Interior Chinatown – Charles Yu

100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [adapted from the dustjacket] Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: he's merely Generic Asian Man. 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, and what that means for him, in today's America.

Expectation: A comedic take on racial inequities in Hollywood.

Reality: A layered, original and surreal examination of selling out, pushing forward and dreaming bigger than your circumstances allow.

Recommended For: Fans of experimental, high-brow fiction with a timely urgency.

Why I Read It: It won the National Book Award for fiction in 2020.

My Take:

“Interior Chinatown” is a difficult book to describe. Its screenplay structure leads you to believe it’s a satire or comedy, and it is at times, but Charles Yu’s sharp and emotive writing makes you see the darker aspects of the story, which in light of recent events, gave the novel a sense of urgency I wasn’t expecting.

Willis occupies a world many of us will never fully understand – that of the struggling actor – but don’t be fooled into thinking this is an inside baseball take on breaking barriers in film and television.

Instead, Yu uses the setting as an accessible mechanism for non-Asian readers to grasp the ways in which this group of people have been marginalized with a tongue-in-cheek format.

I’ll be honest, sometimes the pivots between the Chinatown SRO (single occupancy room) where Willis lives, and the Golden Palace – the generic set of every Asian television show – where he works on a police procedural called “Black and White,” confusing at times.

Was he really an actor or was he describing real events? Were people speaking in character or from their own perspective? Was this a script or a semi-autobiographical story? The non-linear structure is my only complaint for what truly was an original and well-executed story.

As Willis tries to make his dream of becoming Kung Fu Man – the highest attainable, if stereotypical lead role for male Asian actors – come to fruition, we’re exposed to the realities Asians of all backgrounds face: the model minority myth.

It’s easy to laugh along with Willis’s excitement as he moves from being typecast as Generic Asian Man #4 to guest star on “Black and White,” but it’s cringeworthy to hear him describe how he loses roles for sounding too Asian or not Asian enough, and the policy of waiting six weeks after an on-screen death – because the Asian extra will always die – before being able to work again.

While specific to one industry, some of these experiences with typecasting and cultural appropriation are shared. The most affecting portions of “Chinatown” are when Yu brings those perspectives forward in flashbacks of his parents – two secondary characters in the broader narrative – and their experiences in 1960s America. Their individual – and joint – stories are devastating and felt real.

There’s a dichotomy for Asians in America. According to NBC News, hate crimes against them increased by nearly 150 percent in 2020, yet in Hollywood – where “Chinatown” is set – visibility and success is happening. A record breaking number of Asian artists received 2021 Oscar nominations, and last year’s Best Picture winner, the trippy thriller “Parasite,” was a South Korean film.

Somehow Yu was able to masterfully integrate both of these realities into “Chinatown” – the difficult and the hopeful – presenting the fullest picture of what it means to be a modern day Asian American that I’ve read (to be fair, I need to read a lot more Asian-focused stories!).

The audiobook format may have been why I found the story confusing at times. Still, this is one of the best narrations and productions I’ve heard this year. Joel de la Fuente, an actor for more than 20 years but with only a few starring roles, completely sold the story, possibly because it’s not too dissimilar from his own.

For those that have spent the past year diversifying their reading to try and better understand the experiences of our friends and neighbors, this would be a great addition to that list of books.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): 5/5

Formats: Audiobook (library loan)

Dates read: April 17 - 18, 2021

Multi-tasking: Okay. The non-linear structure does require concentration.