Diamond Grill

by Fred Wah

This story of family and identity, migration and integration, culture and self-discovery is told through family history, memory, and the occasional recipe.

Diamond Grill is a rich banquet where Salisbury Steak shares a menu with chicken fried rice, bird’s nest soup sets the stage for Christmas plum pudding; where racism simmers behind the shiny clean surface of the action in the cafe.

An exciting new edition of Fred Wah’s best-selling bio-fiction, on the 10th anniversary of its original publication, with added text and an all new afterword by the author.

Genres: Poetry, Canada, School, Canadian Literature, Fiction, Read For School, Historical Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Fred Wah has been involved with a number of literary magazines over the years, such as Open Letter and West Coast Line. Recent books are the biofiction Diamond Grill (1996), Faking It: Poetics and Hybridity (2000), a collection of essays, and Sentenced to Light (2008), a collection of poetic image/text projects. He splits his time between the Kootenays in southeastern B.C. and Vancouver.

Reviews

[yoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read a book by a 2nd+ generation Asian writer there is an automatic connection: food and family are paramount to our understandings of our selves. Wah's book is no different. One quarter Chinese, in this book he traces the lives of his grandfather, his father, and himself through the Canadian cafes each man owned, the foods he ate, and the impact each had upon the other.

This book is written as a collection of "biotexts," short poetic prose pieces that provide snapshots into the Wah familial life. Personally, I find this more fragmented method of storytelling the most effective: it allows the reader to fill in the gaps and relate to the story on a much more personal level while still providing the crucial details that the author finds most important to a full understanding of the plot.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm just sick of literature. Everything you read has to be such a chore. It feels almost like a cruel joke sometimes. We basically have a text that is non linear, post modern and totally unconventional. It even deploys (at least for me) one of the most confusing things to explain to people, the family tree, as central to the story; "My sister's Swedish half brothers three step daughters grandmother's niece". I liked the incoherent poetry the most. Let's sit down and and decipher this. That'll really convey the message. Let's slur a paragraph of vaguely related words together.

There are a few redeeming passages where he talks about his father in plain prose. Some interesting workings. But honestly, if you want to convey a message about hybridity/racial identity, is making it inaccessible to your average reader the best way to make progress? Your job is to tear down the fence, not reinforce it with concrete.

I think this is where a lot of literature falters. It becomes this borderline inside joke that only a few people will get from even a basic once over reading. Literature is supposed to make you think about your place in the world, not make the reader have to draw out an intricate poster to get the basic plot.

Fuck this shit.

[Blair Stretch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A university re-read. Even better ten years later. Frank, smart, economical, very tasty poetic prose. In my favourite style of re-membered family histories as told from the eye of the beholder. I'm already excited to read it again some day.

[Felix Da Costa Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful interweaving of semi-biographical segments and poetic language. The prose is extensive, elongating in compounding sentences but reading the afterword, it is something Fred Wah is intentional with. I especially enjoyed that the segments were disjointed, starting with the environment of the Diamond Grill before touching on complex family history and the subtleties of racism.

[indie · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIRST READ:
“Dust off the spiderwebs and who knows, the neural orgasm of images might even breed some writing.”

this book was such a delicious slice-of-life. i cannot wait to try some of these recipes; i am, as always, such a fan of food in literature. shoutout, fred wah!

“Shu will surely touch it with a piece of dried tangerine peel because it’s close to Christmas. He feels his tongue start to move as his mouth waters at the palpable flavour of words.”

SECOND READ:
Today is a good, good day to reread "Diamond Grill" on two accounts: the wintery wind outside perfectly matches the description that the book opens and closes on and, of course, the simple fact that I have an in-class essay on it this upcoming Tuesday. On this second read, I am particularly taken by the quote, "The frightened cries of the swallows themselves as piercing as a foreign language" (168). This also may be because I am missing Safron & she's travelling right now and, thus, I have a special focus on bird references.

Here is the closing, season-specific sentiment regarding the weather element: "The door clangs and rattles a noisy hyphen between the muffled winter outside and the silence of the warm and waiting kitchen inside" (176). Although it goes without saying - I will say it anyway - this reading session made me, even moreso than the first time around, incredibly hungry. Thank you, Fred Wah.

[Rema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timesless Classic: Fred Wah sews together a patchwork of monologues consisting of faded bio-fiction-prose-poetry memories, growing up mixed in a Chinese restaurant in Nelson, BC. One of my all-time favs4life ♥

"How many cousins do I have, I wonder. Thousands maybe. How could we recognize one another? Names. The food, the names, the geography, the family history - the filiated dendrita of myself displayed before me. I can't escape, and don't want to, for a moment. Being there, in Lawrence's kitchen, seems one of the sures places I know. But then ... back outside on the street, all my ambivalence gets covered over, camouflaged by a safety net of class and colourlessness - the racism within me that makes and consumes that neutral (white) version of myself, that allows me the sad privilege of being, in this white white world, not the target but the gun."

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this book was really interesting. I like the way the book was written and how it was very fragmented. I found that Wah kept your interest and really made an interesting story for the reader . Sometimes it was annoying that he kept telling you the same story but it all played into the idea that he was telling people memories from his childhood. I found that this novel was quite interesting and kept you reading.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diamond Grill is a biotext that focuses within a café called the Diamond Grill, as well as autobiographical elements from the author, Fred Wah, mostly examining his experience growing up in Nelson, British Columbia.

This novel effortlessly portrays the struggle of being Chinese-Canadian and yet being unable to fully identify with either culture. Enjoying Chinese food, yet being unable to speak Chinese (whether Cantonese or Mandarin). Having a Caucasian-esque appearance, then getting called out for your last name. Having a love for certain dishes, but being unable to remember what they're called at a supermarket. This biotext is intimate and sometimes even furious in its diction, resulting in a whirlwind of text that can easily sweep you away in the raw emotion the author lashes out with in its pages.

Additionally, this novel is interesting in that it has a starting page and an end page, and every other page in the middle can be read in whatever order. You might see this and think, 'Sounds disjointed.' And in a way, that perception isn't not wrong.

But at the same time, in a way -perhaps unintentionally- this is reflective of life; things are not always neat and tidy, and things will get messy and jumbled up. But in the end, that entire lived experience of yours, even the things you might perceive as insignificant or mundane? It is all a part of your life, and fundamentally shapes who you are as a person. Whether you laugh, cry, fall in love, experience heartbreak, follow a recipe, or just have a conversation with a friend- all of them are invaluable experiences that, in conjunction, form who you are. And that's beautiful.

If you ever wondered what it is like to struggle with self-identity, or what it's like dealing with the preconceived expectations of other people, or even what it might mean to reflect on your life, then please give this novel a read. It explores all that and more within its pages.

[Noelle Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me so much nostalgia as a kid whose parents also ran a Chinese restaurant in Nelson, BC. Wah’s prose was beautiful and alive, and flavourful - I can just imagine what Nelson and the kootenays looked like back in the day.

[aris · Rating 4 out of 5]

smart & cutting poetic prose; genre-defying in the best way! a generous account of 3 generations of a family in canada without feeling too historical or too sentimental. also left me with plenty of v interesting recipes to try out soon

[Corinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likes the stars say: it was ok.

[kate elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

another English class read! definitely an interesting book in the way the stories are all out of order, sometimes a little confusing for my pea brain but other than that a good book!

[Ryan Schellenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful read. I can't believe I only just discovered this! I loved the mix of poetry and prose in the form of sentimental vignettes alongside righteous angry rants.

[lex · Rating 2 out of 5]

De familiegeschiedenis van drie generaties Chinees-Canadezen in een mix van vignetten, poëzie en heel veel Chinees eten. Door de vorm is het een verfrissend migrantenverhaal, maar het anekdotische gehalte zorgt ook voor weinig diepgang.

[Paolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and inspiring biotext about growing up a quarter Chinese in the all-too-homogenous interior of B.C., Canada. As a memory act, the writing pulls back and pushes itself forward through the years of Wah's childhood working for his father at the Diamond Grill. In a previous interview, Wah speaks of his desire to break free of his fears of 'the tyranny of prose', and in the process of composing this book, breaks new ground for the form. It's my third time returning to this work, and I cannot recommend it enough.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fred Wah's stories of his childhood growing up as the son of a "Canadian-born Chinese-Scots-Irishman raised in China" and a Swedish-born Canadian from Swift Current. Wah's father ran the Diamond Grill, and it provides the setting for most of the vignettes in the book.

Fred Wah is a poet, and often incorporates prose poetry into his vignettes - sometimes the device works, and sometimes it ends up detracting from the story. Either way, this is a quick and enjoyable read that deals with questions of race and identity, as well as the simple things that make life worthwhile - like good food.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful biotext about the historical effects of racism on ChineseHYPHENCanadians in Canada (read: Chinese Immigration Law) and how the author, who can visibly "pass" as white, is affected by it in trying to define himself in his mixed heritage. Set in a diner, it ties in recipes (which I need to try!) and links memory to food to talk about the culture.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Funny and insightful. An excellent book if you want to learn about multiculturalism, hybridity, or just laugh your ass off.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just beautiful.

[Alanna McFall · Rating 4 out of 5]

14. A collection of poetry: Diamond Grill by Fred Wah

List Progress: 13/30

My reading patterns and attention span have definitely taken a hit in the midst of social distancing, and my previous racing speed through my reading list slowed down a lot this month. I thought that tossing in a collection of poetry would be a good way to speed things up, and while I frequently enjoyed myself with Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill, it had the opposite impact on my pace. A slow, meditative journey of combined poetry and prose, tracing Wah’s life growing up biracial in his father’s Chinese restaurant, this collection can be lovely. But it can also be overlong, and I ended up feeling like I knew more details about the eponymous Diamond Grill than I knew real statements from Wah.

This collection is a piece of “biofiction” tracing Wah’s childhood in the 1950’s. His mother was the daughter of two Swedish immigrants to Canada, and his father was half-white, half-Chinese, but raised in China from age four into his early twenties. So Fred Wah grew up in small town Canada, three-quarters white and reading as white to strangers, but bearing a Chinese last name and growing up in the cultural microcosm of a Chinese diner. This collection does a lovely job of capturing every detail of the diner, from prices to recipes to the lives of the people working there to the overlapping culinary worlds of Western diner food for customers and Chinese food cooked for the staff and Wah’s family. I think that these poems could pack a lot of punch individually or in a smaller collection.

However, Diamond Grill as a whole feels too dense and like it covers similar or the same ground too many times. I am sure this would feel very different to me if I was seeing my own experience (and my biracial Canadian and Japanese roommate is eager to borrow this book after me). But I walked away from the collection with too much surface detail, feeling somewhat stuck in a glut of anecdotes and memories. Individual pieces still stood out, but most got lost in the whole. I am glad I read Diamond Grill, but also wish I had spread it out a bit more, reading a poem or two at a time rather than trying to mainline it. I might just need to change my approach to poetry collections, and return to this one at another time.

Would I Recommend It: Yes, but not all at once.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diamond Grill is a wonderful, insightful book when it touches on the town of Nelson British Columbia , 1950s mentality there ( including anti Chinese racism ), as well as Chinese family life, interpersonal relations and the workings of a Chinese Canadian restaurant.

However, when his explanations start to get incompréhensible, opaque, , confusing and abstruse, which happens regularly,( for the sake of vocabulary gymnastics ?) that's when you feel you're wasting your time reading the book.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such a hard time with this book, especially at the start. It is written in a style I am not typically drawn to or comfortable with. But I did find myself enjoying it. I liked learning about Fred Wah's life, and reading this creative piece made it very engaging. It really made me think about how race and ethnicity impact the day-to-day lives of people all over. Also, I feel like, considering this was a school-assigned novel for a college course, it was so interesting to read something from the perspective of someone not American.

[grantlovesbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very, Very, Very boring.
And
Very, Very, Very repetitive.

Like reading the journal of someone who never went to school, never read a book, and worked in a diner. It is painfully simple, un-literary, and remarkably mundane.

You know those old guys sitting in cheap diners, endlessly ordering coffee and scratching away in some ugly old spiral bound notebook? Maybe you wondered, 'What's that old guy writing?'
It was probably this pile of shit.

[Amitza Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was really nice to read. The formatting and writing style of this novel was interesting at first, especially with the non-linear narrative. I like the experimental feel with and how it plays around with the chapters and the perspectives as well. I wouldn't read this again as it isn't my kind of novel to read but it was very insightful. This novel was reflective in my perspectives and a lot of the experiences or lessons I could also relate to in my life.

[Chuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done, mostly autobiographical/family history. Lots of excellent detail about growing up in a small town BC restaurant as a racially mixed kid/teen, not very much about his adulthood but includes his parents and a bit about his grandparents -- it skips in time a lot. Very short chapters, some of them are almost like stream of consciousness poetry.

[Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to study form and structure when crafting memoir. Fred Wah chose such a powerful way to tell his family history--through poetry and prose. I loved how he told family stories in fragments as few of us remember things in clear, precise detail. Wah's Afterword on hyphenating identities and bio-fiction was a great summary on his writing choices overall and for this book.

[t ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The wooden slab that swings between the Occident and Orient to break the hush of the whole cafe before first light the rolling gait with which I ride this silence that is a hyphen and the hyphen is the door."

A wonderful read that helps to build a consciousness about mixed people and their identities, living in the hyphen.

3 stars.

[Aidan Durant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really nice book, but I found it difficult to get as much meaning from it as intended by the author.

It is written in vignettes, which is really interesting. Tells the story of nearly four generations of a chinese-canadian family, and the struggles of being mixed race in a country where separated culture is the norm.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. It was a breezy read and fairly interesting the whole way through.

By the end though, I was pretty annoyed with some of Wah’s more repetitive (and maybe pretentious) language choices and metaphors.

Maybe it’s because I’m psych student and don’t want to hear anymore about synapses and dendrites.