"Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu: A Novel of Identity and Self-Discovery

Vicki Thayer: This is one of the best, most innovative novels I’ve read in twenty years. The story aside, which is excellent, the education regarding Chinese/Taiwanese Americans and how they fit into American society was more than worth the read.

United States on Oct 27, 2023

Anna G: This one just didn’t click for me, I think mainly due to the writing style, I felt constantly confused about what was going on and what was real v. not. I did learn a bit about Chinese-American history and appreciated the author’s experience and feelings about what it’s like to be an Asian American man in America.

United States on Sep 19, 2023

Julie Walling: This book is lighthearted, easy to read, but has a complex view of Asians in America…being discriminated against and kept in their labels. Very thought provoking

United States on Sep 17, 2023

Miriam Downey: I must say at the outset of this post that Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is the best book I have read in 2021. And I am not alone in thinking that. Yu won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, so my vote for best book is in good company.

And with that, let me tell you a bit about the plot. As the book opens, Willis Wu is a first generation American living in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, where his parents settled after they left Taiwan. They have all taken roles in movies and television as “Generic Asian” man and woman, and right now they appear as part of the cast of a TV cop show called “Black and White,” which takes place in and around a Chinese restaurant called The Golden Palace. Family members as well as other bit players on the show live above the restaurant in single room occupancies (sro). Most of them have lived in these rooms for many years. Willis was raised there. He has worked his way up the bit player in the television show roster: from “background Oriental male” to “dead Asian man” to “generic Asian man number three/delivery guy.” What he really wants to be is the “Kung Fu Guy,” so when he becomes “Kung Fu Guy” toward the end...

United States on Oct 22, 2021

Brian: This was a great book. Very depressing and sad, but also hilarious and full of action. It takes a while to get used to, then it gets really good, then it ends.

Canada on Sep 02, 2021

april keech: The pathos and humour in a TV script format was fun and poignant to experience. Opened my eyes and perspective to the interior of generic Asian guy’s heart and soul.

United Kingdom on May 17, 2021

FM: Brilliant, dark and funny. This is a great read and confronts attitudes towards Chinese immigration / Chinese Americans in the USA that are also relevant in other former British colonies.

Germany on Jan 28, 2021

June Malmer: Don't understand why this book has so many unused pages and spaces . Expected much much better from writer , what a let down .

United Kingdom on Jan 19, 2021

Neil Sharkey: Fantastically executed, heartfelt, somehow irreverent and important simultaneously. Easily my favourite book this year and while I suspect it’s a bit Marmite (as they say round here) you should definitely give it a go.

United Kingdom on Dec 31, 2020

S. Yoshida: Interior Chinatown is a creative exhibition of Yu’s analytical and writing skills, and exposition of social identity. At first, the book was not easy to follow because of the unconventional narrative style. But as I turned the pages the story became clearer. Yu’s literary stream-of-consciousness carried me into the SROs of Chinatown and the lives of its residents. My mind flowed through theirs. I drifted past glimpses of Hong Kong and Taiwan, the struggles of new immigrants in America, and the continuing efforts of their descendants to thrive. I empathized with many scenes in this story because my grandparents were field laborers on Hawai’i’s sugar plantations and I was born on a plantation. Among all of this was the universal theme of a mother encouraging her son to be more.

Years ago, I wrote on a website that being an Asian-American felt like standing in a minefield where every landmine was a stereotype. No matter what direction I took, a stereotype waited for me because there were so many of them. They were so numerous that people could use one stereotype to justify another or apply contradictory stereotypes to the same person. The person gets caught in this web...

United States on Nov 08, 2020