LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as the protagonist 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 always he is 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. Or is it? 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. 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.
