Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu - Available

Interior Chinatown

by Charles Yu
Joel de la Fuente
Audiobook
4 of 18 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
4 of 18 copies available
2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER
"One of the funniest books of the year ... a delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire." —The Washington Post
From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a protagonist even 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 he is always 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. At least that’s what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.
 
Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.
"Fresh and beautiful ... Interior Chinatown represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition.” —The New York Times Book Review

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    January 28, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593148723
      • File size: 125230 KB
      • Duration: 04:20:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Joel de la Fuente gives a spectacular performance filled with drama, theatrics, and razzle-dazzle that beautifully showcases Charles Yu's satire of Asians in America, told in a funky screenplay format. Willis Wu's life unfolds like a movie in which he is "Generic Asian Man." Each night he returns to his crowded Chinatown highrise hoping that the next day will bring him closer to the role of "Kung Fu Guy." De la Fuente's fluid segues between American and Chinese accents, storytelling, and evocation of the inner screenplay of Wu's mind are lively and authentic sounding. Wu's family history, the struggle for Asians to break out of the social roles in which they have been cast, and glimpses of how they see themselves are revealed with engaging animation. De la Fuente's interpretation of this poignant narrative results in dynamic storytelling. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check out what's being checked out right now Content of this digital collection is funded by your local Minuteman library, supplemented by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.