents as well. It’s not often that this kind of early autobiography grabs me like this one did, but it’s important and very moving. And then Simu’s story after that is also great - being stuck in a dead-end job, working his way through many, many acting jobs, and then, of course, landing that big gig at Marvel.

I really loved this, of course helped by listening to the audiobook read by Simu himself, but it was emotional and informative and funny and self-deprecating. A good one.

Rating: 5 / 5