Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu: A review

Charles Yu presents his book as if it were a teleplay set in a Chinatown restaurant called the Golden Palace. The restaurant is the setting for a cop show called "Black and White." Yu's protagonist, Willis Wu, is a bit player on that show and through him, the author considers the stereotypes about Asians and Asian-Americans that are stock in trade for Hollywood. His portrayal of these cliches is utterly devastating. Also quite funny.

And so we learn about "Background Asian Male," "Dead Asian Man," "Generic Asian Man Number One, Two, and Three," and, of course, "Delivery Guy." These are all roles played from time to time by Willis Wu. The role that he really, really wants to play is "Kung Fu Guy," but he never gets the chance. 

We gradually come to see that not only does Wu play these roles on the television show, but he also to some extent inhabits them in his real life. Through these roles, we learn his character.

We also meet Wu's father, Sifu, who himself was once a "young dragon" and martial arts expert but has now passed into the role of "Old Asian Man." Sifu loves the songs of John Denver and he loves singing karaoke featuring "Country Roads." Yu describes white people making fun of Asian-Americans doing karaoke, but he writes of Sifu:
"When he steps up and starts slaying 'Country Roads,' try not to laugh...because by the time he gets to 'West Virginia, mountain mama' you're going to be singing along, and by the time he's done you might understand why a 77-year-old guy from a tiny island in the Taiwan strait who's been in a foreign country two-thirds of his life can nail a song, note perfect, about wanting to go home."  
It is a brief sketch through which we understand Sifu's character and Yu has such character sketches throughout. These sketches not only reveal the characters, they also develop the plot

Yu has written for television shows such as "Westworld" and the quirky "Lodge 49," which my husband and I recently watched, and Interior Chinatown continues his string of unique works. It is essentially a darkly funny book about racism and the way that Hollywood's reliance on stereotypes to tell its stories helps to perpetuate such racism and continues to maintain the status quo. Yu makes his points subtly, without hitting us over the head. It is very effectively done.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars 

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