The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll [Paperback]

Ben Fong-Torres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

Autobiographical reminiscences describe the author's childhood of obligation as the son of first-generation Chinese Americans, his career with Rolling Stone magazine, and his brother's murder by Chinatown teen gangs. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a writer and editor for Rolling Stone , Fong-Torres was both witness to and active participant in the late-'60s counterculture, whose penchant for casual sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll was epitomized by the hippie scene in his native San Francisco. As a first-generation Chinese American, Fong-Torres was torn between this alluring American lifestyle and the traditional cultural heritage his immigrant parents struggled fiercely to instill in their five children. His autobiography is peppered with colorful anecdotes about the early days at Rolling Stone and its flamboyant editor, Jann Wenner, but the memoir's chief interest is in its moving account of the author's attempt to negotiate a peaceable compromise between a son's enthusiasm for trendy culture and his parents' desire that he embrace antithetical Chinese traditions instead. Although he borders on the patronizing when discussing his romantic attachments, Fong-Torres redeems himself by demonstrating a broad knowledge of and sympathy for both Chinese and American traditions.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Fong-Torres, a founding editor of Rolling Stone , rose to fame as one of America's top rock and entertainment journalists through interviews with the likes of Bob Dylan and Ray Charles. With a professional sensitivity to conflicting issues, he describes the frustrations he felt growing up with a double identity--Chinese and American. The constant struggle between the urge to assimilate into the American mainstream and a strong sense of obligation to his parents and Chinese tradition gives ironic twists to his life, affecting his career in radio and journalism, his relationships with both Caucasian and Chinese women, and even his way of communicating with his parents. Unlike his journey through life, Fong-Torres's writing is smooth and right to the point. Under the bitter and regretful overtones lurk a good sense of humor and wit. Recommended for most collections.
- Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Plume (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452274125
• ISBN-13: 978-0452274129
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Rock
  • #35 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Chinese

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deeper context, January 26, 2001

By 

cheapprice - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll (Paperback)

I am surprised that anyone contested the worth of Fong-Torres's work. Fong-Torres does not claim to represent the Chinese experience. Rather, he symbolizes the Chinese-American question.

Some readers claim that Fong-Torres's individual experience is made more important than that of his family's, is too acculturated and "patronizing" towards Chinese culture. However, I think that it is necessary to recognize the limitations of the author's upbringing, within the realistic context of immigrant survival, and then appreciate the uniqueness of both his parents' and his experience. If Fong-Torres does reflect negatively, at times, towards his parents' culture, it is because he most negotiate it daily. Just how Chinese should he be? White Americans are never forced to consider these issues.

Like many children of immigrants, his grasp of a home language is at odds with the white American standard of English. Halloween becomes somewhat traumatic. Dating becomes the nightmare of social expectations within his community. Though some readers believe these problems are petty compared with his parents' economic survival, they are formulated honestly and reflexively. In fact, Fong-Torres's eventual return to China, and an interview with his family, would indicate a reverse position--a sincere desire to learn more about his history.

Fong-Torres isn't an authority on Chinese culture; he's only an authority on his own mixed experiences. Furthermore, writing this book, returning to his home country, indicate a desire to explore that contested identity further. No one can determine just "what it means to be Chinese." Therefore, I would remind readers, if you ask a Chinese question, you will receive a Chinese answer.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A universal story of 1st Gen immigrant offspring challenges, December 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I can completely relate!, January 21, 2000

By 

Carol M. Wan - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll (Paperback)

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...