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wellwritten memoir about a Filipino/AsianAmerican man finding himself, More importantly, finding his masculinity or lack thereof in the Western gaze, This book is very interesting, Tizon grew up in a time when Asians/AsianAmericans weren't "cool" or as present in the US, and we get to read parts of his life experiences.


But, and I really mean but, This book is incelcore. It is filled with selfloathing, anger, and misogyny probably, from what I remember, Tizon was an AsianAmerican menninist, perhaps, A man who had few masculine figures, few women he could turn to for support, and left in the wake of being not seen as a man.
When you read this book, I ask that you that read it from an arms' length with some certainty in your values and your decency for others.
This book could easily be warped into a manifesto that leaves you bitter,

I would rate this,/if I could. I'm not sure about more or less, We learn who Tizon was, and what he saw in others and of the world, I think the release of his Atlantic article now included in copies of the book shows that he was changing and needed to make amends to his book, but it doesn't absolve Tizon of his reflection on his and his familiy's life story.
What can I say about the late, great Alex Tizon This Pulitzerprize winning FilipinoAmerican was a journalistic gem, I know some people have different opinions of him after his Atlantic article “My Familys Slave”, but I personally feel that his writing contributed honestly and positively, and he uplifted the next generation of Asian Americans.


In Big Little Man: In Search of my Asian Self, Tizon painted a picture of a childhood that felt so familiar, it could have been about my own childhood.
Each chapter focused on the multitude of stereotypes, myths, and years of colonial oppression that impact and ultimately shape Asian American men.
Tizon communicates his personal doubts, anxieties and challenges that he battles, the yearning for a sense of belonging and worthiness, and translates them into vignettes while sharing his thorough research and opinions on Asian history and media.


I had to keep telling myself: This is one mans point of view, and is not representative of everyone.
But overall, I think Tizon did an eloquent job speaking up about challenges and reaching out to uplift men in the Asian American community.
Woe is me memoir Asian men have small penises, Asian women can be dragon ladies or meek and submissive, Author Alex Tizon explores perceptions of Asians, racism and more in his memoir of growing up and traveling,  
 
Honestly, I was quite bored, The content is quite important, The shift in media Asian side kicks, in society he encountered Asian women who only wanted to date Caucasian men, observing the the sex tourism industry up close, the idea of the "model minority," the shift from "Oriental" to "Asian," etc.

 
But I found the book really tedious and occasionally confusing to read, He constantly shifts time periods: sometimes he's a kid, he's in the present, he's recalling his college days, he's walking the street about to be mugged, etc.
I felt the book couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be, Memoir A study of the West's perception of Asians
 
Sometimes it could get quite annoying, He'd meet women in school or in the neighborhood who had no interest in him, He was a brother, they were only interested in dating white men, etc, Maybe, just maybe there were a few who just weren't interested in you, dude, I got a little tired of the "woe is me" tone,
 
I had really high hopes for this, He's brought up some excellent points for discussion, but I feel it could have used much better editing and tightening up of themes, more academic discussion/research, his memories, etc.
Recommend browsing at the bookstore first or borrowing from the library, I only got halfway into the book before I gave up, Alex Tizon is so bitter about being an Asian man, so desperate to get approval from others and is constantly seeing himself as a victim.
He complained so much about girls that had no interest in him, but he faded out on girls that did like him and he liked back because he was so focused on his self pity.
I'm an immigrant from an Asian country, and most people feel that sense of not belonging in the beginning, not till they become an adult.
Also, all the history lessons about how Asian women were treated horribly in the past were confusing to me, He's not a woman so how is this relevant to his experience Hopefully the second half of the book is more uplifting and encourages others like him to be more positive, because I started reading this book hoping to be able to empathize and it's doing the exact opposite.
First I need to echo everyone's anger about the "Asian women have it easier than Asian men" nonsense, I don't get it you have an entire, wellwritten, wellresearched chapter about the struggles of Asian women, and the next one about Asian men starts with "but hey it's still not as difficult for them as for us, men".
As if different flavors of racism couldn't be equally bad, It was seriously infuriating, especially as this idea is peppered all over the book,

Apart from that, I really enjoyed Big Little Man, it's both educative and engaging, I've learnt a lot about Asian immigration in the US, a lot about Asian History how on earth don't we get taught about Zheng He and even more about the Filipino culture.
Tizon's personal story also interested me and I really enjoyed seeing how he had found a way to feel better as an Asian man in the US over the years, even though it didn't become paradisiac all at once and people are still racist, albeit differently.


I'm taking a star off for the "men have it worse" tripe but it should be astar read otherwise.
Full Disclosure: I requested an advanced copy of Big Little Man from NetGalley thinking I could write an unbiased review.
Silly of me, really. Alex Tizon is, after all, my big brother, His history is linked with mine, His dad, the big dreamer, is my dad too, This is not a professional review but rather my own personal reaction to this book,

I already knew some of the stories shared within the pages of Big Little Man and yet reading them here transformed them into something more than just tales I'd grown up hearing.
I remember the "fire" story but I never knew how it started or that dad was, in part, responsible for its cause.
Of course, that may be because I only ever heard dad's version of things, It never occurred to me that having a fireplace was such a big deal to my immigrant family or that their pursuit of the ultimate American Dream, complete with white Christmases and Presto logs in the fireplace, nearly killed them all.
I recall dad's obsession with his nose but I didn't know he was trying to make it taller so he could make himself more handsome, which for him meant more Anglo and less Filipino.
I never completely understood what dad meant when he told me I had a good nose because it wasn't flat.
Unlike Alex, I was oblivious to the implications of this,

"Your nose is so round! And so flat! Talagang Pilipino! So Filipino!"
"What's wrong with flat"
"Nothing is wrong with flat.
Pero sharper is better. People will treat you better, They'll think you come from a better family, "

I am one of the sisters mentioned in this book who married a white guy, In my defense, I once had a crush on an Asian boy who took no notice of me whatsoever, In fact, no Asian boys seemed to notice me, at least not romantically, I figured I was the wrong kind of Asian girl, Not petite enough, a little too opinionated, a little too Americanized, That's the thing about being Asian in America, You try to live in both worlds at the same time and end up feeling like you don't belong in either.


Seeing things from my brother's point of view, learning how our father's history, and that of many known and unknown Asian men, shaped him from a young boy to the man he is today, opened my eyes to a perspective I had not previously considered.
I know well the culture clash of being raised Asian inside the home and having to translate that culture in a workable way outside of it.
I too had to navigate my brown self through a sea of white but as so often happens with siblings, our stories, our takeaways from our history and experiences, are vastly different.


Big Little Man asks the question: What does it mean to be an Asian man What did it mean then What does it mean now in a landscape where the ground below us is in a state of perpetual shift More than that, it presents universal themes that speak of how we relate to our parents, our ancestors, and the world we live in.
Alex's perspective is his own and at the same time it can relate to any man's search for himself, regardless of his color.


I had no idea the emotional impact Big Little Man would have on me, Or that I would cry myself to sleep thinking of our dad in his last days looking back on his life.
In my mind, I see our nephew, Kai, searching for some unknown something in the "Asian" corner of a video store.
He has been taught all about the great explorers and conquerers of our collective

history in school, Magellan, Darwin, Columbus. Except that history didn't include Zheng He, the great Asian explorer who, I admit, I hadn't heard of either before reading this book.
In Big Little Man, Alex wonders how it might have changed things for him if the history he'd been raised on had also included our Asian ancestors' stories.
Big Little Man is honest, at times painfully so, It is courageous and bold and hopeful, For anyone who has ever wondered what its like to be an Asian man living in a Western country like the US, this is a book you should not miss.


Alex Tizon is painfully honest about his own struggles with a sense of inferiority, of searching for an identity, of feeling marginalized in mainstream American society.
My husband is a Chinese national and I witnessed his treatment over the years in the US reading Alex's memoir was like a revelation, someone giving voice and even an explanation to what was often unbelievable and even shocking to me.


Alex also delivers a scathing critique of how Western society has sullied the image of Asian manhood in many different ways.
If youre wellread in this area, its not necessarily new territory, But the value of this memoir is that Alex has integrated so many different sides of this issue yellow fever, the bamboo ceiling, even Hollywood and how it perpetuates a skewed image of Asian men into one fantastic book.


Its wellwritten and addictive, especially because Alex holds nothing back from the reader even when it comes to discussing his own manhood, if you know what I mean.
Theres also so much packed within the pages that I want to read it all over again, This is a book I will cherish for years as the ultimate explanation to why Asian men in the West do not necessarily have it all.


Disclosure: I received this book for free through NetGalley, com I really enjoyed Alex Tizon's memoirs of growing up and perspectives of being "Asian", I could relate to much of what was conveyed, being that I come from what is considered one of "the other" of many cultures that comprise "The American" experience.
Funny, witty, thought provoking and sometimes sad, "Big Little Man" is a book to be enjoyed by anybody and everybody whom has had to deal with being treated as an outsider, treated as the "other" or impacted by common cultural assumptions.
Well worth my time and besides being intrigued to peruse his past writings, I look forward to any other efforts that Mr.
Tizon decides to share with readers in the future, I read his book, Big Little Man, for a masculinities course last year and NOWHERE in it does he even hint at the existence of his household slave.
He tells a lot of stories of his childhood and details mini biographies of his parents lives, especially as they pertain to the experience of Asian immigrants and he never once mentions Eudocia.
I had a few problems with his book but learning that he so completely erased a human being really strikes a chord.
The musings about how Asian women "have it better" because white people see them as exotic and beautiful while Asian men are emasculated in Western media was bad enough.
Fetishization is not a route to privilege it is a system of othering, marginalization, and oppression, It is dangerous, in my opinion, to critique constructs of masculinity by idealizing even more deadly, dehumanizing constructs of feminity.
Eye opening insight and perspective, Will certainly be looking for other books by this author Thoughtprovoking memoir about growing up as an Asian male in America.
I instantly felt a kinship with author and fellow Filipino American Alex Tizon as he recounted his coming to terms with how Asian men are perceived in the U.
S. His words really hit home and on several occasions I found myself nodding in agreement or verbalizing a “yes, ”

An awardwinning journalist, Tizon skillfully weaves his personal narrative into discussions of Asian male invisibility and the stereotypes used in the media.
His journey to a better understanding of his identity was thoroughly engrossing he could have easily gone down a more academic route, but thankfully his unflinchingly honest prose made for a provocative and at times heartbreaking read.
Whether it was media portrayals of the Yellow Peril or personal interactions with less enlightened individuals both white and nonwhite, Tizons account is educational and ultimately uplifting its a book that will stay with me long after reading and rightfully so.


Put words to feelings I've had all my life, Weeks later, I'm still disappointed, I was disappointed. While he approached a compelling topic, Tizon's resolution, personal here but attempting some social commentary or sociological analysis, is unsatisfactory.
He built a variety of straw men, . . each a representation of sorts of Asian manhood, MORE Deeply appreciated the posthumous addition of Lola's story to this edition of the book,

While I do have strong feminist critiques of Tizon's memoir, especially his chapter on dating and Asian women, I give him so much praise for how masterfully he discussed history, his own upbringing, cultural values and interactions, inner amp outer oppression, and powerful conversations with others on shame.


Rather than enter the 'oppression olympics' and take away from his incredible journey from toxic to wholesome masculinity, I will simply say that his relationship with women seems to be the main unhealed shadow work of this otherwise exceptionally developed, culturally concious, and selfreflective memoir.


This book certainly left an impression and gives me something to aspire to as a writer,

Some of my favorite quotes from Big Little Man:

“timing is crucial: exposure had to occur when the seeker was able to receive the revelation.
”

“I developed the sensory apparatus to apprehend fellow invisibles”

“it was a terrible love of the conquered for their conquerers.
”

“I wondered at the eloquence that must have lived inside them his parents that never found a way out.
”

And although the women in his book did not have very strong storylines, which is one of my critiques, I appreciated how he described his current marriage as, “a place where their deeper selves could relax.
"

I am sure I will think about this book for many weeks to come, .