Every day Chinatown resident Willis Wu enters the Golden Palace restaurant as a bit player in a theatrical production, but after stumbling into the spolight he is suddenly launched into a world that shows him the history of China and the legacy of his own family and what it means for his place in America.
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.
