Fresh Off the Boat is the memoir by chef Eddie Huang that inspired the sitcom of the same name. Eddie talks about growing up in Orlando, Florida, trying out the gangster life and balancing assimilation with his Taiwanese roots.
Tropes for this book include:
- Abusive Parents: Louis Huang keeps a collection of whips, including "the alligator" and Jessica uses a metal hairbrush when she thinks her children need it. Eddie lampshades this.
- Asian and Nerdy: Averted; Eddie does well in school, only getting bad grades when fights and football distract him, but his main problem comes from assaulting others. It's lampshaded how he can't be a thug and a college student at the same time.
- Big Brother Instinct: Eddie and Emery look out for each other, and for their family.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Averted; Eddie is a hard worker at school and in his dad's restaurants. Noted when he checks himself out of a hospital to write a paper on Huckleberry Finn and has to hand in another copy because the paper is coated with blood.
- The Determinator: Eddie on the football team, so much that the coach sees him as a motivator for the other players.
- Do Wrong, Right: The modus operandi for the Huangs. Get into a fight? Don't get caught. Sell porno at school? Make sure you turn a profit. Using drugs? Stay away from coke and ecstasy, Xanax is fine.
- First-Name Ultimatum: "Xiao Wang!"
- Ivy League for Everyone: Subverted; Eddie applies to Georgetown but gets accepted at University of Pittsburgh. He later transfers to Rollins to stay closer to home in Orlando.
- Mama Bear: Only Jessica Huang can threaten her children. She will argue on Eddie's behalf if a situation is unfair and encourage him to fight his own battles.
- Pet the Dog: In one of his rarer moments, Louis begs Eddie to stop doing ecstasy and coke because he doesn't want to experience his eldest child dying of an overdose, the way another parent did.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Eddie Huang, in the prose and dialogue.
- Social Services Does Not Exist: Subverted; when Emery goes to school with a messed up face, the teachers call HRS and Eddie has to lie to keep his mother out of trouble. For the rest of the school year Emery has to let the school nurse examine his body for bruises.
- Supreme Chef: Jessica is one, and over time Eddie becomes one while trying out different cuisines.
