Interior Chinatown

A Novel

By: Charles Yu

Narrated by: Joel de la Fuente

A 2020 National Book Award Winner

"One of the funniest books of the year...a delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire." (The Washington Post)

From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a protagonist even 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 he is always 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. At least that’s what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.

Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.

"Fresh and beautiful...Interior Chinatown represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition." (The New York Times Book Review)

©2020 Charles Yu (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"I’m a big fan of Charles Yu’s writing because of his wit and inventiveness. These talents are front and center in the brilliant and hilarious Interior Chinatown, which satirizes the racist imagination and brings us deep into the humanity of those who suffer from - and struggle against - dehumanization." (Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer)

"Interior Chinatown is wrenching, hilarious, sharp, surreal, and above all, original. This is an extraordinary book by an immensely talented writer." (Emily St. John Mandel, National Book Award finalist and author of The Glass Hotel)

"Conflates history, sociology, and ethnography with the timeless evils of racism, sexism, and elitism in a multigenerational epic that’s both rollicking entertainment and scathing commentary.... Ingeniously draws on real-life Hollywood.... [The book’s] sobering reality will resonate with savvy readers." (Terry Hong, Booklist, starred review)

excellent

creative way to depict struggle of Asian Americans, i really enjoyed listening and learning more of the perspectives. beautiful!

Everything good you’ve heard about this book is true

It’s like that. This deserves it all.

If you have ever, for any reason, been curious about Asian American struggle, or Chinatown, or false stereotypes or racism or all the things that still get oft unsaid because people are too callous or too ignorant or too afraid…

This will help you.

This will heal the scars you may not have known you had.

Glad I stuck with it

Worth the four hours but it would have been hard to stick with it for longer. it was hard to follow in places.

Interesting weaving of various elements.

I thought this was a strong weaving of film set, personalized story, history bits and discrimination issues. While I have no idea of the author’s personal history with film, his characters seem authentically portrayed. I felt renewed concern about media support or reification of discrimination and stereotyping. And, almost surprisingly, I felt quite validated as a woman.

Just what this Filipina-American needed at this moment

Spot on. Cleverly written. Thought-provoking and entertaining. This book does so many things that AAPI must do daily to navigate the mainstream - assume a role, insert care across demographics, forge our own identity, uncover the hidden mystery of the past, and do it in a way that is palatable. I want to re-read this immediately.

Stick with it

It took awhile for me to catch on to the stage cues. This story of identity and theater is really remarkable.

Funny, insightful, and absolutely heartwrenching

This book and performance teems with heart. De La Fuente's brilliant reading of the book feels as genuine as anything.

The premise of the book is fairly meta, but not in an obnoxious way. It's played for laughs but also cerebrally, forcing us to think about the ways we perform our identities versus what reality might say otherwise.

Love love love this book

Amazing, provocative, insightful, emotional and hilarious. Can't recommend enough. Glad I own this, cause I will definitely loan it out, re-listen, revisit sections and may even buy a physical copy of the novel to pull off the shelf occasionally for reference. Spectacular work.

Quintessential American story from a certain point of view

Im listening to this audiobook- its easily one of the best ones Ive come across that speaks about the Chinese American experience. Witty, satirical and anecdotal- it speaks volumes about what its like to be Chinese in America- with a dash of KungFu sprinkled in! U should check it out. Mos ‘def Sifu!

How should I say it?

It is a unique book on Asian/ Chinese experience in America.
I also need to emphasize it depicts certain group Chinese, and Taiwanese and Hongkangese. Some of which is quite stereotypical. I particularly enjoyed the court scene and the oration on the hx of systematic discrimination again Chinese and Chinese American.


Author ‘s form of writing is what I admire most. Maybe see it in theatres one day