Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?
After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.
by Sophie
“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare wrote, and Charles Yu demonstrates it in this novel that’s structured like a screenplay with six acts.
Interior Chinatown relates to the Asian immigrant experience in the USA, and Yu’s use of backstory montages and caricature bit roles (Pretty Asian Hostess, Generic Asian Man, Kung Fu Guy) really helped illuminate that struggle.
There are some very touching moments, and the bleakness is real.
There are also some striking examples of anti-Asian immigration laws, and a stirring speech about how Asian-American suffering is sometimes viewed or internalised as second-rate suffering, compared to Black-American suffering.
All in all, a fascinating reading experience that will remind you that humans are humans, suffering is suffering, love is love—no matter what color or creed you are.
