How to American: An Immigrant’s Guide to Disappointing Your Parents by Jimmy O. Yang (Narrated by Jimmy O. Yang)

Hilarious But Also Full Of Interesting Stories

4.5 out of 5 stars

I didn’t realize just how much I was going to enjoy this book until I was in tears from laughing on my way into work.  I listen to audiobooks in my car and this was absolutely hilarious.  So funny (especially the chapter about working with T.J. Miller) that I think people thought I was crazy in my car.

Jimmy O. Yang – better known as Jian Yang on the hit tv-show Silicon Valley came to America as a young child.  He spent his early childhood learning how to speak English watching BET.  And became a stand-up, not for not-so-normal reasons. How To American tells these stories and many others about the life of Jimmy O. Yang so far.

I knew Jian Yang — aka Jimmy from Silicon Valley.  When I saw that he wrote a book I was on board. I did not know he was a standup comedian (I love all things standup related). I also didn’t know pretty much anything about him before reading this.  I’m really glad I took the 6 hours to read this one.  Jimmy is a hilarious and thoughtful writer – who would make me laugh one second talking about how his dad would insult him and in the next moment would make me think deeply about the people around me.

That’s the thing about this book and Jimmy in general – they are full of surprises.  Silicon Valley fans will be happy that there are about 3 chapters around the show along with one really funny one about his interaction with T.J. Miller – “I eat the fish”. But How To American has so much more in it.  I loved the stories about his early “rap” career along with the stories related to being a strip club DJ.

How To American was so much more than I expected and I’m thrilled.  Jimmy is a fascinating guy and I can’t wait to see where his career takes him.

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Brian

I’ve loved reading since I was little when my dad would read me Dr. Suess books. Fast-forward a little and I noticed that he was always reading on his lunch breaks at work, and I wondered why.Then, I found a book that took me to another place and time, to another feeling,another sense of “being”.It was the first book that I ever fell in love with, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

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