Name: Interior Chinatown
Rating: 4.117948717948718 (195 reviews)
ISBN: 9786267061206

Charles Yu Charles Yu

Traditional Chinese edition of Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown

Charles Yu

"From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play."--

Aida Mateescu ⚰︎☽​𓆩𓆪

Will better compose my thoughts on this one later, but really enjoyed it.

Katelyn Caillouet

hyun

lauren

some weird bits at the end from the lawyer… completely ruined the book

didn’t feel like this book explored the asian-american experience with depth. was looking for more intersectionality i guess?

My heart feels so full it could burst. What are we except people fulfilling predestined roles? Each our own archetype, insecure in our ability to be more, to be ourselves. This book was so powerful and a tv script being the form of narrative furthers the idea that we’re just actors playing a role, whether it’s Generic Asian Man or just Dad. We are ourselves and not ourselves and it’s beautiful.

Alex

a hollywood satire that plays with asian stereotypes on film (a much needed discussion) in a creative and approachable way. it incorporates some magical realism and manages to be touching and deep without losing the humour. cleverly written using tv screenplay structure while having said tv show rolling in the background as the would-be plot of the book.

violeta

aywen

very quick read. conceptually very interesting the way it's written—inventive style reads like a cross between a screenplay and a novel. people are reduced to "parts" in a play, which is really not so far removed from reality when considering society's tendency to ascribe certain characteristics based on gender/ethnicity/class/etc. meta story-telling that doesn't really separate the fictional world from the interior fictional world...hence interior chinatown?? lots of played up caricatures; becomes clear that the author is trying to spin this in a way that encourages people to not fall prone to the boxes and stereotypes that binary america wants "us" to fit into. really enjoyable and cried multiple times unexpectedly, but it's meta beyond meta within meta??? easily confused myself trying to parse it all out/cobble together; would welcome a re-read

I really enjoyed the unique format and storytelling as a set for a no holds barred discussion on race. It slightly lost the plot on intersectionality, but felt tight otherwise. 

Karolina

Hilarious, poignant, ambitious. A brilliant masterpiece. This was a fun and painful read. It felt like laughing and getting punched in the gut and then doing it all over again. 

Brandon

altlovesbooks

"He is guilty, Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Guilty of wanting to become a part of something that never wanted him."

This was a really good book, and my first addition to my 2021 favorites shelf. It's less a story and more a narrative framing device used as social commentary about the Chinese American experience. The book follows Willis Wu, "Generic Asian Man", as he describes growing up and wanting so bad to become what he thinks is cool -- Kung Fu Guy from TV and movies. He grows up, fights hard to become what he thinks the ideal Chinese American should be, then discovers that he didn't want that after all. 

What I described is only the framework of the book. The real meat and potatoes comes in the form of social commentary about what it means growing up Asian American, both on a personal level and at a societal level. How the roles one plays as an Asian American on television doesn't seem to end when you leave the set, that you always feel like you're performing for your fellow Americans, because they have a set idea of what an Asian American should be and how they should act. 

I really liked the point of view this book exposed me to. I found myself thinking a lot about what was said even when not actively reading it. While the storytelling isn't necessarily straightforward, I think the message is.

Ali Angco

Stef

Finished this one in one sitting. Suka dengan konsep cerita nya yg di format as Series Drama TV menceritakan kehidupan Generic Asian Man witth whole level of Generic. Dikemas dengan gaya penceritaan script drama yg bagus dan semakin paham bagaimana prejudice Asian people in America. It's better when you reading it while listening the audiobook version.

Rachel D

In the hands of a lesser writer this ambitious concept could have failed spectacularly, but Charles Yu has made it work on every level. Not only is this novel entertaining and at times hilarious, but it also provides serious emotional weight and food for thought. Surreal and brilliant.

Stefanie  Uwah

I loved this but I’m also very confused

Sara

(3.5) so many thoughts but I really loved this!

ryan page

The question is:


Who gets to be an American? What
does an American look like?

Interior Chinatown

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