This one hit home, because Koy's early biography has close parallels to my own. Not that I have any talent for comedy, but both Koy & I share a similar racial & cultural heritage, right down to having an Air Force father who married our Filipina mother and brought her to the States via Clark AFB. (But where Koy was raised by his mother after the divorce of his parents, I was raised by my father.)
Koy's rags-to-riches memoir is so authentic that I had to take my time with it. Again, the similarities struck me: the chaotic home life, the contentious social life, the myriad confusions of being "mixed," the endless struggle. And the differences were equally evocative. Where Koy hustled & risked everything in the pursuit of his dream, I buckled down and played it safe, keeping jobs I should have left. It was like reading a "what-if" version of my own diary.
But, as befits the story of a comedian coming into his own, there are laughs on every page. And Koy is clear-eyed about his own failures and shortcomings. In such clarity lies wisdom. This is one book where the audio version, read by Koy himself, adds dimension to the text.
But the print version has recipes! And the recipes that start some sections of the book managed to inspire both nostalgia and irritation, because no two families do anything exactly the same. (My Mom put raisins in her lumpia -- I know, it's crazy!)
In the end, Koy's story is so honest, so raw & self-aware, that I found it to be a profoundly uplifting read, making me more of a fan that I already was.
Get Mixed Plate here: https://a.co/d/06RmvTyw
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