We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story

by Simu Liu

Overview

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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, newly-minted superhero Simu Liu chronicles his family's journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with razor-sharp wit and humor.

Simu's parents left him in the care of his grandparents, then brought him to Canada when he was four. Life as a Canuck, however, is not all that it was cracked up to be; Simu's new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings. His parents, on the other hand, find their new son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to - although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values. 

As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly - he gets straight A's, crushes national math competitions and makes his parents proud. But as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of college, at the tender age of 22, his life hits rock bottom when he is laid off from his first job as an accountant. Left to his own devices, and with nothing left to lose, Simu embarks on a journey that will take him far outside of his comfort zone into the world of show business. 

Through a swath of rejection and comical mishaps, Simu's determination to carve out a path for himself leads him to not only succeed as an actor, but also to open the door to reconciling with his parents.

We Were Dreamers is more than a celebrity memoir - it's a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063046504
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	281,286
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Simu Liu is an actor and writer best known for his work on Marvel Studios’ Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in five seasons of the beloved family sitcom Kim’s Convenience, and for manifesting his dreams into existence with a Tweet. He wishes he had tweeted for something a bit better - like world peace, or for his parents to finally say “I love you”. He lives in Los Angeles, Toronto, and wherever the best tax credits for film production are. 

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Act 1 7

1 Made in China 9

2 Back in Time 19

3 The Frog and the Swan 29

4 An Impossible Dream 41

5 Welcome to America, Jerry Lewis 55

6 Oh, Canada? 63

7 Zhenning's Homecoming 71

Act 2 81

8 Life in the Land of Routine 83

9 Simu the Genius 95

10 Simu the Rebel 107

11 Eye for an Eye 121

12 The Astronaut 131

13 Simu the Superfrosh 141

14 Abercrowannabe 153

15 Simu the Fraud 167

16 Everything is Lost 175

Act 3 189

17 Dark Night of the Soul 191

18 Professional Craigslist Actor 201

19 Simu the Starving Artist 209

20 Back to Corporate 219

21 Blood and Water 229

22 An Inconvenient Summer 239

23 City of Shattered Dreams 251

24 Big Asian Energy 261

25 A Date with Destiny 273

Acknowledgments 287

Editorial Reviews

Don’t let Simu Liu fool you. On the outside you may see boyish good looks, talent and a body made of tightly coiled muscle. But on the inside? It’s quite good looking in there too. Strong heart. Beautiful ligaments and a soul made of spun sugar. Also, he wrote this hilarious and heartfelt story about growing up, finding yourself, and seizing your moment.”
— Ryan Reynolds

“A sincere, funny and fascinating love letter to family, and a guidebook to pursuing your dreams.”
— Olivia Munn

“Oh great, another underdog story of overachievement. Just what we needed.” — Ronny Chieng

“A frank and often funny look at [Liu’s] path to becoming a superhero…he tells his family’s story with empathy and honesty, and the resulting book is a sincere tribute to immigrant families everywhere.” — EW.com

“A tender, nuanced narrative that is refreshing in its frankness. His focus on the pressure, rather than the promise, of the American dream actively subverts the model-minority myth…A celebrity memoir that compassionately interrogates the dark side of the American dream.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 03/14/2022

In this triumphant debut, Liu, star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, traces how he followed his “immigrant dream” all the way to the big screen. His “cross-generational tale” begins in 1990s Harbin, China, where young Liu lived happily with his grandparents in a “ramshackle apartment.” Things changed drastically when, at age four, Liu was reunited in Toronto with his parents, who’d moved overseas in search of a better life. He bluntly reveals how cultural divides, compounded by the “weight” of his parents’ expectations, created a rift in the family, one that was often defined by violence. “I stopped feeling like my parents’ happily ever after, and more like their burden,” writes Liu. After excelling in school, though, dogged determination and a love of “tricking” (a mix of martial arts, gymnastics, and break dancing) led Liu to acting. Fans will relish the candid look at his winding road to success—from playing an “Asian extra” in 2013’s Pacific Rim, to unglamorous gigs found via Craigslist, to making history as Marvel’s first Asian superhero. The book’s beating heart, however, lies in the affecting story of his family’s path to healing: “My parents are beaming with pride at the son who has disobeyed practically every single order they had ever given.” This real-life hero’s journey is a knockout. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Don’t let Simu Liu fool you. On the outside you may see boyish good looks, talent and a body made of tightly coiled muscle. But on the inside? It’s quite good looking in there too. Strong heart. Beautiful ligaments and a soul made of spun sugar. Also, he wrote this hilarious and heartfelt story about growing up, finding yourself, and seizing your moment.”

Ryan Reynolds

Oh great, another underdog story of overachievement. Just what we needed.

Ronny Chieng

A sincere, funny and fascinating love letter to family, and a guidebook to pursuing your dreams.”

Olivia Munn

★ 05/01/2022

Liu, the star of Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells the complex story of his parents' childhood in China during the Cultural Revolution and their sacrifices and struggles to get an education, first in China and then in Canada. He shares his experiences as a young child left in the care of his grandparents in China and later as an only child adjusting to life in a new country, overwhelmed by his parents' expectations of academic achievement. Liu notes that he was compelled to share his story to illuminate how this drive for academic success in families comes with psychological scars from emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse. Liu later reconciled with his parents, and they share their story in hopes of helping other families break this pattern of behavior. Liu shares anecdotes about getting his first big break with Kim's Convenience, and the community of Asian American actors in Hollywood who embraced him. The majority of this compelling memoir is about his family experience. VERDICT A powerful story about a family struggling under the weight of definitions of sacrifice and success, and reconciliation and forgiveness.—Julie Feighery

Library Journal

2022-02-24
The star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings recounts how he overcame his tortured relationship with his immigrant Chinese parents to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

Liu spent his youth with his loving paternal grandparents in Harbin, China, while his parents struggled to establish roots in the U.S. and, later, Canada. When he was reunited with his parents at the age of 4, they were unprepared to be parents. “Mom and Dad were about to experience the myriad of new responsibilities and burdens that came with raising a child,” he writes, “and would learn very quickly that ‘parenthood’ was a lot more complicated than just living together.” Liu vividly remembers that the first time he lied to his parents, when he was 5, they locked him out of the apartment, a punishment that led to a rupture of trust that was never fully repaired. Their relationship deteriorated further when Liu was accepted into a prestigious private school in Toronto, which required him to work harder than he ever had before at his academics—something that, as a young man, he had little interest in doing. Before detailing the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents, he gives readers details about their earlier lives, which included a great deal of hardship. It wasn’t until Liu was laid off from his accounting job after college that he had the courage to admit to his parents—and himself—that he wanted to act. Today, he is the latest Marvel hero. Liu’s compassionate treatment of his abusive parents and his younger self results in a tender, nuanced narrative that is refreshing in its frankness. His focus on the pressure, rather than the promise, of the American dream actively subverts the model-minority myth. Though the prose is sometimes uneven, the book is mostly entertaining and nuanced.

A celebrity memoir that compassionately interrogates the dark side of the American dream.

Kirkus Reviews