We Were Dreamers
Simu Liu is a Canadian Asian American actor most known for playing the role of Shang-Chi in Marvel’s 2021 film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Through his memoir, We Were Dreamers, Simu walks us through the path of how he obtained that role. The memoir begins with Simu’s parent’s journey from China to Canada. This then transitions into Simu’s childhood and young adulthood experiences. With both of these stories, the reader has a glimpse of two generations worth of upbringings to paint the story behind the Shang-Chi actor.
What was your favorite quote?
Throughout the book, there were 11 standout quotes. The one that stood out the most was:
“Whereas I had been operating on instinct alone, I was now learning a structured and consistent approach to my craft; in essence, I was graduating from being a hobbyist to becoming a professional.”
Simu painted the next steps of what it took to make something become your full-time career rather than only doing it in your free time. At first, Simu is taking one-off jobs for acting. As he continues to fall in love with the craft, he dedicated more time and resources to hone his ability to transition this to become his lifestyle. Starting as an amateur with a skill is one thing, but becoming a professional is a whole other beast.
What did you think about the book?
Simu included many analogies to help bring the reader in and create relatability throughout. Unlike books released decades ago, the analogies were more modern with Game of Thrones references and popular social media trends within the past few years. This in addition to how Simu was showing versus telling different scenes provided the reader with an immersive experience of the scene being told.
There were some tones of passive aggressiveness with statements that did lessen the reading experience. Rather than only painting the picture of what happened, Simu included many opinionated statements and also assumed who was reading these statements. Having fewer of these sentences would be preferred as the immersion for the reader would increase.
What were the top 3 lessons you learned?
Lesson 1: When everything falls apart, you can rebuild from the ground up
“Now that I had nothing left to lose, I could finally start making choices for me, and owning them.”
Imagine yourself as a plot of land where you have your parent’s small hut. You go out to another field with some tools and clothes. Then, a storm comes through the land and wipes away the hut. You have no home anymore. You only have yourself and what was on your back.
It decimates you at first as you quiver in tears. A voice then comes from the back of your mind and says: Get up, you still have to live. You then start building one step at a time and you start appreciating each step along the way. The steps to rebuilding not a hut, but a house.
Lesson 2: Own your dream
“Owning a dream to me consists of two key components—declaring it to the world, and taking action.”
Say you want to eat Oreos. You tell someone, “Hey, I’m gonna buy some Oreos.” You have now declared to the other person in their world that you are going to buy Oreos. You can either not buy Oreos or buy them. Either way, once the person sees you again, they have the context of you going to buy Oreos. Will you own that statement/dream of buying said Oreos or will you falter and not buy them?
Lesson 3: Respect your parents, but own your story
“What I hoped to impart to everyone I spoke to was that while we need to be grateful for the wisdom of our parents, we also need to forge our own path in this society,”
A flock of birds migrates from one mountain to another. Two birds have a hatchling at this new mountain. The hatchling grows to become a fully-fledged bird with its own wings. The fully-fledged bird flies back to view the mountain the parents came from. It sees the vast terrain, experiences the weather conditions, and interacts with other birds. Learning from its parent’s history, the bird wonders what history it will now create. The history of how the bird’s legacy will continue. The bird finishes viewing the mountain and flies to a new land.
Conclusion
Overall, Simu’s memoir, We Were Dreamers, conveyed conviction, perseverance, and tenacity as he and his parents created their dreams in a new land.
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