However, his experiences don't always align with mine. And as in all cases with memoirs, I want to respect the author's deeply personal experiences. And I think that ambiguity is on purpose, since they are both characters limited by their circumstances.Īside from the format, this book reads like a memoir to me, with the author putting a lot of himself into it. Quite often, it's not clear if we're reading the perspective of the main character Willis Wu or the character that Wu is playing in the police drama. It took me a few pages to get used to, but once I did, I couldn't look away. One of the most interesting things about this book is its unique screenplay format. But on the other hand, it only just skimmed the surface of its potential.

On the one hand, it unearthed some feelings I generally try to keep buried, being a first-generation Chinese American immigrant myself. To be honest, it left me a bit conflicted afterwards. I can see why this book received so much recognition. Yet he is relegated to the sidelines, never able to be the star of his own narrative. It tackles this through a heavily metaphoric screenplay about a Generic Asian Man forever stuck in the background of a police procedural called 'Black and White.' He is not privileged like White, nor is he oppressed like Black. Why doesn't this face register as American?Īt its core, Interior Chinatown is a meditation on the Chinese American immigration and assimilation experience. 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.

Or is it?Īfter 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. 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. 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. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man.

A deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

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